by Lucy Ungaro

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! This week, we celebrate the year by looking back on the best games of 2015 as well as anticipating all 2016 has to offer. The Circle is hosting the 5th annual NY Game Awards in February, be sure to check out details here!

Let’s start by reminiscing about all the great times we had this year in the video game realm. Jeff Bakalar reminds us of the best videogames to grace our presence in 2015. It was a pretty exciting year, but don’t worry; that excitement is not going to die down anytime soon. Nope, according to Jeff Bakalar, there’s also a ton of possibly great games coming out in 2016. Check that list out here.

In his role of Games Guru at Boys’ Life, Harold Goldberg chooses The Boysies, the best games for kids, which adults may like, too.

Think you know all the best games of 2015? Think again. Chelsea Stark is here to tell you about all of the games that might have evaded you this year. Did you know there’s a 2D Assassin’s Creed game set in China? Because I didn’t. Read the article to find some hidden treasure.

Looks like Monkey Island has a contender for insult-combat. In Oh…Sir!, you have to construct the best insults from a pool of randomness, and the results can be pretty hilarious. Check out Jorge Jimenez’s article for the details.

An important reminder from Samit Sarkar: the Steam Winter Sale has commenced. Which means, go buy some games. You can find information on the sale here.

Since we’re already looking back, let’s go even further. Jeremy Voss has some thoughts on the Talos Principle and the Portal series, and even goes so far as to call Portal 2 “perfect.” Read his thoughts here.

Ok, it’s time to predict the future. People talk a lot about the fate of virtual reality, but Scott Stein seems certain that VR will have its big break this upcoming year, and has the facts to back it up. This is great news for me, because it means we’re one step closer to having a VR game where we can fly like birds. What more could you want? Explore his reasoning here.

And now for news outside of the Circle…

Two time “Worst Company in America” winner, EA, is currently engaged in a battle against hackers who are causing server and connection problems. Apparently, attacking gaming networks is a tradition this time of year, so Happy Holidays! Read about the attacks here.

Another valiant warrior attempts to bridge the gap between feminist game critics and GamerGaters, or at least people with GamerGate mentality. Unlike other articles I’ve seen on this subject, however, the author actually manages to come up with some reasoning as to why this entitlement exists among GamerGaters. He does not excuse it, merely provides some form of sense where previously there was none. He also explains why feminist criticism of games is so important to games being considered art in the critic world. It’s a good read.

We’ve seen a lot of “Top 10” lists praising the games of 2015, so let’s take a look at a different perspective. A writer from Forbes discusses the “15 Most Disappointing Games of 2015.” A lot of the games he lists would also be found on most “Top 10” articles, which is interesting. To see why some of your favorite games of 2015 could be fairly argued to be “disappointing,” check out this article.

That’s it for this week. Happy Holidays again, and see you soon!