When we went through the process of picking our annual games of the year, I also asked each writer to nominate a single game for a judge's choice award. The idea here is that each judge would get a chance to pull out a game they think was deserving of recognition, but perhaps not of any of the official awards.

Their choices and reasoning follow:

Judge's Choice Awards

Audiosurf

Audiosurf takes any MP3 file you have and translates it into a rhythm-puzzle game that can be as fast-paced and frantic as an EBM tune or as relaxing as an easy listening selection. With variety limited only by your musical selection and community options that not only let you compare scores of friends and strangers but also helps you find people with similiar musical tastes, it really is the ultimate game for music afficianados.

Bionic Commando: Rearmed

The broadest measure of a video game's excellence is also the simplest: “What was the most fun?” This year, Bionic Commando: Rearmed was the pound-for-pound champion of fun. Not, “thought-provoking,” not “awe-inspiring,” not “most visually stunning,” — just “I want to play this” fun. BCR flawlessly bridged the best of two generations, rendering the addictive, endlessly replayable world of the classic 8-bit platformer in the audiovisual tableau of a next-gen console — at a price cheaper than the original by half.

KORG DS-10

KORG DS-10 is not a game at all. Straight up, it's the Korg MS-10 synthesizer for the Nintendo DS. While mainstream music games let players pretend their making music, KORG DS-10 actually lets them make music.

Mushroom Men: Spore Wars

Mushroom Men: Spore Wars was the most fun I've had on the Wii in months. It offered a funny little story, interesting character design and amazing art and sound, all while still feeling very this generation. Spore Wars is a must have for any Wii gamer bemoaning the lack of traditional games on the platform.

No More Heroes

Grasshopper Manufacture probably didn't get enough credit — or a proper slice of those outrageous Wii sales — for what it did right with No More Heroes. It nailed motion control, gave the Wii an original, mature-themed adventure and made the best of the platform's horsepower, thanks to brilliant character design and cel-shaded visuals. No game was as squarely aimed at the hardcore gamer who happens to own a Wii, if only for the fact that its protagonist is the violent fantasy version of the geek playing it. Definitely the bloodiest Wii game of 2008.

Persona 4

Persona 4 is the JRPG so nice, they made it twice. The gameplay system improves on the innovative dungeon-crawling/dating sim combo introduced in Persona 3 while introducing a fresh take on the tired teen-saves-the-town plot line. The characters are diverse and entertaining - and with the benefit of decent voice-acting, they really draw you into your character of the gray-haired transfer student instead of isolating you as a cliche. And even if you're not into dungeon crawling or dating, the sheer amount of stuff to do in Persona 4 makes it well worth your money - something other $40 games on next-gen systems can't seem to offer.

Prince of Persia

We tried to do our GOTY awards a little different this year. Reward developers, instead of informing purchasers. And for the most part, I think we succeeded (even if we don't all agree on the ultimate winners). Oh, except for one thing: We didn't have an award for bravery.

I'd give that award to Prince of Persia. For taking "death" out of its stylish platformer. People have whined endlessly that it makes the game "easy", that it cheapens the experience, that removing "death" removes all consequence from the game. Rubbish. All it does is save time, all it does is remove frustrating repetition the bane of a platformer - so all it really deserves is applause.

Surprise! The most popular involves nudity!

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Courtesy of MTV (who did the original legwork), then, here is the list of 2008's ten (well...fifteen, since it includes ties) best video games, as judged by a collection of games writers then mediated by the laws of mathematics.

1. Grand Theft Auto IV (98 — 360, 98 — PS3)
2. LittleBigPlanet (95 — PS3)
3. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (94 — PS3)
4. BioShock (94 — PS3) and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (94 — PS2)
5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl (93 — Wii) and Gears of War 2 (93 — 360)
6. Chrono Trigger (93 — DS) and Braid (93 — 360)
7. World of Goo (94 — Wii, 91 — PC / AVERAGE: 92.5)
8. Fallout 3 (93 — 360, 92 — PS3, 92 — PC / AVERAGE: 92) and Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Armor (92 — PC)
9. Rock Band 2 (92 — 360, 91 — PS3 / AVERAGE: 91.5)
10. God of War: Chains of Olympus (91 — PSP) and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (91 — PC)

Persona 4? World of Goo? Chains of Olympus? No complaining from anyone about that list, OK?

As a bonus, Metacritic is also obviously able to tell us what 2008's worst games were in the eyes of the critics.

1. SPOGS Racing (18 — Wii) and Pong Toss: Frat Party Games (18 — Wii)
2. Beauty Factory (22 — PC)
3. Homie Rollerz (23 — DS)
4. Jumper: Griffin’s Story (28 — Wii) and Racing Team Manager (28 — PC)
5. Jumper: Griffin’s Story (29 — 360) and Game Party 2 (29 — Wii), Beat’n Groovy (29 — 360)
6. George and the Jungle and the Search for the Secret (30 — PS2), Woman’s Volleyball Championship (30 — PS2), Vampire Rain: Altered Species (30 — PS3), Ford Racing Off Road (30 — Wii) and Crazy Mouse (30 — 360),
7. Toy Shop (31 — DS) and Rapala Fishing Freanzy 2009 (31 — PS2)
8. Falling Stars (32 — PS2), Best of Tests DS (32 — PS2), Iron Man (32 — PC) and Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island (32 — PC)
9. Target: Terror (33 — Wii) and The Incredible Hulk (33 — PC)
10. Jackass: The Game (34 — PC) and King of Clubs (34 — Wii)

Glad Vampire Rain made the cut. There's two hours of my life I'll never get back thanks to that pile of shit.

The Top 10 Best Games Of 2008, According To Metacritic [MTV]
The Top 10 Worst Games Of 2008, According To Metacritic [MTV]

Offworld offers up an alternate list of 2008's best and brightest, titles that are either "indie," overlooked or both. That includes games like No More Heroes, the ArtStyle WiiWare release Rotohex and the iPhone release Crosswords. Hey, there's even an N-Gage game on the list!

The good news is that this year's indie and supposedly overlooked titles are very familiar to, at the very least, me. Games like Castle Crashers, Braid and PixelJunk Eden may not have sold as well as the year's multi-platinum blockbusters, but they certainly got plenty of coverage here.

The Offworld 20: 2008's Best Indie & Overlookedhttp://www.offworld.com/2008-offworld-20-01.html [Offworld]

Thing is, I don't really have a solution. Take for instance today's news of the Game Critics' Best of E3 finalists. Check out those categories.

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game
Best Online Multiplayer Game
Best Action Game
Best Action/Adventure Game

Heck this year there were even a few that didn't get enough votes to make the cut.

Best Simulation Game, for instance, didn't get enough nominations to make the finalists list, but what would you include in there. Spore? Why not. HAWX, Sure, I suppose. Left 4 Dead? Maybe.

That's the problem, a lot of these categories are very easy to redefine and justify. What if you were making a Best of list for gaming, which categories would you include? Me? I think you need to include one category for each console, because often gamers only own one or two and they want to know which game is best on "their" system. But what about those collection of genres? I find them baffling, but it certainly looks like a lot of people use them. Maybe they just need new names. So what are you waiting for? Get to it.