Best PC games and gear of 2009

Read our list of best PC games and PC gaming gear of all the PC games and gaming peripherals we had a chance to play and use in 2009.

Best PC Games of 2009: Left 4 Dead 2 / Dragon Age: Origins

Of all the games on our 12 great games of 2009 list, our picks for best games of 2009 would be Left 4 Dead 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.

The original Left 4 Dead was a great game, but Left 4 Dead 2 completely re-invents, and re-invigorates the game to create a sequel that is superior to its predecessor on every level.

Dragon Age: Origins is easily the most compelling and richest RPG of the year—and maybe of all time. Bioware once again proves why they are the king of detailed, story and character-driven RPGs. Dragon Age re-introduces deep, tactical (and often difficult) combat into one of the best RPGs of all time.

If we had to pick two 'most surprising and awesome' games of 2009, it would be Torchlight, by Runic Games, and League of Legends—both games we'd scarcely followed until PAX 2009, and both games we thoroughly enjoy. Best of all, Torchlight costs $20 (or less, if you've managed to catch it on sale), and League of Legends is a free-to-play game supported by micro-transactions.

Best PC gaming mouse:SteelSeries Ikari Laser Gaming Mouse

In our PC gaming mouse round up we cover nine different PC gaming mice, and while we mostly like all of them for various reasons, there's one in particular we keep coming back to: The SteelSeries Ikari Laser Gaming Mouse.

The Ikari offer's a near-perfect blend of power, price, performance, and features. It's soft, rubbery texture is always cool to the touch. The scroll wheel is precise without being stiff, and the right-handed ergonomic design fits your hand like a glove.

Ergonomics combined with a rich feature set of programmable buttons, on-the-fly DPI switching, and a 3200DPI sensor make a virtually perfect gaming mouse. (Left-handed gamers may want to check out the ambidextrous and more advanced cousin to the Ikari, the SteelSeries Xai.)

'Runners up' include the right-handed ergonomic Razer Imperator and Logitech G9x Laser mouse, both of which are also excellent gaming mice and consistent favorites.

Best PC gaming headset: Logitech G35

In our PC gaming headset roundup we cover seven different sets of PC headsets and earphones. But the one we always return to using, however, is the Logitech G35.

The Logitech G35 PC gaming headset is feature-rich and offers more customization options than other headset we reviewed. In addition, it has excellent external noise suppression, and sounds great.

Our first runner up would be the SteelSeries Siberia V2, which beats the Logitech G35 hands-down in comfort, but doesn't offer as rich a feature set. It's definitely the most comfortable headset we've reviewed this year.

Best PC gaming mouse pad: SteelSeries 9HD and Razer Sphex

Steelseries 9HD mousepad You can't really go wrong with any a gaming mouse pad, but our consistent favorites are the SteelSeries 9HD and the Razer Sphex.

Generally, through reviewing a variety of gaming surfaces we've learned that we prefer ultra-thin, textured surfaces. The Razer Sphex is (literally) paper-thin and adheres to your desktop, and the SteelSeries 9HD is very thin (about 1mm). Best of all, neither the 9HD or the Sphex will break the bank. The 9HD retails for around $35, whereas the Sphex runs about $15.

Using a good gaming mouse and gaming surface together is like watching HDTV for the first time. Once you get accustomed to it, you'll never want to go back.

Best gaming gear: Gunnar Optiks gaming glasses

OK, so we don't really have anything that the Gunnar Optiks gaming' glasses are competing with, but we thought they deserved special mention.

The Gunnars intrigued us enough at PAX 2009 to buy a prescription pair. We've loved every minute of owning them and can't imagine going a day in front of a PC monitor without them.