The first thing that you notice once you’ve unboxed the X41s is how light the headset feels, yet how sturdy it is. The ear cushions are very soft and the headset fits very snugly and the headband is fully adjustable, as is the microphone. The base unit is a well designed piece of kit too. Not only does it act as the wireless transmitter for the headset, but it also has a second audio jack, so a spectator of your gaming session can plug in a second set of headphones and listen to the game audio as well, and has their own volume control for their headset on the base unit.

So on to the audio itself. I have to say it was quite a shock just how much difference there is between the sound quality of the Sharkoons, and the X41s. The sound is far more immersive on the Turtle Beach set and makes a real difference to the gaming experience. The headset has a bass boost button on, and again the difference when engaging this mode is very impressive. The audio itself has a great quality, and the 7.1 surround sound gives an extra feeling of realism to games, and provides additional spatial awareness when playing. I found myself noticing sounds that I hadn’t heard in a game before (L.A. Noire’s ambient sound is very noticeable on the X41s and adds extra quality to a superb game).

The headset itself has it’s own volume control which is very responsive and helps to balance the volume without having fumble around for the controls. The microphone is on a very flexible stem, and it can easily be moved out of the way when not in use. If you do want to use voice chat while playing then the microphone swings down very easily and the stem can be manoeuvred to put the microphone in pretty much any position that you require. The only change to be made to use voice chat is the plugging in of a wire from the headset into the XBox 360 controller. This wire does not get in the way, and there is an inline volume control which independently controls the volume of the voice chat that you hear.

So are there any downsides to Turtle Beach’s offering? Well the set does seem to eat through batteries. You should get around 25 hours per set according to the manufacturer. I’ve been using Duracell Extreme AAA batteries and have gotten around 25 hours per set, but these are expensive batteries to keep buying. I don’t know how long rechargeable batteries last as I haven’t tried them, but they must be a reasonable option, even if the life per charge is not quite 25 hours. Also, some people will find one of the voice chat features frustrating. When using voice chat, your own voice is fed back into the headset, so it can take a bit of getting used to when you constantly hear your own voice in your headset, but that is a small distraction.

All in all I have nothing but praise for the X41s. Turtle Beach have done a great job, and have managed to balance the functionality of the set with the design. The headset is comfortable, functional, and provides superb audio quality. I haven’t seen any interference on the wireless side of the set, and the audio is uninterrupted. Voice chat is excellent, and the option of independently altering the voice volume is a definite plus. Obviously all of this quality and function doesn’t come cheaply, and the RRP of these is £149.99. However the likes of Amazon often have these at a very competitive price, and at the time of writing they are selling them brand new for under £90, which in my opinion is a great price for such a fantastic piece of hardware.

Pros: sound quality, immersiveness of surround sound, no wireless interference, build quality, design.

Cons: Batteries don’t last long, hearing your own voice in game chat.

Also, for the record, last year saw me playing on my XBox 360, PC, and to a lesser extent, my Wii. Don’t expect me to include any PS3 or DS titles as I don’t own these platforms. So, without further ado, here we go….

Also rans:

These are in no particular order, but are the games that almost made the top 5, but not quite!

Team Fortress 2 – yes I know it’s old, but it’s still masses of fun. I discovered this one night whilst online with Dan from Is There Food. We had gotten bored of running round Liberty City and so thought we’d give this a try. And it was a bit of a revelation, defined by the moment I saw myself running into the room to try and steal my team’s flag. That spy caught fire very quickly!

Braid – one of the surprises of the year for me. I didn’t know much about it until I tried the demo, and then immediately bought the full title. Brilliant idea, fantastically implemented, and really gives you some of those moments of complete enjoyment when you finally work out a puzzle.

Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts – like Marmite, you either loved or hated this game. Personally I think it’s superb. Take a franchise of days past and re-invent it. It would have been so easy just to release another platformer, but the new game mechanics and numerous ways to complete a level really give the player freedom. Superb fun.

GTA IV – appearing in virtually every game of the year list I’ve seen. Very gritty, good story and great fun shooting people while racing through the city on a moped!

Lost Odyssey – the only JRPG I managed to play last year (despite there being 2 more on my shelf), but what a game it is. Beautiful looks, good writing (as you’d expect) and very good turn-based combat. Definitely look at this if you’re a fan of the genre.

So now to the Top 5:

5. Fable 2 – I was never a big fan of the original, but Fable 2 was very enjoyable (I say that but I’m only about 25% done with it!). A great look with vistas that look like they go on for miles, simple but fun combat, great quests to keep you running round, and lets not forget the trusty dog as your guide. What’s next from Lionhead?

