Out of all the "GOTY 2008" lists I've read, I couldn't find one that featured a "winning" game that I felt any attachment to, not even Dtoid's winner Left 4 Dead. It seems that gaming journalists are growing more and more out of touch with what makes a game not only worth playing, but also worth owning. I know a lot of the guys who write "PERFECT GAME! 10/10!" reviews for titles like GTA IV and Gears of War 2 are paid off to do so, but that doesn't change the fact that gaming reviews are growing ever less effective at helping gamers assess a game's level of objective quality.

Instead of trusting the opinions of out-of-touch, sponsored-by-the-developer game reviewers, maybe we can look to other measures to determine a game's worth? This report compiled by JJ Hendricks of Videogamepricecharts.com may be a good start, as it shows exactly which developers have the best track records for making games people want to keep, as well as a couple top ten lists charting which games have the best and worst resale values. Hit the link below for the report, and the jump for a few highlights from yours truly.

[via Videogamepricecharts]

This my friends, will be the last chapter of the Guide for now. I've loved writing it, and I've loved even more the feedback you guys have given me and the discussions we've had as a result of this series. It's been the most fun I've had writing in a long time, and the reaction it's had from you lot has been better than I ever could have imagined when I envisioned it as a silly throw-away one-off article all those months ago.

But the time has come to retire the Guide, and while I'll miss writing it, I feel it's the right thing to do after ten chapters and fourteen gamers. It will though, still make the occasional irregular appearance as new subjects grab me as I go about my travels. As gaming evolves there will always be new gamer-types to catalogue and lampoon, and while they won't be here every week, new chapters dedicated to them will appear whenever one worthy of an entry crosses my path. 

Until then though, enjoy chapter ten. I've saved a special one for this week, and it's one that you'll all know. 

One of the best things about this generation of videogames is the sheer diversity of what's around. Tried and tested genres are evolving and mutating under the influence of next gen technology. Indie developers are making a comeback and bringing with them all kinds of delicious left field malarkey. The Wii and DS are allowing the creation of whole new genres and attitudes towards playing games, and the entire industry is at the point of bursting out in all kinds of new directions like a bucket-load of fungus spores.

There are games for everyone to enjoy, and every kind of gamer can personalize their collection to suit their own tastes, lifestyle and approach to gaming. Of course, not everyone's going to like everything, but given how wide the spectrum of gaming is nowadays, there's more than enough  potential for us all to be able to enjoy something in almost anyone else's library. 

There are still however, some game collections which no-one but the owner can enjoy, and with very, very good reason. Read on to find out just what that reason is. 

Videogames are great, right? We all know that. To the average player they bring fun, stimulation and cameraderie, demanding only the occasional sleepless night and mild case of carpal tunnel syndrome in payment for the big fat greasy dollops of joy they impart into the world.

However in this slightly delayed (Okay, two weeks delayed, you harpies.) eighth chapter of A Guide To Recognizing Your Gamers, I have chosen to discuss a curious little gamer-type I have come across a great many times over the years, who looks upon the pastime with all shades of reluctance and horror.

Rather than enjoying the fun like the rest of us do, he or she sees games as a double-edged sword upon which one side far sharper than the other. Instead of dashing home from school or work to get a few hours play in or spending Friday afternoon planning the weekend's social gaming calendar, their predisposition causes them to shy away from the games they know they should love, and makes the gaming experience one of naught but pain, suffering, and humiliation. 

Want to find out why? Hit the jump. 

Roll up, roll up one and all, and come bear witness to the greatest cavalcade of videogaming curiosities known to modern man. We've got freaks, we've got geeks, we've got things the mere sight of which will make your eyes bleed, and they're all yours for the paltry price of a click.

Actually that's a lie, but we do have another gamer species described and analysed for your persual, education and edification, as is customary around this time of the week. 

What do you say, click and jump?

Once again, it's Thursday, meaning the time has come to roll out this week's chapter of the Guide. Follow me through the jump, where you'll find another gamer archetype analyzed, scrutinized, dissected*, and moderately lampooned for your persual and delight.

