Whilst I sit here scoffing on festive mince pies and drinking a glass of Baileys, I reminisce about the year of gaming that has just passed. It’s been a magnificent year for all those involved with the website, though our perceptions have certainly changed of the videogame industry as soon as you jump aboard the press wagon. It’s been a learning experience and in some respects for a small amount of time totally zapped me of my passion for videogames mid November. You see, its very easy to get disillusioned when your one of the many thousands of websites all fighting for a piece of the journalism pie and when you get a scoop story, a behemoth website re-writes your story and half the time never links back to the original author, how nice!

It’s not all bad, we’ve met some great people this year from our visits to the Eurogamer Expo, MCM Expo & Golden Joystick awards and whilst we’re on the subject I really recommend our readers to check out GirlGamersUK, This Is My Joystick, Geek Syndicate and VVV Gamer. Our coverage of all things 2009 hasn’t finished, in fact it will extend into January 2010 as we plough through the 2009 WDT Awards. The award winners were thrashed over several hours of negotiations and talks between Alan Baxter, Sam Bage, James Joell-Ireland and Dean Case. Sadly, Stephen Joell-Ireland & Alex Witney couldn’t make the nominations forum. You’ve also been voting since November for your GOTY and we’re somewhat relieved you all have decent taste!

The year that awaits us is another exciting offering and arguably more poignant than 2009 which was widely touted as Xbox 360’s year of re-gaining its breath in the long console war marathon. There is no denying that Sony has launched its killing machine and delivered some simply stunning exclusive games in Killzone 2, Uncharted 2 and Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time. 2010 will serve up some really sumptuous offerings, but you really shouldn’t be thinking about them right now as there are more than enough 10+ hour romper stomper’s to keep you entertained at least until March next year. It’s with this that I discovered a Christmas bargain title that has held my attention like no other game, those familiar with our YouTube channel and Let’s Play series, will know just how much I’ve fallen besotted with Saints Row 2. Despite GTA IV’s critical acclaim, I cannot fathom why it received better ratings. Saints Row 2 takes every sin, thrill-ride, black comedy and devilish inclination, blends it into a super fine soup of hot enjoyment and lashes you with fantastic drop in and drop out online co-op. It’s simply stunning and before I start to spray the monitor with a Deluxe One Coat™ I must segway from speaking more about this game in fear of upsetting the GTA fan boys.

So, what about the football games this year? Well, it’s been fantastic to see PES back on form and actually see it win in at least in a few areas over FIFA this year. Though I must admit, that until I create Soccer Mayhem S5 I won’t be playing it, as the FIFA10 manager mode has grabbed me like Jack the Ripper in a cold dark alley. I’m quite looking forward to next years iterations of the game, as I can see them taking a bigger leap than the last iteration of the series. One of our YouTube subscribers asked me ‘What do you want to see in FIFA 11 & PES 2010?’ My response was ‘Who cares, I’m still enjoying the current ones’ and that’s exactly how I feel now, my yearn for a new football game never really hits until the off-season and with the World Cup next year, I’m wondering what EA will have up their sleeves, hopefully an ace card.

So, what was in your Christmas stocking this year? In terms of Games I’ve now got Call of Duty: WAW, Avatar: The Movie Game, 007: Quantum of Solace, Saints Row 2 and another game that I can’t think of, so it couldn’t of been that important. What about the Movie industry? This years box office beast has been Avatar and I’ve still yet to see it, however Movie highlights for me this year were 2012, Final Destination 3D, Transformers 2 and Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs. The biggest disappointment was Paranormal Activity. It was the most over hyped and uninspiring yawn fest of 2009. It once again proves that hype drives sales and sales drives disappointment to rake in millions on a budget less than $50,000. In some respects 2009 doesn’t exactly paint the greatest picture in terms of entertainment. It certainly shows itself that it’s become a victim of the recession. As the world claws its way out of a manufactured Goldman Sach’s bubble burst our anticipation for next year is at an all time high, now for God sake will someone please release a cheap and affordable 3DTV.

Merry Christmas everyone and have a Happy New Year.

We’ll see you in the New Year for the 2009 WDT awards, keep a close eye on our YouTube channel as we are planning on processing updates there, along with updates on our Audioboo channel

http://www.youtube.com/wedotech

http://www.audioboo.fm/profile/wedotech

Best Wishes,

James Joell-Ireland