The titles are Need for Speed: SHIFT, Battlefield 2: Complete Collection, Medal of Honor: Airborne, Godfather, Godfather 2, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and are all available right now.

After the addition of today’s half-dozen, the total number of EA games on Steam jumps up to 20 in the price range of between $10 and $50.

Steam Games via Kotaku

The premise is simple. Each day you pick a player that you think will have a hit that day. The site shows you the pitching/hitting match up and you choose who, it can be any player in the league, you think will produce a hit. One hit- that’s all you need. The next day you do the same thing. You can pick a different player everyday if you want. There is really no restrictions to who you pick, just that you have to pick someone. Your streak continues until the player you selected doesn’t produce a hit and then your streak ends and you start all over again. The objective is to have a streak of 57 games. The MLB hit streak was set in 1941 and is 56 games.

It may seem easy, but trust me folks- it isn’t. There are all different strategies to try: riding a hot player, basing it on who is pitching that day, where the game is being played, etc. There is always something that causes your streak to combust. It can be frustrating and addicting. Plus who doesn’t want to win a million dollars?

Well, it’s not quite baseball season yet, although spring training is looming, so today I decided to start playing ESPN’s Streak for the Cash. It is the same concept except there are random games with random questions asked. Will this player score more than this player? Who will score first? You start building a streak and with the goal of a 27 pick streak by the end of March.

The whole thing seems like it was stolen a bit from MLB.com, which I believe offered their version before ESPN came out with theirs, but fun nonetheless. I like the fact that it features many sports situations and you don’t have to play every day-you can pick and choose as you please.

So here I go. Wish me luck! Let me know- have you played before? What is your highest streak?

Building off that, here is my list of the top 10 video games of 2008.

11. The Honorable Mentions:

Mega Man IX — Platformer

(PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii) Ladies, want to buy your 20-something man a gift that will make him giggle like an eighth grader? Spend 10 bucks on Mega Man 9, a new take on the hyper-challenging classic video game that requires quick reflexes to battle a horde of evil robots and their sinister master.

AND — Final Fantasy IV for DS, Call of Duty: World at War, de Blob for Wii

10. The Witcher Enhanced Edition — RPG

(PC) This Atari title’s beautiful visuals and compelling supernatural story will remind you why you love to play computer games. The Enhanced Edition builds in an already good game, making it a great game.

9. N+ — Platformer

(DS, PSP) Atari had a hell of a year. N+ is a sickly addictive, graphically simple platformer where you do what good platforming good guys do — jump around and collect gold.

8. Resistance 2 — Action

(PlayStation 3) This might be the best multiplayer game on the list, with as many as 60 players getting together online and shooting the bejesus out of anything that moves. There is also a gripping alternate history storyline.

Resistance 2 also boasts the best trailer.

7. Dead Space — Action

(PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) Electronic Arts stepped way out of its comfort zone of sports games and The Sims to put together a haunting sci-fi action game that will suck you in until you’re completely addicted.

Bottom line: EA’s balls dropped this year, and they put out some sick games that are better than 18 or the last 19 Maddens.

6. Guitar Hero: World Tour — Music

(PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii) This is comparable to the first Rock Band, with players jamming on drums, guitars, and a microphone. There’s one important difference, though: With Guitar Hero: World Tour, you can compose your own songs.

Activision finally made a music game that’s as good as Rock Band, a year later. The jury is still out on the studio mode. I’m just waiting for them to put out a Rammstein track pack so I can relive high school.

5. LittleBigPlanet — Platformer

(PlayStation 3, PSP) Users create downloadable content for this game, in which you guide players called Sackboys through a variety of levels and tasks.

Xbox 360 may be killing PS3 in sales again, but PlayStation has the most best games.

4. Fable II — RPG

(Xbox 360) This cerebral game starts with a magic box that grants wishes to your character – who begins as a poverty-stricken orphan and grows up to be whoever you want him to be – good or evil, even straight or gay.

