The music intensifies as all other sound becomes a damp whisper. A single gunshot is fired and a beloved character slowly falls to the ground while their comrades yell out in shock. What an emotional scene! Or at least, it would be if it weren’t for the fact that the character in question already received about a thousand bullet wounds earlier in a gameplay segment.

This is a problem that plagues many gaming narratives. Story is often governed by a very different set of rules than gameplay, resulting in some very awkward and even comical moments in what should be distressing scenes. Because of the interactive nature of games, it’s difficult to avoid these pitfalls. Yet, some games manage to handle it a cut above the rest.

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Not every game we love makes it into the WingDamage top 10. Some of them just don’t have enough unanimous support. These are what we like to call “The Leftovers.”

So here ends my first year writing for WingDamage. It has been a lot of fun. I haven’t written as much here as I really wanted too, but I’ve made it a resolution of mine to write down more about the great games coming out over the next year on this fair blog.

But first things first. I’m going to lay down the games from my top ten list that didn’t make the cut for ZOLO’S GAME OF THE YEAR. I can’t say I’ve played every game this year, and there were some games I missed this year that sounded pre-made for my GOTY list, but time is ever marching forward. Without further adieu, here are my leftovers.

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Not every game we love makes it into the WingDamage top 10. Some of them just don’t have enough unanimous support. These are what we like to call “The Leftovers.”

As the only British contributor to WingDamage, my top 10 choices feel a little eclectic.

They’re a mixture of imports, big names and under-appreciated titles, mixed with a few games that only just graced Europe’s shores in 2010.

I feel a little behind, but the extra wait (in more than a few instances) was definitely worth it.

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On a very special ninety-second episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, it’s all about using your imagination to build the vehicle of your dreams: a bike on a skateboard on a crate.

In “The Games What We Played This Week”, the guys talk FlingSmash, Halo Reach, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Call of Duty: Black Ops, and Jesse even takes the Japanese Valkyria Chronicles 3 demo for a spin.

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Hit up after the break for full show notes.

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On a very special eighty-forth episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, we send out Russ “Kermit” Walsh to the mean streets of the Sesame to get the opinion of the common man. It’s a tough job, and there is only one reported frog enough to do it.

We also talk about Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Zombie Pirates, Super Mega Worm, Half Minute Hero, and Halo: Reach. Hit up after the break for full show notes.

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It’s that time of year again; a time when countless Xbox 360s will have copies of a new Halo game spinning in their disc trays for hours on end. Whether you’re waiting in line for it or arguing that it’s over-rated, you know we’ll all be playing it at some point because it’s so dang convenient (why can’t more games let you combine local and online multiplayer?).

But while Halo: Reach may have the spotlight, it’s far from all the quarter has to offer. Head past the break to see our full list of anticipated Xbox 360 games for Q3 2010.

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E3 is finally over. Lots of exciting announcements were made as well as some not so exciting ones, WingDamage actually had somebody providing coverage this year, and people made fools of themselves dancing in front of cameras from the future. But what of our predictions? Did any of them come true?

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This years Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is just around the corner! Just like last year, we here at WingDamage are going to throw down some predictions. Will we make total fools of ourselves? Will we make people suspicious that we have psychic powers? Only time will tell!

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