Holiday Warrior 2009

Even amid the family gatherings and holiday parties we'll still find some time to sneak off for a quality gaming session. Read on to find out what we're playing over Christmas break and then head over to the comments section and let us know what you're playing whether it's a game from your '09 pile of shame, or one you received as a gift. Happy holidays!

Reiner: Most of my weekend will be dedicated to opening all of the presents given to me by the Game Informer staff. They haven't put any on my desk yet, but I'm sure they will show up soon. I even canceled my family Christmas just so I could give their presents the attention they deserve.

Bertz: I've got a specific gaming agenda to complete over the holiday break. By day I'll spend most of my hours wrapping up Dragon Age. By night I'll be zombie hunting in Left 4 Dead 2. Any free gaming time I may find in between will likely be spent playing Madden NFL 10 and NHL 10, two phenomenal sports games I can't seem to put down.

Annette: I'm spending the holidays in Chicago with my family and will be bringing the PS3 home. I look forward to finishing up God of War Collection and will also work on Brutal Legend. When I finally put the controller down I'll be out and about catching up with friends and family during our awesome break.

Sean: I will be spending time with my family this season, and we're all excited to be in the mountains of western North Carolina. There will be card games, guitar playing (pickin'), lots of good food, and hopefully a little snow. Plans are also to get my parents a PS3 for Christmas (they want a Blu-ray player and my dad can be a gamer), in which case I will try out Mirror's Edge, and maybe copy over my game saves for Fallout 3 and see if I can get back into that world. I will also be showing off Uncharted 2 and Arkham Asylum to the other geeks in my family and my friends that will be coming up from Florida to visit. Fingers crossed that there will be a new game or two from Santa as well. But really, it'll be all about the kids on Christmas Day, so I'll probably spend that day assembling things and arguing with packaging.

Meagan: We're lucky to have a expansive break from the office at the end of the year. For me, I plan on balancing my time between productive projects around the house (finally painting the living room and fixing broken tile) and catching up on some titles that I have no excuse for never playing. The list (yes, it's a physical list sitting on my desk) includes God of War II, BioShock (started, never finished), Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed, all of which set me up for some stellar sequels. I hope to plow through a few of them so that I come back to the office feeling not only refreshed, but accomplished.

Jeff C: We’ve got a long break, so I’ll have plenty of time for gaming. I’m going to try to get to some of the games I never got around to checking out, but I think most of my focus will be spent beating games I almost finished but stopped playing. Prototype, Blue Dragon, Mercenaries 2, GTA IV’s DLC and Shadow Complex are all going down. Then I’ll probably play through the God of War collection in anticipation of the third (console) game.

Dan: This Christmas I'll obviously be spending a lot of time with my family, which will be great considering that I haven't gotten a real chance to do that since I moved. Late night rounds of Left 4 Dead 2 and New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my sisters will probably be happening frequently. When I'm not hanging out with my sisters, I plan on spending a downright unhealthy amount of time revisiting the Kansas City bars with my dad and friends. I'll probably take at least one trip back down to the University of Kansas, although about 90 percent of the people I knew from there have graduated and moved away. So basically, I have two weeks of video games, going out, and spending plenty of time with family and friends. Sounds like a great break to me.

Kato: I'd like to get done with Assassin's Creed II over the break so I can clear the '09 slate in preparation for some of the early big hitters in '10, including Mass Effect 2 and Heavy Rain. That pair is going to take a lot of my free time.

Your turn. What are you playing over the holidays?