I just purchased Mass Effect about two weeks ago after much antagonizing from my co-workers because I still had not played, as one person put it,"The best game on the 360, hands down". Since placing the game into my Xbox I have witnessed hours of beautiful storytelling, voice acting, and an increadibly open universe to explore. I have also witnessed plane tearing, terrible enviornmental pop-up, and save files that won't load. So now I'm asking myself "Would I put this $60 chunk of Bioware code in the running for Game of the Year?".

This holiday season we have seen dozens upon dozens of high end games, and we've also seen more problems with them than I can ever remember. I've fallen through the landscape in Assasin's Creed, randomly been taken back to the startup screen in Naruto, and almost thrown both my Guitar Hero III and Rockband guitars in the trash. While these games are all brilliant for one reason or another, I keep getting the feeling that I've been sold an incomplete package. I wonder how game's that have been in production for a year or more can be put on store shelves with such a lack of technical polish.

I already hear your answer "The companies want to get their product out in time so they can make their money". I understand that. But when noticably bad glitches are being found days after a game's release, it makes you wonder what the testers are actually getting paid for. I don't know about the rest of you, but I would have been willing to wait a few extra weeks for Assasin's Creed so I wouldn't have to re-start at a previous chapter because the game decided that two Altiar's on screen at once would be a good thing.

My bottom line is this: I personally feel that these problems make a game incomplete. They detract from the game's overall feel and flow, and often frustrate the gamers in question.  Would I still list a game like this as "Game of the Year"? Sure, but not whole heartedly.