If you follow indie game news, you've probably heard of Tim Langdell. He's the CEO of EDGE Games, and he's deadly serious about protecting that brand. Many see an incompatibility between Langdell's IGDA board position and his relentless legal assault on independent developer Mobigame. However, I see it differently. In fact, I think Tim Langdell is a misunderstood hero and a champion of creativity.

Consider the following sampling of games:









While it didn't quite make the master list, "edge" is a word that's clearly overused in game titles. It's prevalent in the form "<something sharp>'s Edge", a particularly offensive redundancy.

With this information, it becomes clear: Langdell's mission is not to fight for copyright, but rather to selflessly protect us all from bland video game names!

If my suspicions are correct, then this is only part one of a master strategy. He may soon trademark "dawn". "eternal", "legend", "shadow" and "unleashed". With all this vapid intellectual property securely in his hands, gamers everywhere will be forever safe from unimaginative game titles.

With Tim's help, we may never have to face preview screenshots of Legend of Eternal Shadow ever again. For that, I am truly grateful.

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Of course, if you're an IGDA member and you feel differently, there are other options.

Although I’m not taking part in this year’s Global Game Jam, I coincidentally decided to also put together a small game over the last two days. It was a feat only made possibly by the friendliness of the LÖVE 2D engine, a free weekend and several pots of tea.

Inventory Tetris a silly idea I’ve had bouncing around in my head for a while now, a literal interpretation of a phrase often heard in reviews and forums. I chose to parody Resident Evil 4 specifically (the merchant makes me laugh), but I thumb my nose equally at Diablo, Deus Ex and every other game that turns inventory management into a block puzzle. If the main character isn’t even seen carrying a briefcase, your commitment to spatial realism is moot.

You can find instructions for installing/running the game on my personal blog. You can access the source code by unzipping InventoryTetris.love, and everything is GPL licensed so you’re free to distribute and modify the game as you please.

This year will be coming to an end soon, and I'm sure many of you will be making "Best Games of 2008" lists this month. However, a year is a long time and many of us can barely remember games that were released this Spring.

Therefore, I present to you a master list of noteworthy titles that were released in 2008. The information was scraped from the Giant Bomb release calendar, so any inaccuracies there have carried over. Have I omitted any important titles? Please let me know in the comments.

Enjoy!

