New Year, people! It's getting all 2012 in this hissy! I had a pretty damn good year in 2011 which I really liked since 2010 was awful for me and I'm positive 2012 will be another great year (famous last words). Not only was this year a good year for me but also for video games. A lot of great titles came out this year and in my opinion, it was the best year since 2007. That year gave us Assassin's Creed, Rock Band, Mass Effect, Uncharted, and Halo 3, just to mention a few. It was the year that kicked off a lot of great franchises this generation. This year was like a culmination of that year with sequels that are the pinnacle of their respective series. 2011 gave us Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Bastion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Portal 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. There are a lot more great titles that came out this year and that one bad thing about that is I can't play them all.

After much consideration, I decided not to get a PlayStation 3. The main reasons for this decision was because 1) I got an Xbox 360 as a early Christmas present and 2) my backlog has gotten completely crazy. I have so much to play and not nearly enough time to do so. So I will not be getting a PS3 this Christmas. Sorry to those who were looking forward to playing with me online but priorities, man. Maybe when my birthday comes around this March...

Namco Bandai’s famous Tales series has been a fan favorite for a long time.  The developer is bringing the next game in the series, Tales of Graces f exclusively to the PlayStation 3 in North America on March 13, 2012 with a European release to follow in the summer.

Who loves SoulCalibur? I do! I remember playing the first in the series, Soul Blade, on the original PlayStation and it completely took me by surprise. I heard about it because of an advertisement on the back of the manual of Tekken 2. I rented it at Hollywood Video (they always had older titles whereas Blockbuster would get rid of them quickly) and bought it soon afterward used at Funcoland. The second title, SoulCalibur, was one of the first games I bought when I got my Dreamcast and I was addicted to that game. Although I missed the different weapons with different stats, the gameplay was more fluid and better paced. The removal of the weapon health bar and the 8-way movement was really what made that title above and beyond any other 3D fighter and it’s my favorite in the series. SoulCalibur II was something of a disappointment to me but my friends and I had a lot of fun playing that game and since it was released on multiple consoles as opposed to just one, SoulCalibur II is the game that truly propelled the series into the mainstream. SoulCalibur III was a better game but I could never get into it due to a game breaking bug I encountered that kept on corrupting my save file.

So 2011 is drawing to a close and what a year it has been for video games. We got a new portable, a slew of new interface changes for existing consoles and tons...let me emphasize TONS of great games. All year we gamers were bombarded with fantastic games of all genres. I doubt that there are any gamers that didn't get what they wanted...(unless you're a hardcore Playstation Move gamer...). Now we are in December and pretty much the gaming year is over. All the major releases have come out and now its time for us to start anticipating the games of next year. Based off of that, I already feel like theres enough reason for me to be tight on money well into next year.

Ezio has been making the rounds lately.  Earlier it was announced that he’ll be making a cameo in next year’s edition of Soul Calibur V and today it was revealed that his famous costume will be available in some form in the next title in the mega-franchise, Final Fantasy.

Back in late 2001, Microsoft first entered the realm of console gaming with the Xbox. Although its sales numbers are nothing impressive when compared to that of the PlayStation 2, it did manage to outsell longtime videogame company Nintendo's GameCube, which is still a fine showing for a first console outing. Despite being a massive financial loss for the company, it laid the groundwork for much of what is now standard in the gaming industry.

Hori announced on Facebook today that Soulcalibur V will have a fighting stick peripheral made. Hori is making the Soulcalibur V Joystick and it will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in January 2012. No pricing or information was included but a screenshot was made available. Hori is known for making quality arcade joysticks and they usually make one for each big fighting game release.

The SoulCalibur series is no stranger to the concept of the cross game cameo.  Previous installments have seen Spawn, Yoda, Darth Vader, Heihachi and even Nintendo’s pointy eared Hylian, Link show up as bonus characters, so it only makes sense that the upcoming fifth game in the series will uphold this fine tradition.

Now that we know when the Vita is hitting the states it’s time to start figuring out what’s going to be available at launch.  Leading the way is Namco Bandai who announced today that three of their main franchises will be available day one.

Since Namco released Soul Calibur II and with it, three system-specific guest characters (Link, Spawn, and Heihachi), it has become a common practice for fighting games to score special fighters. Soul Calibur IV featured not one, not two, but three characters from the Star Wars universe, while the recent release of Mortal Kombat saw none other than Freddy Krueger step out of the boiler room and onto the fighting stage. More information has been coming out for Soul Calibur V, which is due next year, and with it a rather interesting rumor.

Three years after the release of Soulcalibur IV, Soulcalibur V was officially announced by Namco Bandai last night. Due out for a 2012 release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the next installation of the weapon-based fighting series will return in all of its violent and chesty glory.

Following hot on the heels of Bayonetta, New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the thirteenth title in Famitsu history to earn the fabled 40/40 perfect score. The reviewers cited that the co-op play and the single play were both enjoyable, as was just moving Mario around the screen.

Stock up on over one hundred PSPgo games at the PlayStation Store. Some games feature a price drop or temporary sale, and many are previous UMD titles now available for download.