April 3rd will see the launch of Call of Duty 4: Game of the Year Edition and with it, the roll out of the Modern Warfare Variety Map Pack. Each copy of COD4:GOTY will come with a download token for the new multi-player maps, or you can download it from XBL for 800 MS points. Here's a quick rundown of the details:

The Variety Map Pack includes four new multiplayer maps. "Creek" is a wide-open village ravaged by combat where concealment is the difference between life and death. In "Broadcast," fight throughout an enemy communications building with confined corridors and wide-open parking lots. "Chinatown" is a foggy downtown district, lit only by a full moon and the neon glow of the city. "Killhouse" features a desolate training warehouse filled with a variety of building mock-ups and soft and hard cover points.

More details including an early sneak peek of the maps at select GameStops can be found on the Xbox COD website.

Modern Warfare Variety Map Pack [Xbox]

You had yesterday to vote on your favorite games by platform, now's your chance to vote on which favored platform game should get the overall Reader's Choice Game of the Year. Hit the jump to vote in the poll. On Monday I'll publish the results for all of the polls.

Our first-ever Game of the Year awards was a pretty straight forward deal. I asked all of the writers to submit a list of three games for each category and the three that showed up most in each category made it as a finalist. Once we had the list of finalists I asked each writer to go through and order the finalists and then tallied the vote. The one with the most points was named Game of the Year, the runner-up was named Not Quite Game of the Year. The game with the most votes for Worst Game of the Year received that dubious honor.

Hit the jump for the final results and lovely medallions which no one will receive. Check back later tonight for the Overall Game of the Year, drawn from the winners of each category.

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.

Starting on Wednesday, Dec. 26, GameTrailers will being rolling out video coverage for the five nominees in the 28 categories that make up the site's Game of the Year awards. Twenty-Eight categories? Is that helping anyone? Personally I think maybe ten should be the most.

This year GT's awards include two new ones "TV Spot of the Year" and "Best New Franchise". The Game of the Year will be named by the site on Jan. 1.

What do you think? What's the best way to hand out game awards? Personally, I think they should be broken down by platform because most gamers, I suspect, own or care about just one system. So they just want to know what the best games are for their platform. While that may have changed slightly with the Wii, I'm still sticking to my guns.

The Gaming Advent Calendar

Spike VGAs: Nominees Announced

Spike 2007 VGA Nominees Announced

The Spike TV Videogame Awards are coming up on December 9. Over at Spike.com they've posted the list of this year's nominees, decided on by a panel that includes Kotaku's own Brian Crecente and this week's guest editor Geoff Keighley. For Game of the Year, the nominees are Orange Box, Mass Effect, BioShock and Halo 3. Check out all the other nominees over on the official site.

VGA Nominees Announced [Spike.com]

My game purchases this week will be woefully small as not only am I staying with a friend in NYC who is a non-gamer and therefore has no consoles, but I am leaving on Wed. for LA to go to E for All. But one thing I will definitely be picking up is Beautiful Katamari just so I can hold it in my hand and wish I could play it. What's on your must have purchase list this week?

Beautiful Katamari (X360)
The Prince and The King are back for more Katamari rolling goodness.

Heroes of Might and Magic V: Tribes of the East (PC)
Now with more Orcs.

Fury (PC)
PvP to your heart's content.

Crash of the Titans (PSP)
Crash is back and making waves on the PSP.

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (X360, PS2, WII, PS3, DS)
My kid can ollie over your honor roll student.

Spider-Man 3 (PSP)
Trapped in the web of love.

Victorious Boxers: Revolution (WII)
Beat the crap out of people while simultaneously wearing your arms out.

SWAT: Target Liberty (PSP)
Take out terrorists threatening NYC.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition (PS3)
Together again for the first time... on the PS3

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (WII)
All hail Bridget.

This week has a nice choice of titles spread out over various systems (sans the PSP). I'm trying to get to Heavenly Sword tonight so I can see for myself what it's going to be like and I am anxious to check out Jam Sessions and Drawn to Life for the DS. I've avoided Oblivion for a while just because I'm afraid of getting sucked in, but the inclusion of all the expansions on one disc is intriguing. What to do, what to do?

Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Will Nariko and her moves rival Kratos?

Skate (X360)
Skate to your heart's content and see what life is like without Tony Hawk.

NHL 2K8 (PS3, X360, PS2)
All the fun of Hockey without the broken teeth.

NHL 08 (X360, PS3, PC, PS2)
Because we always need more hockey games.

Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power (PC)
Rule the planets in this sci-fi RTS.

.hack//G.U. vol. 3//Redemption (PS2)
The final game in the trilogy. The end of an era...

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition (X360, PC)
All of Oblivion including the two expansions in one tidy package.

Kengo: Legend of the 9 (X360)
You are a legendary samurai in feudal Japan doing the stuff a samurai does.

DiRT (PS3)
More racing action for your PS3.

Jam Sessions (DS)
Strum your blues away.

Drawn to Life (DS)
Draw your own character and put him through his paces.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (WII, PS2)
Still guilty after all these years.

Fatal Inertia (X360)
Race in supersonic planes and kick some ass.

Ship Simulator 2008 (PC)
Imagine the fun of piloting your own oil rig!

Crecente's Picks for Best Games 06