Topic: 2008 Game of the Year Awards - GameSpy and IGN, so far...

[MysterD]

Here's GameSpy's 2008 Game Of The Year Awards.

Here's the PC results.

PC Winners Recap

PC Game of the Year
Fallout 3

PC Top 10 Games of the Year
1. Fallout 3
2. Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
3. Left 4 Dead
4. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
5. Grand Theft Auto IV
6. World of Goo
7. Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
8. Mass Effect
9. Sins of a Solar Empire
10. Spore

PC Action Game of the Year
Left 4 Dead

PC Best Strategy Game of the Year
Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor

PC MMO Game of the Year
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning

PC Puzzle Game of the Year
World of Goo

PC RPG Game of the Year
Fallout 3

[Pugnate]

That list makes it seem like an extremely dry year for PC gaming.

[Quemaqua]

Nice to see GalCiv 2 and Sins get some love, though.

[idolminds]

I will see your Gamespy PC GOTY awards, and will raise you IGNs PC GOTY awards:

Best Action Game: Grand Theft Auto 4
Best Graphic Adventure Game: Sam & Max Season 2
Best Music/Rhythm Game: Audiosurf
Best Platform Game: Prince of Persia
Best Persistent World Game: Warhammer Online
Best Puzzle Game: World of Goo
Best Racing/Driving Game: Grid
Best RPG: Fallout 3
Best Shooting Game: Left 4 Dead
Best Strategy Game: Sins of a Solar Empire
Best Graphics Technology: Crysis Warhead
Best Artistic Design: Spore
Best Original Score: Mass Effect
Best Use of Sound: Left 4 Dead
Best Voice Acting: Grand Theft Auto 4
Best Story: Mass Effect
Best Family Game: Spore
Best Multiplayer Game: Left 4 Dead
Best Expansion: Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor
Best New IP: Sins of a Solar Empire
Most Innovative Design: Sins of a Solar Empire
PC Game of the Year: Sins of a Solar Empire

[MysterD]

Wow @ Sins eating up all those PC IGN Awards.
Congrats to Sins!

[Pugnate]

Those are more award categories than quality games.

[MysterD]

GameSpot's Best of 2008 Awards

Special Achievement Awards
Most Surprisingly Good Game -- Air Traffic Chaos (DS)
Best Story; Best Graphics Technical; Best Voice Acting; Best Boss Fights -- MGS 4 (PS3)
Most Memorable Moment -- MGS 4 for Microwave Tunnel / Split Scene Sequence (PS3)
Best Graphics Artistic -- Valkyria Chronicles (PS3)
Best New Character -- "Brucie" from GTA4 (PC, PS3, X360)
Best UK Developed Game -- GTA 4 (PC, PS3, X360)
Best Expansion Pack -- WoW: Wrath of The Lich King (PC)
Best Original Downloadable Console Game; Best Licensed Music -- Braid (X360)
Best Downloadable Content -- Burnout: Paradise with New Modes, Motorcyles, etc etc. (PS3; X360)
Best Atmosphere; Best Sound Design -- Dead Space (PC, X360, PS3)
Best Original Music; Most Innovative Game -- Patapon (PSP) 
Best Use of a Creative License -- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3; X360)
Funniest Game -- Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law (Wii, PSP, PS2)
Best Coop Multiplayer Game -- Left 4 Dead (PC, X360)
Best Competitive Multiplayer Game -- Call of Duty: World at War (PC; PS3; X360; Wii)
Best Original Game Mechanic -- Tom Clancy's EndWar for Voice Control (X360; PS3)
Most Improved Sequel -- Resistance 2 (PS3)
Best Use Of Control Scheme -- Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (DS)
Best Implementation of User-Generated Content -- Little Big Planet for Level Editing Tools & User Created Level (PS3)
Best Original IP -- No More Heroes (Wii)
Biggest News -- Is The Game Industry Recession Proof?
Best Australia-Developed Game -- De Blob (Wii)
Most Violent Game To Make It Past Aussie Censors -- Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, X360)

[Quemaqua]

It's actually fairly hard to argue with that list.  A few quibbles here or there, but that's pretty solid.  Of course, I don't really care that much, so I'm not going to read anything beyond what D posted.

[MysterD]

GameSpot's Best of 2008 Awards

Dubious Honor Awards
Best Game No One Played -- World of Goo (PC; Wii)
Most Disappointing Game -- Mercenaries 2: World in Flames (PC; X360; PS3)
Most Despicable In-Game Advertising -- Shaun White Snowboarding for "Target" Exclusive Mountain with extra Target ads littered everywhere on the mountain (side note: Target Mountain also adds 20% more content to the game!) (Xbox 360; PS3)
Flatout Worst Game -- M & M's Cart Racing (Nintendo DS)
Worst Game Everyone Played; Worst Use of a Great License -- Iron Man (PS3; X360; Wii)
Least Improved Sequel -- Animal Crossing: City Folk (Wii)