This week's chapter is coming a little later in the day than originally planned due to malevolent ninja intervention**, but being the hardy, manly sort that I am, I've fought through those difficulties for the good of you, our readers, meaning that gamer number 10 is but a click away. 

* Dissection will unfortunately be metaphorical only in lieu of the arrival of our surgeon's licenses. Don't worry though, we've found a web site which we've been assured can qualify us.

** The malevolent ninjas intervened by messing with my router. I didn't actually see them do it, but the whole job positively reeked of ninja. 

Welcome friends, to the fifth chapter of A Guide To Reconizing Your Gamers, your invaluable helper in spotting the many varied gamer sub-genera prevalent in today's videogaming experience. As gaming has spread as an activity over the years, the types of people involved in it have become ever more varied and eclectic, with increasingly different tastes and circumstances bringing about a vast collection of approaches and attitudes towards the activity.

This guide will tell you everything you need to know in regards to recognizing tribal traits, understanding ways and customs, and interacting successfully, so hit the jump as we discuss two more citizens of the multifarious modern gaming world. Onwards! 

So here we are again, at the beginning of the newest chapter of our gaming field guide. I'm sure you all know the drill by now. Each week we take two archetypes of the 21st century gaming world and analyse their traits, play habits and peculiarities, in order to arm you with the knowledge you may well need to survive an encounter in the wild.

It's a dangerous and unpredictable world out there, so follow me through to the other side of the jump, where this week we take a look at Technical Gamers and overzealous Caucasian Japanophiles.

Welcome once again to our continuing anthropological guide to the ways of the modern gamer.

You may recall that last week, a full dissection of the common or garden British gaming chav took over the whole chapter. Things return to normal this week, as I once again bring you a total of two very different and contrasting sub-species in an effort to promote greater understanding of their ways, and perhaps better prepare you for an encounter in the wild. 

So come my friends, and join me after the jump for more sociological study and good-natured mockery of our brethren. 

Look I drink ... and so does our friend Kevin Kelly over at Joystiq. It seems that he has also been in search of the Halo's just as your (not "you're) loveable and cuddly Greybush has.

This video and its greatness was created by DigitalPh33r, who also brought you some great Mega Man videos that were featured on Dtoid in the past. In fact, they were so long ago that I can't even seem to find them.

[Thanks Atheistium for the tip]

Welcome, my friends, to the second part of Destructoid's ongoing field guide to the anthropology of the various modern gamer sub-species. 

Before we go on with this week's study, I must confess that only one of the two breeds I had planned to detail in this chapter has actually made it in. However, this is purely down to the fact that upon starting, I found that said strain provided me with more material than I had originally banked upon, and so a cut had to be made in the interests of brevity. Fear not though, as I shall make it up to you next week.

And now, onwards to chapter 2 ...

It used to be a lot easier to stereotype a gamer. It used to be that all that was needed was some greasy hair, thick glasses, and a few faintly veiled allusions to terminal virginity in order for the lazy sitcom writers of the world to have a brand new supporting fall guy all written and ready to go. But that was in a less enlightened time, when gaming was unknown to the masses and the concept of actual normal, well-adjusted adults playing video games was unheard of.

Now however, everyone plays. Your siblings, your Mum, your Dad, your Grandparents, your boss, his boss, his secretary, and her cat with the bowel troubles. Everyone from foetus to corpse plays one manner of video game or another, and gamer archetypes are a lot harder to pin down.

With people from all walks of life coming to gaming from any number of countless perspectives, and all wanting to get something different out of the activity, it’s now impossible to classify someone just on the grounds that they play games. No, if you want to properly look at the various archetypes now involved in our favourite pastime, you now have to look more deeply into how they play games and what they’re getting out of it.

With this in mind, I have begun building an in-depth anthropological study of the modern video game player and his/her ways. Join me if you will, as with the occasional aid and input of my fellow Destructoid writers, I endeavour to shed light on the varying strains of this most interesting modern cultural phenomenon. You might meet yourself, and I virtually guarantee you’ll meet someone you know. And at the very least we’ll all get some cheap laughs at the expense of people probably not too dissimilar to ourselves.