The best: I'd say two most memorable experiences of this year were Resonance and The Cat Lady. I'll certainly return to those games in the future.
The worst: I don't have time nor money to waste on crap games but WarZ controversy was pretty hilarious.

I assuming we're talking games released this year, not games we played this year?

Best: Miasmata, Mark of The Ninja, Resonance.
Worst: I don't generally buy games I don't like because I rarely buy games on release so I research beforehand.

Shoot, you don't have to discuss it. :P I'm just expressing my feelings towards that game (from what I have read about it) and what it seems to represent. I won't have an opportunity to play it for quite some time as I don't have a machine that will run it.

Reading about games or watching youtube videos is like dancing to architecture. Pointless.

I've only played two 2012-released games, so:

Best: Mists of Pandaria has been incredibly fun, although I rage-quit last night when I died a dozen times trying to kill an Elite Rare horde bastard. :D

Worst: Diablo 3, since out of the two games, it has pissed me off more thanks to the RNG Elites. But all that is history now, thanks to the re-balancing of Inferno and the introduction of Monster Power.

Best dishonored,Botanicula, euro truck simulator 2
worst me 3 ending , extended crap

Best 5:
- The Walking Dead
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Diablo 3
- Mass Effect 3
- now there's a lot i haven't played/haven't completed, which looks like they could join in here.. but for now the place goes to = To The Moon...

Worst 5 (tried as hard as possible to avoid crap games this year, but a few bad ones did slip through):
- Family Guy: Back ot the Multiverse
- Medal of Honor: Warfighter
- Inversion
- Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
- Grimlock

I find it fascinating how all the best games seem to be indies or games from 2011. 2012 really wasn't that amazing a year, was it? Of course, 2011 is a tough act to follow, but still.

Haven't decided on a "best" yet. I also make a point not to buy games that look iffy or get poor reviews, so no worst game, either.

Well, naturally if one wants to spend time on a quality game, one is generally going to do research on it. (Take the WarZ fiasco, for example.) However, in my case I assume you're sort of talking about "book larnin'" versus "real-world experience", where reading about the game certainly isn't the same thing as experiencing it.

Wtih all due respect, you seem to be taking offense to me even bringing my opinion up. :-/

Of course. Do you see my opinion about the menstruational cycle? Or about Justien Biber concerts? Or about any movie I haven't seen? No, because I can't have an in-depth opinion about something I haven't experienced it. You can say "It's not my kinda game" or "I don't play shooters". But having a discussion about a game you haven't experienced? Yeah, that is pretty pretentious.

And if you are interested in a game, you do not research about it. You play it. Because that is what an experience is about. You don't look up all the tricks before you go to a magic show. A videogame is a tailored experience that is build around you not knowing what is happening around the corner. Same with books. "Never let me go" is so great because the unknown dread is felt with every page it progresses, but if you know it from the start, you don't have half the experience you have when you see how the writing is doing its magic.

Let's play videos are the worst thing that has happened to gaming in recent years.

Best: Mass Effect 3. This was the most amazing video game I have played this year, and probably ever. I can't tell you exactly why; I just enjoyed it a whole-stinkin'-lot. Probably the first game I've ever played twice in a row. Also, Final Fantasy XIII-2 was pretty awesome (that did come out this year, right?).

Worst: Eh, I may have to come back to this one. I can't for the life of me think of any other 2012 games I've played.

What didn't you like about Grimrock (I assume that's what you mean)? I just got it with the HiB and I'm definitely looking forward to playing it, since the opinions on it were mostly positive.

BEST : Spec Ops : The Line, Borderlands 2, Mark of the Ninja, Walking Dead, Warlock : Master of the Arcane, Sleeping Dogs, XCom.

WORST : Sniper Elite 2, Wargame : European Escalation, Kingdom of Amalur : Reckoning, Hotline Miami (not a bad game but IMMENSELY overrated), Dishonored (again, I simply don't understand the hype. Decent game with a neat premise, but it all fell flat for me).

best: hotline miami, dead pixels, they bleed pixels
worst: diablo 3.

I take offense with this quite a bit. The idea that a consumer should go in ignorant to a game is completely asinine. Let's Plays and videos of gaming help you make educated decisions. You get to find out what a game is before you purchase it, making a wise investment. That's like saying you shouldn't read movie reviews before looking into movies, or read consumer reviews of products before purchasing. Everything is an "experience" unique to the individual; but I'm sure not going to throw $59.99 around on a "Ooo, the trailer looks cool with it's live action sequences!" whim.

Back on topic, I don't buy many brand new games:

Best: I had thought Fallen Enchantress, but Chivalry is making a strong run at it. I got it a few days before Christmas and have been completely absorbed by it. Honing my skills as a master dueler. Not so good at other types of fighting though.

Worst: X-Com. I freaking hate this game now. I'm not even going to get into the "IT'Z NOT X-COM" thing. It's a broken game; with cheating AI, that completely misses the balance of the original X-Com, with the most annoying cinematics and personalities I've seen in some time, Their lack of support post-release, the DLC, and their attitude towards modding (which they had said to support pre-release) are just icing on the cake. I keep TRYING to like X-Com, and I keep trying to play it; but it's like the game doesn't want to be enjoyed. It actively spites me.