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The AbleGamers Foundation continues to spearhead the charge for greater accessibility in modern game design, and just as it did last year, the organization has taken it upon itself to determine which mainstream game released in 2012 offered the most helpful features for gamers with physical and/or mental disabilities.

Surprisingly, EA Sports' FIFA 13 has earned the honor of being 2012's Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year. "For disabled gamers with Muscular Dystrophy, Cerebral Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, and even one-handed gamers," the announcement reads, "the ability to play such a sophisticated sports game with simple controls that can be handled by a trackball or mouse mean gamers who may not have been able to enjoy iconic sporting activities like baseball, football, hockey or soccer can now take part in the fun."

AbleGamers also appreciated the game's color customization abilities and clearly presented, easily navigated menus, but was most impressed, however, by how deeply FIFA 13's AI can be altered. "The entire game can be slowed down. The computer can be set to perform slower and with less efficiency. Player controlled avatars can utilize additional speed, accuracy and shot power. For those with cognitive disorders and motor impairments, the ability to set the game to an acceptable rate of speed enables those with even the most severe of disabilities."

Epix subscribers will be able to access the streaming service on PS3 sometime before the end of March, and on PS Vita in spring.

Use of the free Epix app requires a subscription through cable, satellite or telecommunications distributors. A full list of other supported devices is available on the Epix website – just don't let your set-top box see you checking out those other devices. It's sensitive.

Joystiq is revealing its 10 favorite games of 2012 throughout the week. Keep reading for more top selections and every writer's personal, impassioned picks in Best of the Rest roundups.

Kid Icarus Uprising
I tried not to push Kid Icarus Uprising on my coworkers, despite enjoying it more than anything else I played this year. It's ... not the friendliest game, and requires an investment to enjoy that maybe I wouldn't have put in, had I not reviewed the game. I hated it until I loved it.

The insane, uncomfortable control scheme is a massive turnoff for the first few hours of gameplay, though I swear it clicks later (and is deeply customizable). The script is goofy to the point of being embarrassing, though it also swung to "hilarious" as the game went on. And the multiplayer takes a lot of "training," being based on the same weird control scheme as the ground battles from the single-player game – and it became the only online multiplayer game I cared to put hours of my own time into in 2012.

Kid Icarus Uprising's high barrier to entry makes it very un-Nintendo-like, and the kind of game I usually wouldn't deem worthy of a second look. I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to play a game if I have to wait for it to get fun. But Uprising's payoff is so worth it.

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The next Lego game from Warner and TT Games is Lego: Legends of Chima. No, you didn't miss out on some hit cartoon or established franchise that's being adapted into a Lego game; this is a new original property, tying into a new collection of Lego toys about a "land inhabited by different magical animal tribes."

Legends of Chima's video game branch actually comprises three games. Lego Legends of Chima: Speedorz is a "racing mini-game" that will be available today on Lego.com and tomorrow on iOS. Lego Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey, coming to 3DS and Vita in the summer and DS in the fall, is an "amazing adventure" starring the warrior Laval, who is basically Lion-O from the Thundercats.

Lego Legends of Chima Online is the most ambitious of the three games, a free-to-play "online world" from WB Montreal that lets players build weapons and structures, and interact with the Chima characters in missions. It's due this fall.

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Joystiq is revealing its 10 favorite games of 2012 throughout the week. Keep reading for more top selections and every writer's personal, impassioned picks in Best of the Rest roundups.

Dragon's Dogma
There are so many things wrong with Dragon's Dogma, as noted in Joystiq's scathing review. For starters, its unwillingness to offer guidance makes the Souls games look helpful, its dialogue repetition is nothing short of maddening – yes I freaking know wolves hunt in packs – and no game has ever made fast travel more of a chore. But when it's good, oh how good it is. Combining in harmony with my troupe of automated pawns to take down giant foes in simplistic yet epic, challenging combat is just too delectable to exclude Dragon's Dogma from mention, flaws or no.

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Because of New Year's festivities, Sony has updated the PlayStation Network a day earlier than usual. This week brings a bunch of discounts for some of 2012's best, including a few bucks off Sound Shapes, Skullgirls, Tokyo Jungle, Shadow of the Colossus and many more. Of course, if you're a PlayStation Plus member everything is discounted a tad bit extra.

PS Plus subscribers also get their requisite free games this week, including NBA Jam: On Fire Edition and PS Vita puzzle-platformer, Chronovolt. Both of those are available in PS Plus members' Instant Game Collection right now – for the full list of this week's deals, hit up the PlayStation Blog.

Sony's second dedicated portable gaming platform, the PlayStation Vita, launched in North America and Europe back in February, bringing the phrase "rear touch" into our lives. As of this summer, the device had sold 2.2 million units worldwide, putting it behind even the pre-price-drop 3DS.

The first year of the Vita's life saw the system struggling to find a wide audience, thanks in part to its lack of mainstream appeal – there's no Monster Hunter in Japan as there was on the PSP, and the Call of Duty game we got was far from system-seller material. Truly great games were there for those who found themselves with the hardware, but those big franchises weren't there to entice everyone else.

• PlayStation Vita review: The hardware itself is beautiful, though the choice of a touch-only interface at launch caused some confusion. That has since been fixed. Other issues: like "what is Near?" remain.
• Status Report: the PlayStation Vita, three months in: We talked about the Vita's then-upcoming game lineup with Sony VP of Product Development Scott Rohde, just after an E3 during which Sony seemed strangely quiet about the Vita.
• Vita's PSOne support is a Classic blunder: When PSOne Classics support launched on the Vita, trying to find a classic game to play on the system was a messy, complicated process.

