Game Of The Year Picks: SCEA's Johnnemann Nordhagen

As part of Gamasutra's end of year round-up, we've asked our readers to submit their choices for top three games of 2005, which we will publish over the next 10 days alongside picks from the Gamasutra staff. Today's first picks come from SCEA's Johnnemann Nordhagen, whose top titles are as follows: "Shadow of the Colossus - If there's a better argument for games as art, I don't know what it is. This game is the most beautiful, haunting, and melancholy game I've ever played, and manages to do it largely with inference, rather than heavy-handed cutscenes or plot twists. Psychonauts - Although it had some problems with frustrating level design in a few places, the overall quirkiness and sense of fun with this title made it one of my favorites for the year. The characters and world were very well done, and the gameplay was, for the most part, great. Donkey Kong Jungle Beat - While I don't think most people would pick this, it really spoke to me. This game was a blast - a traditional platformer with the added excitement of physical control through the congas. It was very simple, but it was 100% fun. It was simultaneously new and different, and very nostalgic." Anyone else interested in answering this question should use the official Question Of The Week page until January 2, 2006. Respondents should ideally keep their answers under 500 words.