It's been a strange sort of year so far. We're just on the cusp of the holiday release blitz and I still don't have a real solid Game of the Year contender in mind. Normally I at least have a personal front-runner at this point, but this year seems wide open to me. The closest thing I've got in mind right now is Catherine, simply because we might be able to look back on this years from now as a significant milestone for the industry.

Catherine is a widely released multiplatform game about a relationship instead of an alien invasion or zombie apocalypse. It sold pretty well off the bat, too, with 200,000 in first-week sales, good enough to be Atlus' biggest US launch to date, I believe. It's a game that I can describe to non-gamers and they get it. The idea of a game like Catherine interests them because it doesn't fit their preconceived notion of what games are, and it offers a situation where the interactivity of a game instantly adds a new dimension that can't really be achieved by books or film. (Your objection is noted, Choose Your Own Adventure fans. Now sit down. Both of you.) So in addition to being a great (but flawed) game, Catherine has the added weight of being something potentially significant for the long-term health of the industry. It's the sort of market expansion that acts subtly now, but pays off hugely in the future because it expands people's notions of what a game can be.

What are the other candidates so far? I loved Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but can't picture myself pushing for that to even make the top 10 nominees for all the corners Capcom cut. Shadows of the Damned was a lot of fun, but I'm not sure how many people would consider that a serious contender for Game of the Year. Portal 2 was great. Maybe that would go on my list. What about Terraria? Jamestown? Could Minecraft be eligible since it's only been in beta since 2010 and hasn't technically seen it's official release yet? Will people remember in November that Killzone 3 and Little Big Planet 2 came out this year? Could Ghost Trick give the DS a dark horse contender?

I know it's early and there's a plethora of great games on the way in the coming weeks and months, but I don't think I've ever been this uncertain of how the GOTY discussions will play out this late in the year. I think Portal 2 may be the only game released so far this year that I would be absolutely shocked (shocked!) to see left out of the top 10.

So what are your picks for GOTY so far? No listing games that haven't come out! I already know what big games are on the way and have potential; I want to know what games you've already played this year that you think will crack that final top 10 nominees list.

Well, I'm back from Germany. Gamescom was, once again, an absolutely blast to cover. Exhausting as it was, the show continues to be a lot of fun--especially for the focus on PC gaming that you don't see at a lot of other shows we cover. Now, I could sit here and talk to you all day about the games I saw and the surprises that surprised me, but I don't think anything will summarize my experience at Gamescom this year quite like this video I shot on our last day there. Enjoy!

A Taste of Germany from Shaun McInnis on Vimeo.

"In Europe and America
There's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
in the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets"
--Sting, "Russians" (1985)

Toy Soldiers: Cold War comes out this Wednesday, and I love it for a number of reasons. Certainly, I think it's a great game just in terms of its nuts-and-bolts gameplay. But it's also an example of a game whose concept and visual design make it resonate a bit more than it otherwise might for me.

I remember a lot of talk in the early 1980s of Ronald Reagan and Star Wars. I was a kid and I couldn't make much sense of it, but I understood enough to know that the talk wasn't about the Star Wars movies at all, that it involved lasers in space shooting down incoming Russian nuclear missiles. In short, I understood just enough to be afraid.

Ronald Reagan delivering the "Star Wars" speech, March 23, 1983

For children, playing with toys and using the imagination is, in part, a way of confronting fears, and I know that in my elaborate childhood play fantasies, the rag-tag bunch of heroes that included whatever Barbie dolls, He-Man figures, G.I. Joes and other toys I could wrangle up often dealt with symbolic versions of the Russian nuclear attack I was programmed to fear.

Of course, looking back on that time now, it all seems almost silly, like a bunch of sci-fi nonsense. Star Wars? Lasers shooting down missiles in space?! It's easy now to imagine Reagan playing with toys himself in the White House war room, making pew-pew noises with model satellites and model missiles over a map of the world. But at the time, I didn't see the absurdity in it.