Tomba! and Tomba! 2 are out now on the PSone Classics section of the European PSN for £6.99 each, a MonkeyPaw Games rep told Joystiq today. The games, ports of the original NTSC versions, had some emulation issues but are now available for download on PS3 and Vita.

Additionally, Tomba! 2 is being discussed with SCEA for release in North America, and would be available on PSN for PS3 and Vita as well. Tomba! was originally scheduled to launch on the European PSN in September.

The latest PSN update is now live, and there are some notable additions for PS Plus members and regular users alike. Plus users get to add the excellent Retro City Rampage to their instant game collection. Munch's Oddysee HD also arrives on PSN this week, bringing the one-time Xbox exclusive to the PlayStation 3. The Vita version is slated to arrive next year.

The Holiday Essentials sale continues as well, with a hefty batch of discounted games up for grabs. Highlights include Journey or Papo & Yo for $10.49 ($7.35 on PS Plus), Metal Gear Solid HD Collection on Vita for $24.99 ($17.14 on Plus) and Starhawk for 27.99 ($19.60 on Plus). Meanwhile, Resident Evil 6 has seen its price permanently dropped from $60 to $40. Head over to PlayStation Blog for the full rundown.

PlayStation Network is hosting a flash sale for Assassin's Creed 3 and Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation this weekend. The sale discounts the games by 35%, and also includes a bundle for both games at 50% off.

This weekend, Assassin's Creed 3 can be bought for $38.99, with the Gold Edition on sale for $58.49. Liberation costs $23.39, while a bundle including both Liberation and Assassin's Creed 3 Gold Edition is $59.99. The Gold Edition of the game includes a season pass for the game's DLC offerings.

Starting Monday, December 24, those that are still in the buying mood can net both the PS3 and Vita versions of Retro City Rampage for $9.99 on PlayStation Network. Of course, if the Steam Holiday Sale has you transfixed, you can pick up the game for $10 on there too.

If you're a bit more old-fashioned, you can download the DRM-free game direct from Vblank Entertainment for the same price, which includes a GoG and Steam key. Unfortunately, the direct PC download doesn't include floppy disks for you old codgers out there.

Halfbrick's Jetpack Joyride will become a free download on the PlayStation Network beginning today, December 21, in Europe and Monday, December 31, in North America. The game was previously available for $3.99 as a Mini for PSP, PlayStation Vita and PS3.

Jetpack Joyride on PSN includes everything found in the game's 1.3 update. Fly, Barry Streakfries, fly as long as you can!

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The conflict against the space bugs has rocked Japan for a few months now and today, we learn the enemy will be on our doorstep in only a few week's time. Brace yourselves, soldiers – Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable will be available as a PS Vita download through PSN on January 8 in North America.

Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable is a remake of the campy Xbox 360 original, in which a ragtag group of multi-national soldiers take on seemingly unrelenting hordes of alien bug invaders. It's a pretty easy story to grasp – the only good bug is a dead bug, after all.

Tecmo released more details, and some suspiciously great-looking screenshots, of Dead or Alive 5 Plus today, including information on the two available control schemes in the Vita fighter's weird first-person, vertically oriented fighting mode.

In "Mode 1," you simply tap the screen where you want to attack your opponent, sort of like getting into a fight with the Pillsbury Dough Boy. In "Mode 2," you "touch, flick and pinch the screen" to launch moves. According to Tecmo, both modes have the advantage of giving you a full-screen view of your opponent "in the highest graphic detail."

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If you're stressed out, harried, feeling as if you're burning the candle at both ends – stop it. Burn the Rope on Vita instead.

Burn the Rope, the mobile and WiiWare game, is now on Vita, complete with touchscreen and gyroscopic controls. Burn the Rope previously had a Vita launch window of November in North America. It was an unseasonably warm fall, though, so waiting for the chill of winter is probably a good call for a game involving fire.

Sound Shapes developer Queasy Games wrapped up a present for everyone this holiday season, and this package is simply stunning. Look at the care that went into that tape, the love in the creases, the compassion in the folds – oh, fine, rip it apart. Just tear it open. You animal.

The Holiday Sound Pack has five new, Christmas-themed instruments from classic carols, and it's an automatic addition to all Sound Shapes games, whether on Vita or PS3, that are connected to the internet. If you're so overwhelmed by this act of kindness, you can give back to the Queasy team by uploading your own holiday level with the tag #XMAS for them to play over the break.

That will almost make up for your treatment of the wrapping paper. Almost.

The PS3/Vita platformer Knytt Underground is available on PSN, promising grand subterranean adventure and "zen-like gameplay." It's Cross-Buy, so if you get it one platform, you have it on both.

Also on PSN this week: a lot of discounts! The Holiday Essentials sale is accompanied by other discounts, including the "Sega Heritage Collection" bundle, which offers Jet Set Radio HD, Sonic Adventure 2 with DLC, and NiGHTS for $20. Check the PlayStation Blog for a rather extensive list of deals. You can pre-order PSN versions of Devil May Cry and Metro Last Light starting this week.

A trio of Rockstar PS2 games is also on the Store today, for $10 each: Red Dead Revolver, Bully, and Midnight Club 3 Dub Edition Remix.

Criterion's latest racer, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, presents its first premium DLC pack today. The Ultimate Speed pack has five new rides up for grabs – the Pagani Zonda R, McLaren F1LM, Lamborghini Aventador J and Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse – with 25 subsequent challenges for each to overcome.

Fairhaven also has one new Most Wanted rival prowling the streets in a Hennessey Venom GT Spyder, which you may then take down and claim for yourself. The Ultimate Speed pack is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and Origin right now for 800 MS Points ($10).