"Recommend me some games!" or "Mauve hasn't bought anything since Portal 2 came out"
 

You saw the title. Ok so it's not ENTIRELY true; I did pick up a few PS2 and DS games back in July or so and I've been playing Champions Online, but those don't count cuz they're old (or free).

So here's the deal: 2011 had a slew of much-talked-about games and I have only played one of them. Christmas is rollin' ever closer and I wanna know what I should ask for (or buy for myself during the inevitable post-Christmas sale.) What was awesome and what sucked? If you could pick just one or two games from this year that really stood out, what would they be?

For the record, I have a DSLite, a Wii, and a PC with Steam.

A few games I've heard good things about:
Batman: Arkham City (haven't played Asylum though)
Skyrim (IT'S ALL YOU PEOPLE TALK ABOUT)
Zelda: Skyward Sword (the ones who don't have Skyrim yet talk about this one)
Mass Effect 2 (Not sure if this was this year or last, actually. But haven't played it or ME1.)

What're your opinions on these? What is this list missing? Why the frig is the original Mass Effect incompatible with my computer's OS?

Assassin's Creed Revelations: Better if you played the other ones, but a really fun game. Lot's to do.

Arkham City does not really require Asylum for you to truly enjoy it... recommended!

Skyrim: I would recomend it... but.. meh, only if you really like that sort of game

Mass Effect 2 is really great, better if you play ME1, not vital to have done it so though... also, it's a very nice buffer before ME3 comes along which would be soon...

Driver San Francisco (it's really awesome)

Rage is also pretty fun (and pretty)

Any of these games will get you your money's worth

I'd suggest getting both. Asylum's great, City's better and fixes much of the stuff in Asylum that was flawed, boss fights in particular. There's a few plot elements (Joker in particular) that it helps to have played through Asylum to acquire a better understanding of this specific Batman canon.
Be advised that both come with ridiculous amounts of DRM. Securom with activation limit, Games for Windows Live, and Steamworks.

Can't help you with that one, I'm waiting for the summer sales next year or the inevitable GOTY version that'll come with all the DLC they decide to release.

Can't talk about that one either.

Mass Effect 1 had a weaker port to the PC than ME2. I don't know what OS you're using or why it hates it, but I actually get better performance with ME2 than ME1, despite improved graphics and all that jazz. Go figure.
ME2 is a lot better with an imported ME1 game save, especially since otherwise the game picks a lot of default (and bad) story choices. If you can't play ME1, watch a LP and then have a gander at this website.

Obviously the Steam Christmas sale will start soon, which'll have lots of delicious things to pick up. Too many things to pick up. Personally I acquired Deus Ex: HR and Fallout:NV earlier this year, so I can recommend keeping an eye out for them.

Oh right, I haven't played any of the Fallout games yet either. I forgot about New Vegas.

I think every game recommendation could be framed by them only liking "that sort of game."

Which is not in defense of Skyrim or anything. Just sayin.

I have heard Arkham City has frame-rate problems on PC. Haven't researched progress on that though, just word of mouth. So for PC games I suppose I would go Mass Effect 2 or Skyrim based on your list. Though ME2 is soooo 2010.

The AC framerate problems are if you run it on DX11. They're supposedly semi-fixed. But honestly, DX9/10/whatever looks just fine in the first place.

Hey.

Get the humble indie bundle.

That is all.

I'M KIDDING, JAMESTOWN IS FUCKING GREAT

Listen to Ryong, buy any indie bundles that appear. They aren't that expensive and include several games. Also, DRM free AND Steam codes for the games isn't that bad :3

Are you afraid of seizures? No? Get Beat Hazard, it's a nice twin stick shooter where you play with your music.

Shatter is a brick breaking game with an awesome soundtrack, it's also got some extra features :3

It seems some want to play Killing Floor and Serious Sam TSE on the weekends so, you might want to look at those games

It seems most will talk about the PC so...

Skyward Sword: I've played it and it's a nice game. It has a ton of motion controls so, that could be a negative point for you.

Kirby Return to Dreamland: I haven't played it but, it looks fun, at least worth checking

Donkey Kong Country Returns isn't that new but, it's a fun game :3

It's worth noting that the motion controls are actually done well, though, which is pretty much a first (other than DQ: Swords, which also did them well). Other than rolling things and those puzzle blocks. Fuck those.

Yeah i know, it's just that i can't really say anything against it... it's a pretty good game. But after playing it i'm kinda... well... let's just say if i knew a 30% price drop was coming i wouldn't get it at launch... as far as Sandbox RPG's goes this one is king. But at the same time... Arkham City and Revelations seems to have more "meat" on their bones for me.