Toy Soldiers: Cold War finds the absurdity both by reenvisioning the Cold War as a Russian invasion played out by toys, with all the inherent silliness that entails, and by acknowledging the serious fears of that period, in its own silly way. Between missions, a radio broadcasts phrases like "the Soviet Union has launched unprovoked hostilities" and "duck and cover" (yes, we had duck and cover drills at my school, as if hiding under our desks would save us from nuclear attack). And the levels combine elements in such a way as to evoke the early 80s so well that the game conjures in me a palpable yearning for the musty, toy- and game-filled basement of the home I lived in during those years. The first level, for instance, perhaps taking a cue from the 1984 film Red Dawn, has a small-town U.S.A. look to it. This is what was at stake. Our American way of life. Our love of football.

This football field, with its cheap flat football players, is one of my favorite details in the game. Ostensibly a board and pieces for a game called BLITZ! that have been tossed into the elaborate model battlefield, it reminds me of so many games of that era that had cheap pieces with cheap stands, games that I was often more likely to incorporate into my elaborate play scenarios than I was to actually sit down and play them as they were meant to be played.

I love, too, the little black and red connectors where the toy vehicles recharge their batteries. It's a perfect little touch that makes me think of these toys as the sort of thing my dad might have brought home from Radio Shack.

It's these details and so many more like them that make Cold War a little experience in time-travel for me, a game that, like the elaborate scenarios I'd play out back then as a way of coping with (among other things) the fear of a nuclear attack, does my inner 7-year-old a lot of good. These touches may not have quite the same nostalgic pull for you that they do for me, but if you play Toy Soldiers: Cold War (and I really think you should), I think you'll find that the game's production design, from its Top Gun-inspired music to its Rambo-esque commandos and so much more, is top-notch, and that its 80s cold war setting is more than just an amusing superficial concept. It's a smart and affectionate acknowledgment of the anxieties many kids had in the early 1980s, and a celebration of the ways in which imagination (and totally awesome toys) can help us confront such fears.

As a long time member of the community I thought it would be cool to post about my transition to the staff, so from time to time I'm going to blog about my experiences at Gamespot UK. Apologies if this seems self-congratulatory or vain, that's not the goal. I just think this is something I would have enjoyed reading myself a few years ago.

My first real job was some Christmas work in an independent game shop in my home town. It was run by a twenty-something chap called Keith who took me on initially as part of a school work experience program. Apparently I wasn't too awful so he asked me to stay on for an extra three weeks of paid work. I'd wake up, wrap myself up in my winter jacked and practically skip down the hill to work. I loved that job, and I'd spend entire weekends looking forward to clocking in on Monday. Fourteen year old Danny had tasted something very dangerous, and something I've strived to find again ever since; a dream job.

I actually hate the phrase "dream job". It's too reductive. Ask a child their dream job and you're sure to hear some interesting ideas. Chocolate taster, bunny rubber, power ranger, John Terry. For adults it's a lot more complex. You want to be challenged, but passionate enough about the work that you push yourself to succeed. Hard jobs are challenging but stressful and easy jobs are simple but boring. The ones in the middle have nothing going for them.

So when I talk about how satisfying my first week in Gamespot UK was, it's may not be for the reasons you could assume. Last week I learned more about the industry and the art than I could working on my own projects. Instead of doubting a choice, I asked a question and got an informed answer. Instead of working solo, I collaborated with talented people to create something better. I work in a place surrounded by by talented people, but with the tools and a support network to achieve that level of talent myself. I've never been to excited and hungry to work in my life. It's a pretty amazing feeling.

Though I mostly shadowed people and acted like a info-sponge this week, I did get the opportunity to shout at Johnny while working the autocue on Friday and I edited this weeks episode of Super Start Select. Well except the Assasins Creed feature which, lets be honest, is best edited part of the show!

I also spent some time in the downstairs green room, getting familiar with the cameras and studio and even got some time on the roof where Appetite for Distraction is shot in between disruptive helicopters flying overhead.

