Limited resources, death if you aren't careful at every turn, surrounded by things that are trying to kill you, and you're inferior in almost every way to those you fight.

I don't play Pokemon games; don't enjoy them at all. Etrian Odyssey has a respectable 84 on Metacritic but I can't see it as game of the year at all.

Realistic sound doesn't make it amazing — there's a fantastic interview with the guys who made Black (back in the day, on the PS2) about how they realized 'realistic' gun noises don't blend well but if you tweak them to be slightly more musical, they create a much better overall tone in a gunfight.

Making a game that forces most people to rage quit is a design decision that will not win you many awards.

Got a better suggestion, then give it ... I'm tired of people whining about who won without justifying their own view.

Every survival horror ever made plays like Resident Evil ... until the Last of Us. Seems innovative even at the most shallow level.

I'm confused by their choice for RPG of the year, but I haven't played Diablo 3 yet so I can't speak too loudly. Why don't you explain what they did wrong instead of calling them a joke?

This, this exactly — I'm so tired of people who've never read a book criticizing games for not being multiple choice. Most of the really excellent art in the world has no choice involved; you take it or leave it as it is as a whole. Naughty Dog makes art and some people don't like it; but claiming it would be better…

Its pretty hard to write a survival horror game without combat — not to mention, an awful lot of the combat is much much easier if you're patient and stealthy.

Hype? The Last of Us might be one of the best games I've ever played, never mind this past year, and I've played a LOT of games.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Sure, when its good its good, but it isn't always excellent. The Last of Us had incredibly high quality sound throughout, especially in the 'quiet' areas. Your opening statement back at you: didn't you play the Last of Us?

These devices mean no longer having to pay the ridiculous premium TV companies are building into their sets with integrated services that aren't as good.

Being unaware of reality never helped anyone.

You might want to hire people based on their ability and desire to do the job instead.

I quite enjoyed the multi-stick directional system used in Death by Degrees

The PS4 can dual-stream from the disc and hard drive at the same time for much higher bandwidth and therefore better sound and graphics. That's one of the many reasons Wii U games look like dirt.

... and don't keep notebooks.

Then again, most murders appear to be done for free ... crimes of passion, etc.

SD vs HD is about total pixels, not detail level. There are some horrifically low detail HD games out there.