Ok, here’s where I swallow hard, because we’re at #3 and it’s an Xbox exclusive. Fable II is also one of our highest rated games.

3. Rock Band 2 — Music

(PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Wii) It looks, feels, and plays a lot like the original Rock Band, the four-player phenomenon with guitar, bass, drum, and microphone. But Rock Band 2 has more than 80 new songs and plenty more available to purchase, plus an 18-song AC/DC concert you can buy or download.

2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots — Action

(PlayStation 3) The only argument I might find here is that it’s not #1, which GameSpot may insist on. They gave it a perfect 10/10.

1. Fallout 3 — Action/RPG

As my review said, not only is Fallout 3 the best game o f the year, but it’s one of the best games ever made. Blast’s Best Game of E3 is also Blast’s Best Game of 2008. Fallout 3 is the best game of 2008, and may not be beat for a long time.

Aftermath

Missing Wii-only games? Yeah. We are. And it’s not just because I said Wii would fail back in 2006. You can make the case for Mario Kart, and you can argue Brawl into the mix, but 2008 was a disaster for the Wii. Nintendo also did a belly flop at E3, and we were there to see it. Funny thing is that 2007 was huge for Wii, 2008 was a write-off, and 2009 might be another huge year if the Motion Plus takes off, and I do like the Motion Plus.

You’ll see this if you’re attending the the Games Convention in Leipzig, but for the gaming denizens who won’t be able to make it to Germany, you should know about the jDome.

“The jDome is a half-spherical rear projection system which immerses the gamer inside the game world,” says John Nilsson, the “J” behind the jDome. “Combining the jDome with off-the-shelf hardware
and software, the jDome gives a low cost Omnimax-like gaming experience at home.”

This is an amazingly simple concept — but someone just had to think it up!

The idea is to immerse the gamer and make you turn your head and interact rather than just stare at a comparatively small monitor.

If you are going to Leipzig, make sure you check this out!

There are some kinks to be worked out, like a $6,000 price tag and the assumption that you’ll be standing while gaming, as Engadget explains, but it still gets points for the cool factor.

More information can be found at http://www.jdome.com

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival first-person shooter game released for the PC based on an alternate scenario of 1986’s nuclear reactor incident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union. Clear Sky is the official prequel to 2007’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, released by GSC Game World studio. The prequel introduces an alternative look onto the events of the original game and allows the player to be a mercenary stalker in search of his own path. The game is expected to be released worldwide on August 29, 2008.

The PC-hit Secret Files: Tunguska was released for the Nintendo DS and Wii in May. Secret Files was the most successful adventure game of 2006, Deep Silver said in a recent press release. The game delves into the mystery of Tunguska where, in 1908, a massive explosion of unknown origin triggered a flaming inferno caused massive amounts of death and destruction. Players follow a kidnappers’ trail through ancient secret passageways in Irish castle ruins, through the flickering heat of Cuba, and aboard the legendary Trans-Siberian Railroad to discover the truth behind the catastrophe.

On December 31, 2008, Deep Silver will release Gravity simultaneously for the DS and Wii. As a puzzle game, it has over 100 levels that can be completed in multiple ways, plus 10 “sandbox” levels and a custom-level editor, allowing for hours of replayability.

Pet Vet: Down Under for the Nintendo DS uses the stylus functionality to allow players to interact with six different Australian animals as a veterinarian. The game’s target audience is young children. It contains extensive information about Australia and its wildlife, which players can read in order to treat the animals and successfully grow their veterinarian business.
Deep Silver develops and publishes interactive games for all platforms. Working with its various partners, their products are designed to appeal equally to all video game lovers.

Since 2003, Deep Silver has published about 40 games. Their internal development studio, Deep Silver Vienna, opened in 2007.

Jackson was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia Eagles. Schmitt was tagged by the Seattle Seahawks in the fifth.

