PSP Features

At the end of every year we get a new year – one that is numerically superior to its predecessor and brimming with new stuff to buy. But how do you know what to buy if all the shiny “best of” awards are given at the end of the year? You could spend your precious 365.24 days reading game reviews, but what are they compared to shiny metallic awards?

Gamescom is unquestionably more low profile than E3’s explosive LA shindig. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of reasons to get pumped up for the upcoming event in Cologne. Hell, we can think of, oh, at least 23 examples why you should give a damn about the ‘European E3.’ And they all take the form of potentially amazing games. Below you’ll find a line-up of some of the most exciting titles due to

With E3 2010 barely 24 hours behind us, it’s hard to clear our minds and think about the biggest and best things we saw and played. In fact, the past four days are such a blur it was hard to nail down just four pages worth of all the awesome stuff on display. But, rather than sit around all weekend and wait for Monday, we dragged our tired asses in for one more meeting, figured out the most memorable stuff and got this thing ready to go.

The best part is, the result is so different from even our usual E3 awards lists. It’s full of a wide variety of games instead of shooters, shooters, and more shooters. So while we know Black Ops, Bulletstorm, Medal of Honor and Killzone 3 will be great games, the abundance of creativity from other sources stole the show. So, here’s what we loved...

Looking for categories like Best PSP Driving Game? Greatest Achievement in Control Layout, Artistic? Eastern European Developer Most Worth Watching in 2011? Then our end-of-year awards might not be for you.

GamesRadar's Platinum Chalices are different. We're not interested in checking off a massively tedious list of genres, platforms and technical subdivisions… we'd much rather focus on the stuff that makes this hobby, you know, fun. And reward whichever games delivered the most of that stuff.

So if you're looking for the best fan service, most satisfying gore or greatest achievement in old-school kickassery in 2010, you've definitely come to the right celebration. Let's get it started…

It's not easy being a horse, especially a horse during these tough economic times. Despite the huge federal deficit, massive layoffs, and two wars, American humans will find the time and money to waste on useless gifts for friends and family members this holiday season.

Like sheep lined up for the slaughter, they gather in droves to attend Black Friday sales. There, the humans will procure unsightly sweaters for the nephew they never see, dresses for the niece too fat to wear them, home appliances for mother's domestic prison, gift cards for unappreciative sons, and books about the civil war for the father who stopped loving them years ago. But I digress...

Pac-Man and Mario owned the 1980s. Sonic, Lara and Snake took over for the 1990s. Their games are considered classics. Their names are timeless and iconic. Their images are burned into the memory of every gamer, even those who were born after the characters themselves.

Now we have another ten years worth of heroes, villains, sidekicks and love interests to occupy our imagination. Which, however, will remain there?

Once a videogame hero has more than one or two adventures under his or her belt, it simply isn’t enough to just have an archenemy anymore. To keep things interesting, they need a foil, a rival, or some other angry opposite number obsessed with matching wits with them. Sometimes, those characters stick around long enough to make themselves an indelible part of the series, even going so far as to make friends with the protagonist – although more often than not, their friendships tend to be shaky at best, and even those involved might never fully admit to them. Relationships like that tend to make for gaming’s most enduring and interesting rivalries, and what follows are some of the most notable...