So Spike TV has their nominee list up for their annual video game award show, the VGAs. While I think the show has improved over the years, it still needs a lot of work so when, earlier this year, they asked if I'd be willing to be a member of their Advisory Board and help select nominees, I said yes.

My name aside, you can tell that the show is trying to take things seriously just by who's in the board. Some of the top people at EGM, GameInformer, GameSpot, 1Up, Official Xbox Magazine, GameTrailers and GamePro make up the board.

I've attached a list of the nominees for this year's awards. The process of creating this list was interesting, though I wasn't able to hit the meeting where the final list was hammered out. The initial step, though, involved each panelist selecting their choices for each of the categories. Imagine that? Someone gives you an empty sheet with these categories and tells you to pick the best. Sure, best game and the like was easy. But best Score, best human actor?

You don't really examaine a game in that detail, at least I don't, until someone asks you to make a list like this. So what do you think should and shouldn't have made the list? Brian Crecente

VGA 2006 [Spike TV]

The Nominees:

GAME OF THE YEAR

title

1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

2 Okami

3 Gears of War

4 Guitar Hero 2

5 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

CRITIC'S CHOICE

(game to be released after 11/15 & before 12/31/2006)

title

1 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

2 Resistance: Fall of Man

3 Medieval II: Total War

8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas

5 Wii Sports

BEST DRIVING GAME AWARD

title

1 Burnout Revenge

2 Need For Speed Carbon

3 TOCA Race Driver 3

4 GTR 2

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME

1 Rockstar Presents Table Tennis

2 EA Sports Fight Night Round 3

3 Tony Hawk Project 8

4 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

5 Top Spin 2

BEST ACTION GAME

1 Dead Rising

2 New Super Mario Bros

3 Okami

4 Saints Row

6 Bully

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME

1 NBA2K7

2 Madden NFL 07

3 NCAA Football 07

4 FIFA 07

5 NHL 07

CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR

1 Lara Croft - Tomb Raider: Legend

2 Alyx Vance - Half Life Episode 1

3 Princess Peach - Super Mario Bros.

4 Enrica - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

5 Jen - Prey

BEST SONG

1 Loco Roco No Uta - Loco Roco

2 Heavenly Star - Lumines 2

3 Bloc Party - Helicopter - Mark ecko's getting Up & Burnout 2

4 Afi - Summer Shudder - Maddden

5 YellowCard - Lights and Sounds - Burnout Revenge

BEST SOUNDTRACK

1 Gutar Hero 2

2 Madden 07

3 Scarface: The World is Yours

4 GTA Vice City Stories

STUDIO OF THE YEAR

1 Clover / Hideki Kamiya (Okami)

2 Relic (Company of Heroes)

3 Cliffy B / Epic (Gears of War)

4 Todd Howard / Bethesda (Elder Scrolls Oblivion)

5 Alex Rigopoulos / Harmonix (Guitar Hero) / Red Octane

BEST WIRELESS GAME

1 Diner Dash

2 SWAT Force

3 Tower Bloxx

4 Super KO Boxing

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1 Elder Scrolls Oblivion

2 Bully

3 Elektroplankton

4 OKAMI

5 FINAL FANTASY XII

BEST FIGHTING GAME

1 Tekken: Dark Resurrection

2 Dead or Alive 4

3 Mortal Kombat Armageddon

4 Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

5 God Hand

BEST SHOOTER

1 Black

2 Prey

3 Half Life 2 Episode 1

4 Gears of War

5 Call of Duty 3

BEST MILITARY GAME

1 Company of Heroes

2 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

3 Call of Duty 3

4 The Outfit

5 Battlefield 2142

BEST GRAPHICS

1 Gears of War

2 Okami

3 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

4 Elder Scrolls Oblivion

5 Company of Heroes

BEST HANDHELD GAME

1 New Super Mario

2 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day

3 GTA Vice City Stories

4 Tetris DS

5 Loco Roco

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME

1 Gears of War

2 Company of Heroes

3 Metal Gear Solid Substinence

4 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

5 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY

1 WII

2 PS3

3 DS Lite

4 Elektroplankton

BEST PC GAME

1 Company of Heroes

2 Half Life 2 Episode 1

3 Battlefield 2142

4 Star Wars: Empire at War

5 Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion

BEST RPG

1 Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion

2 Final Fantasy XII

3 Kingdom hearts 2

4 Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW

1 Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy

2 Godfather the Game

3 Scarface: The World is Yours

4 Sopranos

5 Family Guy

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN - MALE

1 Seth McFarlane - Family Guy

2 Gerry Rosenthal - Bully

3 Patrick Stewart - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

4 Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow

5 Keifer Sutherland - 24

BEST MALE - supporting

1 Seth Green - Family Guy

2 James Woods - Scarface: The World is Yours

3 James Cann - Godfather

4 philip Micahel Thomas - Lance Vance GTA VCS

5 James Gandolfini - Sopranos

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN - FEMALE

1 Vida Guerra - Scarface

2 Tia Carrere - Saints Row

4 Emmanuelle Vaugier - NFS Carbon

5 Keely Haws - Lara Croft

5 Rosario Dawson - Marc Ecko's Getting Up Contents Under Pressure

BEST FEMALE - Supporting

1 Rachel Leigh Cook - Kingdom Hearts 2

2 Elisha Cuthbert - 24

3 Brittney Murphey - Marc Ecko's Getting Up Contents Under Pressure

4 Mila Kunis-Family Guy

5 Lynda Carter - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

BEST CAST

1 Godfather

3 Family Guy

4 Scarface: The World is Yours

5 Saint's Row

6 Elder Scrolls Oblivion

MOST ADDICTIVE (MT DEW VIEWER'S CHOICE)

1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

2 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day

3 Gears of War

4 Guitar Hero 2

5 Company of Heroes

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