Every year newspapers and alt papers around the country print mammoth guides to their community to highlight the best places to eat, hang-out, drink, go shopping and what have you.

This year I was surprised to find that (Denver) Westword's 25th Annual Best of edition included a special category just for Kotaku, complimenting both video games and our site in the entry:

Best Worldwide Resource for Video Games (2008)
www.kotaku.com
Video games are quickly ascending to a place of cultural dominance, joining movies and music in terms of earning power and cultural cachet. One of the biggest and best websites covering this transformation is Denver-based www.kotaku.com, which includes live coverage of key events, such as the recent Game Developers Conference, and original features on nearly every important thing in gaming. Managing editor Brian Crecente, a longtime veteran of the Rocky Mountain News, runs the megablog, continuing a tradition of delivering top-notch coverage.

Woo-hoo time to break out the cake and champagne. OK, maybe just Twinkies and punch.

Best Worldwide Resource for Video Games (2008) [Westword]

Indiegames has put together a convenient wrap up of their top 20 free arcade games of 2007. There's something for everyone, and games running the gamut from simple to complex, with graphics to match. Garden Gnome Carnage not sounding like your cup of tea? Maybe Cottage of Doom or Winter's Heart will be up your alley. Most entries give a quick overview, screen shots, and a video of gameplay.

Best Freeware Arcade Games 2007 [Indiegames]

CNet's Best of CES Gaming Nominees Announced

Cnet has posted their the nominees for their annual best of CES Awards. The awards include a gaming category which lists, this time around, a wireless nunchuck from Nyko, Gateway's FX gaming desktops and that mammoth Alienware curved monitor everyone is going gaga over.

Hit the jump for the run down of the three gaming nominees and the link to see Cnet's full write up on the products and the entire Best of CES nominee list.

The world's best gaming deals can't beat "free!", so for those without a gift card in hand this post-holiday season, you may want to take a gander at The Independent Gaming Source's best freeware games of 2007. The number of titles, across an amazingly broad 30 categories, point out the year's best shooters, platformers and RPGs that can be had without anything more than some disposable bandwidth. Topping the list is a game that I only recently discovered myself while searching for Gradius pics, a Warning Forever-style top down boss fight-only shooter named Fraxy. The Japanese freeware game lets players create their own levels (bosses) with an intuitive editor. Other titles you may already be familiar with, including Knytt Stories, Guxt, Sam and Max: Abe Lincoln Must Die and the now free Command and Conquer.

Best Freeware Games of '07 - 30 Categories! [TIG Source]

Gamasutra's Top 5 Most Significant MMO Moments

In 2007, I became a somewhat avid observer of MMOs, even though I don't play them - mostly because there are so many interesting issues wrapped up in the wide, wide world of online multiplayer games, especially in Asia. 2007 was a pretty interesting year for MMOs, and Gamasutra names five of the most important trends and moments of '07 for MMOs: 'little' games get huge, messy MMO failures, WoW's mainstream success, big companies go head to head, and new questions on the best way to play:

I see 2007 as generally positive. The Massive game industry is still in its infancy, in many ways, and these failures are hard growing-up type lessons. I've tried to keep that in mind when constructing a list of the Top Five MMO Trends of 2007 ....

Let's hope looking back on 2008 will be more about sugarplums and less about coal.

I'm dreadful at putting together 'best of' lists, but I've been mulling what I'd put on my top stories of '07 list. What about the faithful Kotakuites out there in the audience?

Gamasutra's Best Of 2007: Top 5 Most Significant Moments In MMOs [Gamasutra]

You've seen our picks, maybe noticed what Time, Maxim and others had to say about gaming in 2007, but Playboy's choices are finally in. They not only went safe, picking Bioshock as their game of the year, but went with their demographic, opting to choose the 2007 game with the "Best Jiggle Factor." It might not have been my choice, as I like my gaming girls covered in slime, but I suppose Heavenly Sword deserved to walk away with some sort of accolade this year. Ninja Gaiden Sigma oversight aside, it's a fairly solid list.

Playboy's Best Games of 2007 [Playboy]

Next-Gen Picks Top Ten Blunders Of 2007

"Best of" awards are fun, sure, but it's the screw ups that give us the most joy during the depressing holidays, not the accolades. Watching others fail so spectacularly makes our own lack of accomplishment that much less memorable. Fortunately, Next-Gen knows what we like and have rounded up the year's biggest blunders in its latest list, which not only includes the familiar Sony blackballing incident from March, but also touches on other fun and interesting topics like the dismissal of Jeff Gerstmann and the whirlwind of confusion surrounding this year's PlayStation 3 SKU confusion. Even better are trips down memory lane with execs Shane Kim and Jack Tretton.

