BioSock! BioShock!

*BioShock :(

you guys really hated transformers =p

YAY! GOTY!

Love the fact that Orange Box is on your top 360-list. Bestest game in the history of time.

360 GOTY battlemodo... err kotakubattle will be epic.

Ninjabread man? Lol wut?

just wondering why do you have just portal up for PC game of the year and not the entire Orange box?

WTF... you missed _____? You picked ______?
 
BIAS! BIAS! BIAS!
 
But seriously... good picks.

I have to ask though... why no PS2 selections? I mean, it's obviously on the way out... but it had some good games (and bad ones) and both games and systems are still being made.
 
Odin Sphere? Persona 3? Hmmmm? :D

Portal, hands down, for all gaming platforms everywhere. The game is simply the best thing the industry has produced since the PSOne. It had absolutely nothing to do with any previous effort, AND it was a completely innovative, humorous, beautifully-conceptualized and well-designed piece of gaming goodness which is unlikely to happen for another decade.

Why is Bioshock not on PC GOTY? It was better on that platform than on the 360.

Why is Portal listed in the PC section, while The Orange box is listed in the 360 section?
Also, why is Tower Defense take the place of Bioshock in the PC section?
(Also, no COD4 on the PC?)

Wii
GOTY:
Super Mario Galaxy
>Super Paper Mario
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

>Metroid Prime 3: Corruption or this list is fail

virtual console game of the year? I would've been interested in seeing that.

UR MR GAY has this in the bag.

@taftsearlobe23: Because Portal was a separate title on PC.

[www.steampowered.com]

On 360 it wasn't.

Yay. Puzzle Quest got some well-deserved love.

BUT...BUT! You put Ninjabread man in the WGOTY section on accident. I can understand the typo, and I expect it to be mended quickly.

That's the most simple list I've seen yet.

Whoa there! Metroid Prime 3 isn't on the Wii list?!

Huge problem there. It is definitely better than Super Paper Mario, hands down, no questions asked. Even if you just go by ratings, metacritic shows it's a full 5 points ahead of SPM. Resident Evil 4 could fill the spot just as well, though it's a rehash.

It hurts to see such a good game go unnoticed.

@Kirbytheslayer: Just Kirbytheslayer: Please tell me you didn't buy Ninjabread Man. Please.

Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast? Isn't that first party? (Don Armor of Protection against Flame) It's about to get Hot in here!!

No Warhawk mention? Kotaku, you disappoint me. Is it it's hybrid PSN/disk media release? Made it hard to categorize? Or did you just snub it?

Also, Assassin's Creed... Any version. Should have got a mention. I guess you guys just hate games.

/grumps off in the corner, mumbling about how he knows so much better...

No Picross DS, for shame.

I agree with the rest however.

Oh god, Vampire Rain. If you liked Bullet Witch...
But why is Spanish For Everyone on there? There needs to be a sequel just so we can have more cut scenes.

I'm a little surprised to not see Halo 3, but other than that, an all-around good list.

@dv8godd: But it's so awesome. No, I didn't buy it, but that's because I don't have a Wii. So I just printed out the Cover, and put it over my Persona 3 copy. When my friends come over, they say "Dude, you got Ninjabread Man?!", and I say "HELL YEAH! GOTY Material, right there!". When they ask to play, I say I'm busy, or I loaned it away. I can't wait until I actually get it though. Gamefly sales had it for $5 or something.

@Amino:

Because you can buy Portal seperately on the PC. On the console, your only choice is to buy the entire damn box.

And I don't think many are disputing the idea that Portal is the best part of the Orange Box.

@Archangeldeath:

They meant to put Escape From Bug Island. We all make mistakes.

@Kirbytheslayer: Just Kirbytheslayer: Best post ever. Now I need a scan of the cover.

warhawk on the psn ?? .. maybe ...

I never understand all the love for Desktop tower defense. It's pretty well balanced, I guess, but tower defense games have been around for ages, and DTTD isn't overly special.

@Kenofthedead: It was on my list of submissions as NQGOTY, but it doesn't seem anyone else is on board. :(

@Moonshadow101:
Agreed. Why Bioshock is not mentioned in it's stead confounds me.

I hope everyone notice the WGOTY: means Worst Game of the Year. And if yes, then I just be Captain Obvious because I'm wear my cape today.

You know, I just realized that under the PC section, you gave what is essentially a flash game version of a Warcraft 3 mod a GOTY award, but didn't even mention ET: Quake Wars.

I was just joking before about being disappointed, but now... I don't know. I am very sad...

Call of Duty IV across all Platforms.

Great list!! really, the witcher is missing in the goty pc section, but thats the only thing i would change

@Americana: i was thinking the same. Bioshock was better on pc ...

soldier of fortune payback was better than battle for the pacific ( same devs , same engine , worst gameplay )...anyway , both were the worst :P

Yeah, I feel the PC has been led down a dark alley and raped by a drunken horde of game bloggers. Crysis, technically nice, play wise meh. DTD please, is that barrel like an inch deep? Where the hell is ETQW? The game is PC exclusive (timed) and offers a lot more depth and fun than many online FPS games. We should be recognising these games not burying them under a ton of generic sequels!

Anyway. Portal, deserves a dear place in all our hearts and I'd honestly like to reward the idea and execution with the overall GOTY. Let's just hope vale can actually run with a episodic version of portal every quarter of 2008.