Genre Awards
Best Action-Adventure Game -- MGS4 (PS3)
Best Driving Game -- Burnout: Paradise (X360; PS3)
Best Fighting Game -- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)
Best Platformer Game -- Braid (X360)
Best Puzzle Game -- Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Best Rhythm / Music Game -- Rock Band (X360; PS3)
Best RPG -- Fallout 3 (PC; X360; PS3)
Best Shooter -- Left 4 Dead (PC; X360)
Best Sports Game -- NHL 09 (PC; X360; PS3)
Best Strategy Game -- Sins of a Solar Empire (PC)

Platform Awards
Best PC Game -- Fallout 3
Best X360 Game -- GTA4
Best PS3 Game -- MGS4
Best Nintendo Wii Game -- No More Heroes
Best PSP Game -- Crisis Core: FF7
Best DS Game -- The World Ends With You

GameSpot's GAME OF THE YEAR - MGS4

[MysterD]

Rock Paper Shotgun's Top 10 Angry Internet Man Angerers of 2008

10. Diablo 3 has too many colours
09. Spore -  with Spore being disappointing
08. Orc vs. Orc (WoW Vs. WAR)
07. Bethesda Are Worse than Hitler (FO fans prejudging Fallout 3 before it even came out)
06. Assassin's Creed PC (too many steps to exit the game, poor port, etc etc)
05. World of Goo being pirated
04. Bioshock ate my children (Little Sister killing)
03. Epic dumping the PC (notably Cliffy B with no plans for GoW2 PC)
02. GTA-Gate (PC version with Triple DRM, poor port, issues galore, etc etc)
01. Spore - DRM Signals The End of Time (The Spore DRM Fiasco)

[TheOtherBelmont]

It's good to see MGS4 getting Game of the Year, it sure as hell deserves it.

[Quemaqua]

I dunno'.  I love the games, but even as total experiences they're so subjective.  Any game will have supporters and haters, but those games are polarizing to the extreme.  They're just so weird some people will never be able to appreciate them.  It's a very strange choice for a GOTY.

[Pugnate]

Yea I don't agree with the choice at all. It doesn't make sense to me, and I do agree with everything that Que said. To me, the MGS games are the biggest niche games out there.

[MysterD]

Top 10 Games From San Fran Chronicles

The best video games of 2008
Erick Wong
Sunday, December 28, 2008

HIGH: Sony tweaks its PlayStation Store to include a video section and releases PlayStation Home. Microsoft, meanwhile, redesigns Xbox Live and adds Netflix on demand. Here's to healthy competition.
Images

LOW: Was there anything sadder than Denis Dyack's overzealous defense of Too Human against the hordes of the NeoGaf forums? In the end the game was promising at best, unfinished at worst, and both sides came off looking like fanatics.

MOST IMPROVED: A year ago, we put Phase for the iPod on the top 10 list as a lark. These days, titles such as Tap Tap Dance are changing the way people use their iPhones and iPod Touches. Apple's devices won't replace the DS or PSP anytime soon, but they're fast becoming viable alternatives.

MVP: Not content with just bending the rules for its own crash-happy racing series, the team at Criterion released game-changing updates for Burnout Paradise for free at a time when other developers nickel-and-dime for different costumes.


TOP 10
Prince of Persia (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC): Ubisoft's second reboot of the series places the usual acrobatic elegance in a wide-open storybook dream of a world, making for a vision of gaming at its most splendid.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PlayStation 3): Yes, the cut scenes are too long. But the complex yet intuitive game play makes for set pieces you just won't find anywhere else. And for all the convoluted plotting, you feel the emotional devastation of the ending.

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360): Not much to do here but shoot lots of guns at lots of monsters, but it's hard to top in terms of meat-and-potatoes satisfaction. Also, it's the final exhibit for why a cover system should be standard in all shooters.

Burnout Paradise (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360): The racing series left some fans behind with its ambitious open-world makeover, but you won't miss them while playing online with others who eschew structure for the sake of driving really fast.

Little Big Planet (PlayStation 3): Cuteness and wonder to spare in a game that makes a point of showing you the seams so you can have a go at crafting a world of your own. Be on the lookout for increasingly amazing (and unexpected) uses of the level editor.

Mirror's Edge PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC): What could have been merely a bold experiment in first-person platforming wildly succeeds in conveying a sense of fluidity in free running. The learning curve is steep, but the reward is finding beauty in mere movement.

Fallout 3 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC): Too big to ignore, and too many potentially game-changing choices to make in the first hour alone. We've seen nuclear wastelands in gaming, but not of this size or scope.

Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360, PC): Never before has a game so accurately captured the tension and desperation of its own opening cut scene. And the unpredictability of your real-life teammates lends an authentic context to the running and gunning.

Soulcalibur IV (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360): Some of the guest characters are gimmicky, but who needs them with such a streamlined yet robust character editor? Squaring off your creation online is no substitute for a dingy arcade, but it'll do.

No More Heroes (Wii): That it seems as if it couldn't care less about whether it's any good only adds to the anarchic fun of this skewed homage to eight-bit gaming. And there hasn't been a more satisfying use for the Wii remote in combat.

E-mail Erick Wong at ewong@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page N - 22 of the San Francisco Chronicle