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Hopefully everyone has played a game that when you experience any particular part about the game or just the product as a whole you think to yourself, “Wow, that game really does (x-feature) really well.” If you haven’t then I suggest you should just play every game you can get your hands on and embark on a quest of game discovery. There are many ways in which a game can be perfect or can present something unique to anyone who plays them. Whether it be environmental design, character design, voice acting, even something as basic as controller layouts. Literally any feature or part of a game is a chance for perfection or excellence.

Usually I would say that it is a rare occasion where I find a game that I put on a special shelf of games I will never part with because they did one thing so well. Perhaps it is because I find myself in a less than totally cynical mood while writing this or maybe it is because it is the holiday release season where all good things gaming are supposedly showering down around us for a good 5 months. My point is that this presentation of something so wonderful is usually a rare experience. So let us take a wonderful journey through some of games I feel truly stand above the rest in one form or the other.

We’ve all seen or heard them. The angry forum user who lashes out against anyone, the opponent or teammate with a microphone spewing a stream of obscenities at random players, or just another gamer who will speak to how poor your choice of game was because it was the same one he or she chose.

Why are we gamers so mean to each other? As a social group that is often stereotyped as wearing glasses and residing in a subterranean layer why is it seemingly so common that we are fighting each other as often as we are supporting each other? You could certainly write some of the comments off as the vocal minority speaking louder than the more friendly gamers who just dont speak up as often but I feel that it goes beyond that. Where there should be solidarity between everyone who calls themselves a “gamer” you may instead see a console player being talked down to by a pc player, or a “hardcore” player going in depth as to why the “casuals” are ruining everything. If we,as gamers, wish to see the stereotypes and the negative connotation of being called a gamer vanish then we must relax or repress our rage instincts and be more welcoming to new gamers and to gamers of different interests.