I would have replaced Orange Box for CoD4, just because TF2 is stale on the 360 and CoD4 is ever rampant!

And no Command and Conquer for the PC but DTD?

Come on!

kk rant over! muahahaha!

And dont forget World in Conflict too!

Ah well!

Ya, I agree about the PS2. It needs Goods and Bads too. I think there was more PS2 games released then PS3 games this year...

Also, I am not sure how Orange Box and Bioshock are top for Xbox 360, but not for PS3/PC (Orange Box) and Bioshock on PC. If those games are that great, how are they not that great on the other systems. Somehow Transformers is universally bad, but Bioshock and Orange Box was only great on the Xbox 360?

Also, I think you forgot about a game. If you are going to vote on Worst Game for the Xbox 360, and not include Hour of Victory which took home historically low scores in OXM and terrible reviews across the board. Gamespot's users have voted it worst of the year for all games, and Metacritic has it as the Dud of the year for Xbox 360.

@ChickenOfTheSea: Hey, I voted for it. Blame everyone else!

@Americana: The Orange Box games can be purchased individually on PC but no 360. Most of us felt that while OB was compelling it was really Portal that set it apart most.

I bought a 360 just for Rock Band. Nothing against the games listed, but I doubt they'll entertain me half as much.
And Super Paper Mario was less a game than an elaborate practical joke.

Great list.

- DS -

GOTY: The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass

WGOTY: Spanish for Everyone

- PC -

GOTY: Portal

WGOTY: Beowulf

- Playstation 3 -

GOTY: Uncharted: Drake`s Fortune

WGOTY: Sonic the Hedgehog

- Playstation Portable -

GOTY: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

WGOTY: Pimp My Ride

- Wii -

GOTY: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros` Treasure

WGOTY: Cruis`n

- Xbox 360 -

GOTY: Mass Effect

WGOTY: Vampire Rain

- PSN -

flow

- XBLA -

Alien Hominid HD

;D

Great list overall though, really great list!

@Kirbytheslayer: Just Kirbytheslayer: Five dollars huh? Straight to cut-out rack quality. Gotta love it.

I'm half afraid that people will end up buying it anyway out of gift-giving desperation and sheer lack of knowledge. Die hard Nintendo fans will know better... but Toys'r'Us is filled with plenty of mouth breathers that have no idea. Those people will buy Ninjabread Man over Zack and Wiki because of the title alone. I weep for our future.

@Erwin211: you probably find the cover here [www.thecoverproject.net] Kotaku had story on them, as the place where you could get the Link's crossbow covers from.

@Plunkett: Luke stood alone on that one.

Mr. Fahey Im saddened you didnt push for getting persona 3 up there in that list. (T-T)

I do sort of find the lack of a PS2 best of category sort of odd, but other than that the list seems tip-top. I would be tempted to toss RE4 on the Wii list though. PS: Love the trophy-coin!

Not bad at all. Reminds me how good of a year it's been.

@crecente:

I hope the droves on anti-Halo sentiment on here doesn't influence you guys in any way!

/wink

No seriously Kotaku, I want to know how Super Paper Mario is up there where Metroid Prime 3 should be.

Nice list. Probably the only game I'd add is Wipeout Pulse, for the PSP. But, then again, it's not released on the US yet. Again, very nice list.

My Choices:
~DS~
GOTY:
The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass
WGOTY:
Spanish for Everyone
~Playstation Portable~
GOTY:
Beats
WGOTY:
Pimp My Ride
~Wii~
GOTY:
Super Mario Galaxy
WGOTY:
Ninjabread Man
~Xbox 360~
GOTY:
Bioshock
WGOTY:
Vampire Rain

And good one on excluding that certain Xbox 360 game.

@Witzbold: Picking Z&W over Mario Galaxy is ballsy.
@dv8godd: Clearly the solution is for the (spiritual) sequel to Z&W to be Ninja-based. I mean, since getting caught was always fatal in Z&W, it makes sense to make it more explicitly stealth based.

@Witzbold: Seriously. I'm doing my own list now:

PS2 GOTY:
Persona 3
God of War 2
Odin Sphere

PS2 WGOTY:
Godzilla Unleashed
The Adventures of Darwin
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
(or whatever licensed crap got slapped between it and the Wii)

Ninjabread Man has various re-releases from the same company under the names of Anubis II and some rock and roll racing or something like that, same game different skins

You list beats under PSP but then you have a PSN area? Beats is a PSN game, it just plays on the PSP...

Oh well, not really a problem.

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: MP3 is mostly more of the same with upgraded visuals and updated controls. It'd be the same as putting Halo 3 up there. That is NOT that the game is bad... it is very good... but it's just not bringing anything particularlyl new to the table.

And seriously, as FPS goes... Metroid Prime isn't the shining star it once was.

All three on the list I personally agree with. They all brought something new and stood out as unique experiences in their own right that didn't have equals elsewhere, let alone betters.

@Green-clad Gamer Dude: I agree with this fine gentleman, as good as SPM is, MP3 is vastly superior in the "keep me entertained" department (though I am a rabid Metroid fanboy)

seems like the past couple of days people started raving about Desktop Tower Defense. hadn't heard anything about it before (or just didn't notice it), but I'll check it out now.

As much as I hate to say it (because I absolutely LOVED Bioshock), Orange Bawks should definitely get the goatie for 360.

I fully expect Spanish For Everyone to sweep every category.