NBA 09 The Inside
PlayStation 3 In most markets, competition is a good thing. In videogames, not so good. At least, not good when it's the mighty Sony trying to help elevate the PlayStation3 to the basketball simulator system of choice by releasing a basketball game that few would choose if they looked past the flashy box art... NBA Live 09
PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 If you're a basketball fan and a gamer, you probably feel compelled to buy a new NBA game every year for updated rosters if nothing else. This year, the one to buy is not NBA Live 09. Fallout 3
Windows PC Fallout 3 follows in the auspicious footsteps of role-playing/shooter hybrids before it, Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion and BioShock, widely accepted as Game of the Year in 2006 and 2007 respectively. '08 just might be the year of the Fallout. But maybe not... Fallout 3
Xbox 360 Fallout 3 follows in the auspicious footsteps of role-playing/shooter hybrids before it, Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion and BioShock, widely accepted as Game of the Year in 2006 and 2007 respectively. '08 just might be the year of the Fallout -- on Xbox 360, anyway (the PC version could've been better). LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Xbox 360 Seems this trippin'-the-plastic-fantastic thing just doesn't get old. LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Star Wars Complete, LEGO Indiana Jones and now LEGO Batman. So what's next? LEGO Terminator? LEGO Desperate Housewives? LEGO Jerry Springer?

Das Keyboard Professional
Macintosh, Windows PC Great marketing, an audacious claim, a catchy slogan, self congratulatory hype and also entirely true: The best keyboard on the planet. Period. I Can Play Guitar
General Use, TV Plug-n-Play Though the likes of Activision's Guitar Hero and EA's Rock Band feature itty bitty guitar-shaped controllers so you can air-guitar without the air bit, the Fisher-Price I Can Play Guitar is likewise a guitar controller-based game except it actually teaches guitar. Piano Wizard
General Use, Hardware, Macintosh, Software, Windows PC Hmmm... walks like a duck, quacks like a clavier. Turns out, the Piano Wizard is no toy, it just looks that way -- and only if you put cute little stickers on it. Otherwise, it's a bang-on computerized piano teacher. 2.1 Stereo Orb
Audio, General Use, Hardware, Videogame If you're a sucker for over-sized Christmas baubles worthy of year-round display, check out mStation's 2.1 Stereo Orb, a whimsical little sound systems that also happens to be perfectly simpatico with the stark white Nintendo Wii. VQM-9350 Upconverting DVD Player
DVD, High-Def, Television So you broke down and bucked up for an HDTV and high-def cable or high-def satellite, but have little left to spend on a dedicated high def movie player which, these days, comes only in Blu-ray flavor, with prices starting at some $250 up to $1,500. Yikes.

Speed Racer
DVD Sure, cars shouldn't be able to jump on demand much less pirouette like motorized shurikens. But girls don't give you kooties, either. Speed Racer is all about the life-is-racing fantasy. As in larger-than and fantastic. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
DVD The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical, this film has all the hallmarks of a Burton/Depp labor of love. Cloverfield
DVD An innovative flick about a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people, even better if you consider it a horror movie rather than sci-fi. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Blu-ray, DVD Dewey Cox may have slept with 411 women, married three times, had 22 kids and 14 step-kids, starred in his own 70s TV show, been addicted to every drug known to man, but he also became a national icon and eventually earned the love of a good woman. Sound familiar? There Will Be Blood
DVD A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business, Daniel Day Lewis owns the lead role, as usual.