I won't spoil number one, but it's certainly the most expensive of the lot. Let loose the finger pointing and HAHA-ing!

TOP 10 BLUNDERS OF 2007 [Next-Gen - thanks, Duane!]

Next-Gen Announces Top Thirty Video Games of 2007

We've heard from Time and Maxim so far on the best games of 2007 and Next-Gen has already chimed in on what it considered the year's most innovative design decisions, but the online game business pub has weighed in proper with a best of list that might be the best one yet. Yes, I'm building a ranking list of lists. Obviously, we all know what opinions are like, and the staff of Next-Gen certainly gives themselves plenty of breathing room with thirty positions to fill but there are some solid choices in here. Super Mario Galaxy at number one? I can get behind that. Rock Band at number two? OK. They even remembered to give props to Super Stardust HD.

Anyone looking to fill in some holes in their gaming library would do well to give the list a once over. It certainly made me realize I needed to finally pick up Pac-Man Championship Edition.

NEXT-GEN'S BEST 30 GAMES OF 2007 [Next-Gen]

Sony Makes Fortune's Annual 101 Dumbest Moments in Business

The folks at Sony have the dubious distinction of making Fortune's end of year wrap up on the boneheaded business decisions of 2007 not once, but twice. While Microsoft also made the list for reasons related to its PR firm Waggener Edstrom Worldwide mistakenly sending an internal profile of a Wired writer to the Wired writer himself, its blunder wasn't directly game related, as Fortune's picks for Sony were.

The mag points to Sony's use of an eviscerated, beheaded goat as a centerpiece for a God of War II promotion as 61st dumbest business move of the year. Close by, at number 63, was the decision to use a bombed out Manchester Cathedral as a backdrop for the PlayStation 3 game Resistance: Fall of Man. Hey, they may have lost a few fans in the church, but this one seems a bit harsh, Fortune editors. It's not like they actually bombed the cathedral for reference shots.

101 Dumbest Moments in Business [Fortune - thanks, Kenneth!]

USA Today Picks 2007's Best Games (For Kids)

Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles who may be on the lookout for something appropriate for the kids this holiday—strike Manhunt 2 from your lists, first of all—may want to refer themselves to USA Today's picks for the best kid fare of 2007. Sure, it may be easy to tick off things like Super Mario Galaxy and Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, but what about the littlest tykes? And what about those who will go Wii-less this year?

USA Today points to a couple of titles that fell under our radar, including DVD games and PC titles such as Guess How Much I Love You and JumpStart World Kindergarten. Of course, the editor must be commended for her choice of Rock Band, which is just about perfect for the kids. Sure, there will be some snarls of anarchy from the pre-teen crowd this Xmas, but it's, like, educational and stuff.

Best 2007 video games for kids [USA Today]

Next-Gen Picks Top Ten Game Design Innovations Of 2007

The Kotaku calendar indicates that we should be up to our eyeballs in "Best of 2007" lists by the start of next week. Fortunately, instead of focusing on the top ten games of the year based on some vague merit—that's typically just a list of the year's most hyped, biggest name titles—Next-Gen opted to focus on innovation. Don't worry, some of the bigger software is included, such as Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4, but a few titles that wouldn't normally make the cut are included.

While some of the inclusions will be contested—Warhawk gets props for dumping single player?—and some are certainly recycled—Ultima Online "innovated" with its graphical overhaul years ago—the argument could be made that at least these efforts were successful. Others, like Portal just being Portal, will probably find few detractors.

They might not have been my choices, but I suppose I'll have to back that up with my own list.

TOP 10 GAME DESIGN INNOVATIONS 2007 [Next-Gen.biz]

Maxim Announces Top Ten Video Games of 2007

Sure, TIME's list of the best ten games released this calendar year had its controversial entries, but I highly doubt anyone will dispute gaming bible Maxim's choices. Basically, all you really need to know is that 2K Games The Darkness surpassed Metroid Prime 3: Corruption in Maxim magazine's year end wrap up of the best games of 2007. What else did The Darkness beat out? Halo 3, Rock Band and Mass Effect, who sadly didn't make the cut, despite one of those featuring hot girl-on-girl action. At least Halo 3 nabbed the coveted "User Pick" for top spot. Maybe similar mags Stuff or King will throw them a bone. Anyhoo, enough teasing. Here are the top ten games of 2007, as decreed by the editors of Maxim.