4. Fallout 3 – again one that I’ve only scratched the surface with, but that I know I’m going to get massive enjoyment from. Leaving the vault at the start of the game gives you a real feeling of seeing a world for the first time. Then stumble across abandoned and ruined towns on the way to your first quests, get ambushed by bandits, then feel the satisfaction as you loot their dead bodies. Brilliant fun, and one I can’t wait to get back to.

3. Prince of Persia – one of the few games I managed to get all the way through in the last 12 months. Yes the combat was simple, and no you couldn’t die, but that doesn’t make it a bad game. The aim of re-inventing the series has been well and truly met, and with an ending that leaves the door wide-open (it couldn’t be more open in fact) for a sequel, I look forward to the next instalment in the series.

2. Warhammer Online – now this one even surprised me. As someone who has played through nearly 60 levels of World of Warcraft, I was very pleasantly surprised by WAR. Public quests were a great introduction, and the Realm vs. Realm combat really gives you a feeling of living with the bigger battle that’s going on. I think it’s telling for me that when I do get time to play an MMO now, it’s always WAR that I fire up, and WAR hasn’t had a look in since my WAR account became active. Superb, and I look forward to many, many more enjoyable hours here.

So that leaves me with my number 1 for the year. A surprise to some (least of all me) given that, up until about 2 weeks before this title was released, I wasn’t even going to buy it! So, drum roll please….

1. Left 4 Dead – the most fun you can have on an XBox 360 with 3 friends. What a superb title that really shows other games how to do suspense. Couple that with the AI Director for the game, and no 2 encounters are ever the same. The tension as you see the swarm round a corner, and know that you’ve not got much health or ammo, but you can see the safe house. It has to be experienced to be believed. This is the only game I have ever (yes, ever) played that has had me cheering and grinning from ear to ear when you finally manage to be evacuated from a level. Absolutely stunning game, and one that I always look forward to playing. This will be in my collection for a long time to come.

So what think you, dear reader? Any that I’ve missed? Any that have made my list that you thought were complete twoddle? Leave me a comment, or better still, write your own list and let me see it….

• Fable 2 – 6.8 GB
• Banjo & Kazooie, Nuts and Bolts – 6.6 GB
• Left 4 Dead – 5.0 GB
• Midnight Club LA – 6.0 GB
• Fallout 3 – 5.9 GB

One thing I’ve not done yet is to set up my avatar. However those smart people over at Microsoft have already published details of how you can use your avatar outside of your XBox, and have provided a handy URL to get a png version of your in-game personage. If you browse across to

http://avatar.xboxlive.com/avatar/<Your Gamertag here>/avatar-body.png

then a lovely png image of your avatar will be displayed for you. Once I’ve set mine up I’ll add him to this post…

Update: So here I am, in avatar form….

I have to say that as someone who has only really scratched the surface of Bioshock (yes I know!) it’s re-ignited my desire to get back to the game and give it a good play through. I remember the first time I picked up the demo and had a play and was absolutely gobsmacked by how well it played, and the feeling as you walked into Rapture for the first time that you had found a deserted city. It actually felt like a city. One that used to be living and breathing (albeit underwater) but was now eerily silent. I also fell into the trap that I’ve read so many others fall into in that you get to the end of the opening cinematic and you wait for something to happen, the switch is that seamless!

But enough of my reminisces! Go and give the article a read, and if you still own it, go back to Bioshock and marvel at the beauty of the game with the knowledge that everything you see is there for a reason, and probably caused one or two arguments along the way…

I’d had the warning signs. A couple of weeks ago I found that Tiger Woods was starting to freeze sporadically. But it only happened maybe 3 or 4 times in total. And then this week brought the dreaded red lights. And then the disbelief. The feeling that says “it’ll be alright. I’ll just turn it off and back on and everything will work.”. If only it were true. Some advice I can offer about arranging the repair though. Don’t, whatever you do, try and organise it through the XBox Support website. I did this, and when I rang up to query where my packing label was to send the console back, was told “oh you should have rung us, the website doesn’t really work” (not the easiest thing to make out in broken english!). Great. Thanks for that. Perhaps, rather than telling that to your customers, you should be telling this to the website team so they can fix it?

So UPS have been and taken my console away to the repair centre, and I now have 4 weeks without my XBox. Very annoying. I guess it’ll give me some time to get some levelling done in Lord of the Rings Online instead, and when the console comes back, finish the fight I most certainly will…