As I sit here procrastinating, putting off my 3D Modelling homework, my half a play reading assignment and my two coding projects I am reflecting on the past year. All the people I met, things I did and even smaller things like what I wore come under the retrospective magnifying glass. But what really makes a year in the life? Fear not this is not the part of the post where I break into passionate song and dance, we can save that for later. One could say it is the things we take away from a year that really makes it what it is. It is those things that we can pin to a single year and remember forever. Now I have always compared life to a game and in this case it is no different. What makes a game great? One could argue that it is the moments we take away from the game. The moments we remember and encapsulate our whole experience and time with the game. A single moment in a truly great game can become a memory that lasts forever and can be recalled as easily as the places,people and material items of the time. The exact date may be forgotten, the memory may be altered and the experience may change but the moment lives on. These are the moments we will call upon when we review, share or recall or experiences with the game. In 2011 we saw many blockbuster titles hit the shelves as well as some under the radar gems, it doesnt matter what anyone thinks of these games because for each of us their is a handful of moments that we will pull away from all of the games we played. It is these moments that will truly impact our opinion and memories of the year in gaming that was 2011.

5) Portal 2 Co-op Experience--- Portal 2 requires no introduction or praise as dozens of websites and magazines have lauded the excellent voice acting and gameplay associate with Portal 2. But for all the merits of the single player experience I believe the co-op campaign deserves some respect. Co-op tends to be one of the more neglected niches in gaming and it was great to find a game that I could play with my cousin who I had recently moved away to school away from. My cousin and I would hang out every weekend to play games and now that I had gone off to school we thought this would end. Luckily thanks to Skype and Portal 2 we were able to interact and play through a fantastic campaign that both engaged and challenged us.

4) Steam Sales - Thank the lord almighty that this year I had a debit card with a decent amount of money in the bank and internet access to Steam. Thanks to Steam sales I was able to purchase dozens of games and expand the genres and take bigger risks when it came to paying for my games. Among some of my purchases were NVN II, Mafia II, Borderlands, LIMBO, LA Noire and many more. Each of these games have given me hours of enjoyment and were well worth the price of admission. Overall a fantastic memory for 2011 and an event which truly defines my gaming future.

3) Cataclysm--The first midnight release of my life, drove to Gamestop in a blizzard in a Honda Civic, nearly crashed multiple times. Spend the next 10 hours exploring the new worlds with my cousin and leveling up painfully slow. Cataclysm may draw many criticisms such as poorly designed endgame content, a linear questing system and of course some unbalanced PvP issues( Shocking!) but nothing will beat those first few hours of waiting, frustration and excitement.

2) Cold Call Killer----My personal game of the year, Batman Arkham Asylum was filled with awesome cinematic moments thanks to the predator and combat systems, great use of villians and characters and a moody but beautiful setting. Every moment did a great job of making you feel as if you were truly donning the cowl and cape in order to defend the people of Gotham. However this individual quest chain offered a unique take on the Point A to Point B time trial mechanic seen in many open world games. Essentially Mr.Zsazz, voiced my Danny Jacobs, would call a payphone somewhere in Gotham, when answered he chlllingly responded that unless you found the ringing phone somewhere in Arkham City that he would kill a hostage. The whole sequence felt like something that would be found in a Batman movie or comic, as a glided, grappled, dove and swooped across Arkham City, knocking out bad guys who sought to deter me from the objective. In fact, I feel that this whole side missione would have made one hell of a short film as it truly delivers as a example of the world which Batman must protect.

1) Well I wouldnt be posting on this forum unless number 1 came from Skyrim. This moment was essentially the greatest unexpected occurence in any Elder Scrolls game I have ever played and much of it is due to the unscripted action that the dragons often bring. It started with the journey to Sky Haven Temple along side Lydia and my two new companions, the journey itself afforded me with some beautiful vistas and tense battles against lesser enemies. As we approached the entrance to the Forsworn fort that guarded the entrance, a dragon swooped out of the sky, the other two members of my party took a detour and ended up seperated so that it was just me evading this dragon and literally dozens of forsworn. As the forsworn fought the dragon, I felt the controller vibrate and the camera shake, thinking the dragon had crashed landed I exited my tiny tent defense only to be met by a stampeding Giant swinging his club at a passing dragon. It was a tense 4 sided battle and as I sprinted away I met up with the two others. What resulted was the most fun I have had in recent memory playing a game...

-Honorable mentions: -STALKER: Call of Pripyat- Another unscripted moment of awesomeness was the first time that a disturbance forced me to sprint across a field for shelter.
- Saints Row 3- The penthouse scene with Kanye West playing in the background, super awesome moment that set the tone for the game and what it was trying to accomplish, felt like I was playing an awesome movie.

Just hoping I can get a response to this, I would like to see what other people consider as great gaming moments of the year.

Hmmmm
1) I realised how much Legion trumps NCR
2) I got Raskulls, on of the funnest games I've played
3) I finished the FFXIII Final Boss in under 30 seconds to earn 5 stars.
4) I stopped playing Balck Ops by July
5) I didn't break the Xbox in rage...

5. I never had the "oblivion effect" in Skyrim.

4. I played nearly every MMORTS-Game and I'm still searching for a good one. The good thing about that ... well I think I know the genre now very well.

3. I still only need a few hours to get into a first person-shooter to raise my skill level to its old level. And I won't ever buy CoD again.

2. I just got into the MOBA genre, I played LoL and I'm quite good at it.

1. I got my Dota 2 beta key. ... Well, I'm saving this for 2012. Can someone share one with me, please?