We spend the entire year talking up some games and smack talking others, but we've never actually posted what we think were the best games of the year. Not until now, that is.

Starting earlier this month I polled Kotaku Tower to find out what they thought were the best and worst games for each platform. I also asked them what they thought were the best Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network games of the year. While I'm a judge for a number of awards, including the Spike TV, Best of E3, IGF and even the Rocky Mountain News, I don't typically have the power to design how the awards should be given out.

Most awards tend to annoy me on two levels. First is the almost pathological need to vote for the best games of the year well before the year is over. It's just plain stupid. Sure you can get early builds, and play demos, but why not wait until all of the games are out for the year before starting the vote? The other thing that bothers me is how some award shows bunch all of the platforms into one category. Why would an Xbox 360 owner care if a Playstation 3 game has a better action title? Why would a Wii owner care if the 360's shooter is better? It's just silly and almost feels more like flamebait than anything worthwhile for the readers.

OK, rant over. Hit the jump for our list of finalists and check back next week to see which games ended up taking the Goatie.

Kotaku's 2007 Game of the Year Finalists

DS
GOTY:
The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Geometry Wars Galaxies

WGOTY:
Tank Beat
Spanish for Everyone
Spiderman: Friend or Foe

PC
GOTY:
Crysis
Portal
Desktop Tower Defense

WGOTY:
Soldier of Fortune: Payback
Instinct
Beowulf

Playstation 3
GOTY:
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

WGOTY:
Lair
Sonic the Hedgehog
Transformers: The Movie

Playstation Portable
GOTY:
Beats
Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

WGOTY:
Pimp My Ride
300
Transformers: The Movie

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

WGOTY:
Cruis'n
Ninjabread Man
Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast

Xbox 360
GOTY:
Mass effect
Bioshock
The Orange Box

WGOTY:
Transformers: The Movie
Vampire Rain
Wing Commander Arena

PSN
Super Stardust HD
flow
Everyday Shooter

XBLA
Alien Hominid HD
Undertow
Every Extended Extra Extreme

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