{View the .TXT Version Here}

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Age of Booty
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Alone in the Dark
American McGee's Grimm
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Armored Core: for Answer
Army of Two
Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles
Audiosurf
Bangai-O Spirits
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Baroque
Battlefield: Bad Company
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bioshock (PS3)
Blast Works
BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
Blitz: The League II
Boom Blox
Braid
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Bully: Scholarship Edition
Burnout Paradise
Call of Duty: World at War
Castle Crashers
Castlevania: Judgement
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Chrono Trigger DS
Civilization IV: Colonization
Civilization Revolution
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Condemned 2: Bloodshot
Conflict: Denied Ops
Cooking Mama: World Kitchen
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Crysis Warhead
Culdcept Saga
Dark Sector
de Blob
Dead Space
Devil May Cry 4
Disgaea DS
Don King's Prizefighter
Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
Dynasty Warriors 6
Echodrome
Endless Ocean
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Eternal Sonata (PS3)
Eternity's Child
Etrian Odyssey II: Hero of Lagaard
Exit DS
Fable II
Facebreaker
Fallout 3
Far Cry 2
FIFA Soccer 09
Final Fantasy Chronicles: My Life as a King
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
Final Fantasy IV DS
Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
fl0w (PSP)
Football Manager 2009
Fracture
Frontlines: Fuel of War
Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
Galaga Legions
Gears of War 2
Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
God of War: Chains of Olympus
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Grand Theft Auto 4
Grand Turismo 5 Prologue
GRID
Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades
Guitar Hero World Tour
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
Haze
Hinterland
Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds
Ikaruga (XBLA)
Infinite Undiscovery
Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine
Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns
King's Bounty: The Legend
Kirby: Super Star Ultra
Left 4 Dead
Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
Legendary
Lego Batman: The Video Game
Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
Line Rider 2: Unbound
Lips
LittleBigPlanet
Lock's Quest
Lost in Blue 3
Lost in Blue: Shipwrecked
Lost Odyssey
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition - Colonies Edition
Lost: Via Domus
LostWinds
Madden NFL 09
Major League Baseball 2K8
Mario Kart Wii
Mario Super Sluggers
Mega Man 9
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Metal Slug 7 DS
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Mirror's Edge
MLB 08: The Show
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Mother 3 (Fan Translation Patch)
MotorStorm: Pacific Rift
My Sims Kingdom
Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
N+
Nascar 09
NBA 09: The Inside
NBA Live 09
NCAA Football 09
Need for Speed: Undercover
NFL Head Coach 09
NHL 09
NHL 2K9
Ninja Gaiden II
Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword
Ninjatown
No More Heroes
Okami (Wii)
Opoona
Peggle Nights
Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness
PixelJunk Eden
Pixeljunk Monsters
Populous DS
Portal: Still Alive
Princess Debut
Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
Professor Layton & The Curious Village
Pure
Quantum of Solace
Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty
Resistance 2
Rez HD
Rock Band 2
Rock Revolution
R-Type Command
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
Saints Row 2
Sam & Max: Season One (Wii)
Samba de Amigo (Wii)
Secret Agent Clank
Sega Superstars Tennis
Shaun White Snowboarding
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES
Silent Hill: Homecoming
SimCity Creator
SingStar (PS3)
SingStar '90s
SingStar Country
SingStar Legends
Singstar Pop Vol. 2
Sins of a Solar Empire
Skate It
Smash Court Tennis 3
SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals: Confrontation
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Sonic Unleased
Soul Bubbles
Soul Calibur IV
Space Invaders Extreme
Spectrobes: Beyond The Portals
Spider Man: Web of Shadows
Spore
Spore Creatures
Star Ocean: First Departure
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
Tales of Vesperia
Tetris Party
The Bourne Conspiracy
The Club
The Last Guy
The Last Remnant
The World Ends With You
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
Time Hollow
Tom Clancy's EndWar
Tom Clancy's Rainbox Six: Vegas 2
Tom Raider: Underworld
Too Human
Top Spin 3
Tornado
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2
Trials 2
Turok
UEFA Euro 2008
Universe at War: Earth Assault
Valhalla Knights 2
Valkyria Chronicles
Viking: Battle for Asgard
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning
Wario Land: Shake It!
Warriors Orochi 2
Wii Fit
Wii Music
Wipeout HD
World of Goo
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009
Yakuza 2
Yggdra Union

TO BE RELEASED IN DECEMBER:
Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon
Mushroom Men
Prince of Persia
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Image at the top of this post borrowed from reax music. Thanks Google image search!

So there I am signing up for the Battlefield: Bad Company newsletter to unlock some crappy gun, and what do I find?



You heard it here first folks. Asia and the EU are countries, and Canadians and Australians can pretty much take a hike, eh?

Despite FORGETTING MY COUNTRY, the BF:BC demo is actually surprisingly fun. It's like an unpolished version of CoD4 with tanks, boats, helicopters, hummers, etc. Every building can be more or less completely demolished, and the scoring system of their "Gold Rush" mode is actually quite well balanced. It's worth checking out if you're an FPS fan.

I gave it a shot for the visuals alone, but now I'm actually quite impressed by this game. It takes a certain skill to get the rhythm of the mouse movements and the art style/music is very entertaining (if a tad unoriginal at this point.)

DOEO!

If you're looking to procrastinate, you could do worse.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Still Alive was the credits song to end all credits songs, and I don't think anyone will top it anytime soon. That being said, with the flood of great games that arrived at the end of 2007, I think a lot of greatness got lost in the shuffle. Namely, the Mass Effect credits song.

Perhaps you don't have a 360, or maybe the technical issues turned you off the game. You might even have finished Mass Effect but not bothered to watch the credits. In any case, if you missed it, take a good listen now:



The song is called M4 (Part 2) by Faunts off the album of the same name (the whole of which is worth a listen as well.)

While Still Alive is still the reigning champ, are there any other video game credits songs that you enjoyed? The quality of the ending itself notwithstanding, was the MUSIC good?