So we survived the Mayan apocalypse and we have come to the end of the year, what now? We at Lowyat.NET editorial thought that there is no better way to end a year than with our takes on the Best Of 2012! So for 7 days from today, we are bringing you what myself and the team feel were our bests of 2012!

We kick off the lists with a topic near and dear to all our hearts, gaming. There have been quite a few game releases across many platforms that have occupied us for longer than we care to share. Here are our picks for what the game of the year was to us.

Editors Note: As you will know, Lowyat.NET does things a little different and instead of a proper points based merit system, we decided to have some fun with this. We hope you do too =)

Read More after The Jump!

Read the other parts of the Super Unofficial Best Of 2012!
Part 2: Super Awesome Random Thing Of The Year
Part 3: Mobile Device Of The Year!

Pang – Slender: The Eight Pages

If it weren’t for 2011’s brilliant “Batman: Arkham City”, I would have tried out a lot more games from this year. However, the one game that crept up and shook the Lowyat.NET HQ team to the core was the indie sleeper hit “Slender: The Eight Pages”. Not since Alma from “F.E.A.R” creeped me out of ever playing a horror FPS have I played a game from this genre – and sometimes I wonder why I was so easily coaxed into playing this game. Interestingly, despite its simple premise, “Slender” was surprisingly engaging and has a way of really sucking you in. And, I wasn’t alone in feeling that way: this game spawned countless videos on YouTube of people’s reactions while playing the game (the one with 11 drunk guys being a particular favourite [NSFW]), confirming it as one of the year’s gaming phenomenons – right up there with the blockbuster releases, which makes “Slender” worthy of my game of the year.

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Chapree – Diablo III

Released 11 years after Diablo II, Diablo III was a massive success right on the first day of its launch. Just take a look at the game’s South East Asia launch event in Singapore that we covered back in May and you’ll see what I mean.

While the always-on DRM proved to be a hassle for many gamers, D3 introduces couple of new additions to make the Diablo series fresh such as skill runes, online auction house that uses real money and of course, a new storyline which all in all made Diablo 3 a solid game.

Lucas – Dota 2 gets released! (Well not really)

What more can be said about the game which has captured the heart (and adolescence) of many a teenager growing up. The highly anticipated sequel to the addictive MOBA game, DOTA was announced a while back and before you correct me for not knowing that it was not released this year, I’m going on the fact that it was made readily available to purchase on the Steam Store this year. That’s also not mentioning how many invites I still have on steam!

Aside from the obvious improvements from the custom map of yore, Dota 2 has brought another arm to eSports, making it one of the most watched games thanks to The International 2 – the second installment of the million US dollar invite only tournament.

So whether you like to windrun away as a suicide lane solo, farm the jungle like a boss or try hard your way to collecting all the items in the game, there is no doubt that when Dota 2 is FULLY released, it may just be my game of the year again.

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Huei – Tetris Battle on Facebook

I know, it’s a lame pick, having a toddler, you’ll be lucky if you have 5 minutes off to read the newspaper, let alone, play games. I pick Tetris on Facebook because it’s the only game that’s hogged most of my time this year and that too, my toddler was busy pressing the spacebar for me or pushing me away so he could get into the action as well.

Compete with random strangers, get more wins to climb to the top of the rank or win more coins to purchase special “powers” to help you get better scores, Tetris is your typical mini game that may sound simple, but can be extremely addictive. I’m not sure if Tetris is THE game of the year, but it’s definitely MY game of the year that kept me entertained and sane while juggling the busy life at home and at work.