They are also quick to warn parents against violence and swearing in video games.

We’re just going to list the best fucking games. K? Thanks.

Blast’s top five PlayStation 3 games of 2007

5. Assassin’s Creed

It didn’t live up to expectations, but it’s visually stunning and shows what’s possible. Hopefully someone will take the concept and make better game from it.

4. MotorStorm
This one came out early in the year and it’s emerged as one of the top PS3 games out there — it even comes with the system at a lot of stores.

From our March 1 review: “We wanted to harness the power of the PS3,” said Nigel Kershaw, lead game designer for Evolution Studios, the game’s developer. “PS3 is a very very very powerful machine. We had to learn its power and what it could do.”

3. Rock Band and Guitar Hero III
It’s a tie. You’ll never have a better time not actually playing the guitar.

2. Heavenly Sword
Chick swings swords. Kills. Hot.

1. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune
The best game on the PlayStation 3 so far. With the recent game releases, we have to hope there’s a ton more like this in store for 2008.

Biggest letdown: Lair.
Best PlayStation 2 game: God of War 2

Blast’s top five Xbox 360 games of 2007

5. Bioshock
September 3 review: “The world is Rapture, an underwater paradise created to avoid the problems with the world above the ocean line. Free of political influence and censorship, it should have been perfect. By the time the player arrives, it’s in disarray. Burning, leaking, and filled with psychotic inhabitants, the secrets of this once perfect civilization are breathtaking in their depth.”

It may seem odd to find this at the bottom of the list, but there’s a lot of competition.

4. The Orange Box.

3. Oblivion
I’m personally not a fan, and I love RPG’s. But I felt, on the PC at least, that Gothic 3 had better controls. For the 360, however, Oblivion reigns supreme.

2. Halo 3
It’s awesome.

1. Gears of War
Gears of War is hard, but it’s the epitomal Xbox 360 action game and one of the best ever.

Biggest letdown: Phantasy Star Universe. Someone needs to be arrested for assault or rape or something because they’ve completely ruined one of the best RPG’s ever.

Blast’s top five Nintendo Wii games of 2007

5. Super Mario Brothers (NES)
Yeah so we’ve all been playing it on Emulators for years, but it’s good to see it back in the mainstream. Still waitin for Mario 3…

4. Zelda
You can play all of them…but the one made for the Wii is pretty good too.

3. WarioWare: Smooth Moves
It’s how we all learned how to use the Wiimote.

2. Wii Sports
It was free. It came with your Wii. You play it more than any other game.

1. Super Mario Galaxy
From our upcoming review: Mario is once again trying out a new career field — one not only entertaining and addictive but which should prove to stand the test of time as one of Mario’s greatest adventures ever.

Biggest letdown: Super Paper Mario. I don’t care if Gamespot gave it an 8.8. It wasn’t an RPG. The story sucked. It was schmultzy even by those standards. Flipping was cool though…

Best multiplayer games

5. Carnival Games (Wii)
The most underrated game of the year. This low-budget Wii title got terrible reviews from the major players in video game journalism.

But have a few beers (or smoke’em if you got’em), have some friends over and tell me this isn’t totally frigging awesome.

4. Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
What GameTap said: If you’re worried about your kids being exposed to violence, rough language, and suggestive themes, these are games you will absolutely want to avoid

This game makes my top five multiplayer list because it’s the most amount of times anyone’s ever said “fuck” in a video game. The multiplayer is hard and some of the maneuvers are tricky, but once you get used to it, this one is very entertaining. “Fragile Alliance” multiplayer mode is innovative also — you have to rob a bank and you can choose to be loyal to your friends or kill them and take the loot yourself.

3. Madden 2008
It’s still fun to compete as your favorite teams — and Madden lets you pick up and go in two minutes.

2. Rock Band
Sure you have to get four people together all the time to make it really work…so?

1. Halo 3
Still the best time you can have shooting short, stupid aliens.