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
2. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
3. The Orange Box
4. BioShock
5.God of War II
6. Super Mario Galaxy
7. The Darkness
8. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
9. John Woo's Stranglehold
10. Lost Planet: Extreme Condition

We'll be tabulating the LOLs, ROFLs, ROFLMAOs, WTFs and GTFOs as soon as possible and plan to provide nice pie charts.

Best of 2007: Video Games [Maxim]

Nielsen Ratings Show WoW Tops PC Gaming, PS2 Tops Consoles

The Nielsen Company has issued its "Top Ten U.S. Lists for 2007," revealing its findings for top performers in television, movies, the internet, DVDs, music, books and, of course, video games. It should come as little surprise that the number one PC game played in the United States this year was Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Its users averaged over 17 hours of gameplay per week, according to Nielsen, which may help, in part, explain the consumption of $17.6 billion worth of carbonated soft drinks, a factoid also contained in the report.

The rest of the PC gaming genre's top performers are below, with video game console usage stats after the jump.

Top 10 PC Game Titles in the U.S.
Apr-Nov 2007

1. World of Warcraft
2. The Sims
3. RuneScape
4. Halo: Combat Evolved
4. Halo 2
6. Counter-Strike
7. The Sims 2
8. Madden NFL 07
9. Grand Theft Auto
10. Counter-Strike: Source

Wii Fit Makes Brilliant Gadget List

Popular Mechanics is the new Alpha Mom. The publication loves Wii Fit so much, it put it on its Top 10 Most Brilliant Gadgets of 2007 list, writing that it "turns fitness into a game, instead of a chore." It shares a spot on the list with consumer products like Apple's iPhone, Microsoft's Surface and the Zonbu Zonbox, none of which make exercising fun and therefore fail miserably. I suppose I could do a thousand bicep curls with my iPhone and see some results. I'll let you know how that goes.

2007 Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards [Popular Mechanics]

This is it, the official list of winners for the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2007. Before you jump to the full list, some stats:

- Rock Band leads with three wins including Best of Show. Mass Effect earns two including Best Console.
- Xbox 360 is leading platform with 11 wins, followed by eight wins for games playable on PS3
- Electronic Arts leads with six wins total, followed by Microsoft with three

Grats to Rock Band for Best of Show and LittleBigPlanet for Best Original. Hit the jump for the full, official and final list.

Dean's Best of E3 Nominees

Yesterday's Best of E3 finalists announcement gives you a sense of what the several dozen official Game Critics judges thought of the show.

But it doesn't really point any fingers. Fortunately, a lot of people have been posting up their ballots for the nomination process. I posted ours and MTV's Totilo's last week. Now we get to peek at Newsweek's N'Gai Croal and The Merc's Dean Takahashi's. I've posted excerpts and links after the jump.

Last week we posted our nominees for the Game Critics Best of E3 awards. Today, the Game Critics announced which games were selected by all of the judges as finalists for the awards handed out for the show. Remember each judging publication gets to vote, then they take those votes, tally the scores and select the finalists.

Some highlights before you hit the jump:
Rock Band leads with five nominations, followed by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Bioshock with 4 nominations each

EA leads publishers with 14 nominations, followed by Activision, Microsoft and Nintendo with 8 nominations each

Xbox 360 most nominated platform with 38 nominations, followed by PS3 with 29, PC with 21 and Wii with 14.

Hit the jump for the full break down and to post your choices. Keep in mind these games had to be playable at E3 to be nominated, meaning no Killzone 2, no MGS4, etc, etc. The final list of winners will be unveiled on Tuesday, July 31.

MTV's Game Critics Picks

We posted our nominees for the Game Critics Best of E3, now it's time to see what MTV's Stephen Totilo had to say with his nomination form.

Unlike us, he was a one-man show at E3, so while he didn't get to see as much, he also didn't have to duke it out with anyone to decide which game deserved which nod. I think our selections are very similar, though he went with Phantom Hourglass for game of the show, while my desire to even include it in our list was beaten down by the other hulking Kotaku writers.

E3: My Judgment Is Rendered. My Official Picks For The E3 Game Critics Awards [MTV]