I'll be making more on-screen contributions to the Gamespot UK output over the coming weeks, but at the moment I'm enjoying getting my Final Cut X skills up to scratch and helping with the guy's workload whenever I can. I've yet to play on the CBS Interactive pool table, but the Gamespot UK arcade machine has been getting some lunchtime action.

So that's enough for this week, my new central London flat that's dustier than a witches armpit so it's time I got back to cleaning. If you have any questions stick them down below and I'll be glad to answer. Looking forward to getting back on Xbox Live over the next week, whenever my TV arrives back here from Ireland. Haven't played online in 2 months, so I'm looking forward to getting my ass handed to me for a few weeks

For now though, I'm just looking forward to Monday.

Twitter: @dannyodwyer

Well, I'm back. After five days in San Diego and a few back in the office, I've had some time to reflect on my experiences at Comic-Con this year. I shared a bunch of them in the HotSpot, conveying mostly my affinity for the convention and the kind of atmosphere it engenders. But, despite all the fun I had hosting hours of live video and walking the show floor, there are some things that have stayed with me that I wish I'd done differently. So read on, dear reader, to read a reasonably readable list of some of my Comic-Con regrets.

1. Not taking a free pedicab ride. There were rows and rows of eager young bicyclists ready to haul me around the Gaslamp District in kingly fashion, yet I ignored them. I was happy to stretch my legs after hours in the Hard Rock suite/studio, though I can't say the same for some of my griping co-workers - four blocks isn't that far to walk for dinner, folks! It was the sponsored ones that offered free rides that I wish I had ridden, if only to lord my luxury over all whom I surveyed.

2. Not talking to Danny Pudi. So I sidled up to a urinal to make good use of it, and shortly realized that I was relieving myself next to Abed from the NBC comedy, Community. "Hey dude, I love your work on the show! We always quote your character in the office the day after a new episode! My wife and I are huge fans! You rock! Troy and Abed in tha MOOORnin'!" All of these lines remained unspoken as I evacuated my bladder in silence. By the time I was done, he was gone. Strangers At A Urinal Code upheld, opportunity missed.

3. Not buying books with pictures in them. This oversight was driven home when I unveiled my show floor haul to GameSpot EIC Ricardo Torres, who instantly admonished me for buying only books with words. I was happy with my purchases: a cheap copy of A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (gotta see what all the hype is about) and Embassytown by China Mieville, a modern British fantasy author who is one of my favorites. But c'mon! It's COMIC-Con! No comics? Not even a graphic novel?! In my defense, I would have grabbed some Buffy and Angel & Faith from the Dark Horse store, but the line was really long. Like, soo long. Not much of a defense, I know.

4. Not seeing Joss Whedon or David Jaffe. As you may have gathered, I'm a fan of Joss Whedon, and when I saw him three Comic-Cons (Comics-Con? No, Comic-Cons.) ago, I really enjoyed it. So when Community Maven Synthia came back to the work room late one night with a signed poster and news of more Dr. Horrible, I sighed a heavy sigh of regret. I would have loved to see the Twisted Metal panel, too. I'm not a big fan or anything, but David Jaffe is very passionate about the stuff he works on and has a lot of respect for the fans. I really enjoyed seeing him talk last year. This year, I had to content myself with watching the Twisted Metal panel video we shot.

5. Not buying this Martin Hsu print. I mean, look at it. So pretty! So colorful! So whimsical! So I-really-don't-have-a-good-place-for-it-in-my-apartment!

6. Not rebuking the Lord of the Rings: War in the North player during Tonight on the Spot. Check out that dude I talked to starting around five minutes in. He's all, The Lord of the Rings is super wordy! And I'm all, whatever dude your game froze I gotta go! And I shoulda been all, if you don't appreciate the elaborate world-building of a true literary master than maybe you should just hold your tongue, knave! Buuut I didn't. Ah well. Check it out below, and keep watching to see me, Jody, and Maxwell pose with Gandalf. True story.