A panel of industry judges has narrowed down a list of 226 entries to 15 of the best independent games of last year, and now they want your votes to determine which of them goes home with the Audience Award at the 11th annual Independent Games Festival, held in conjunction with the Game Developers Conference laster this month in San Francisco. This year features quite a lovely selection of titles, with entries coming from Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Community Games, and the PlayStation Network, along with the usual PC suspects.

But who to vote for? Do you choose the charming platforming of Twisted Pixel's The Maw? Perhaps the simple complexity of Q-Games' PixelJunk Eden? I am leaning towards You Have To Burn the Rope from Kian Bashiri, but there are quite a few games on the list I've not tried yet. Luckily the official voting page contains links to download and try most of them out, so even if you have no opinion you suddenly have a slew of new games to try out.

2009 Independent Games Festival Games: Main Competition Audience Award [IGF]

Chances are it did, as the list of nominated games is chock full of instantly recognizable titles. For instance, in the Best Overall Arcade Game category, we have Braid, Castle Crashers, Geometry Wars 2, Street Fighter II HD Remix, and Portal: Still Alive. The rest of the categories are variations on that list, with the notable exception of the Best Family Game section, where titles like Roogoo and my personal favorite, Boogie Bunnies, have their chance to shine.

Capcom is a heavy contender in most categories, with three out of the five games nominated for the Best Classic/Remake Game category - Bionic Commando Rearmed, Street Fighter II HD, and Mega Man 9 - though I don't think the latter qualifies, does it?

Check out the full list of nominees below. To vote, just log on to Xbox Live's Spotlight channel between March 3rd and March 10th. May the best game win.

Best Overall Arcade Game

Braid

Castle Crashers

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2

Street Fighter II HD Remix

Portal: Still Alive

Best Original Game

Castle Crashers

N+

Braid

Penny Arcade Episode 1

Schizoid

Age of Booty

Best Family Game

Boogie Bunnies

Roogoo

A Kingdom for Keflings

Lost Cities

Meteos Wars

Best Co-operative Multiplayer Game

Castle Crashers

Schizoid

Bionic Commando Rearmed

N+

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2

Best Competitive Multiplayer Game

Street Fighter II HD Remix

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2

Soul Calibur

Meteos Wars

Age of Booty

Best Solo Game

Braid

Mega Man 9

Penny Arcade Episode 1

Rez HD

Portal: Still Alive

Best Innovation in XBLA

Braid (time travel)

A Kingdom for Keflings (use of Avatars)

Fable II Pub Games (retail game integration)

N+ (level sharing)

Duke Nukem 3D (dynamic replay)

Best Graphics

Street Fighter II HD Remix

Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2

Braid

Castle Crashers

Bionic Commando Rearmed

Best Classic/Remake Game

Bionic Commando Rearmed

Street Fighter II HD Remix

Mega Man 9

Galaga Legions

Rez HD

The answer of course is no. We don't want that. It would be a tremendous waste of the work all the beta testers have put in, and would rob so many people of the inspiration the works so far provide. This isn't an MMO, we don't have to worry about anyone having an advantage over us in PVP (Planet versus Planet). Vote no on Operation Tiny Wipe, just like the majority of respondents already are.

LittleBigPlanet Beta Created Levels - You decide [LittleBigPlanet News]

Besides, when you've got as good of a game inside as I played at the Games Convention in Leipzig, you could ship it in a plain cardboard sleeve and I'd still be there on launch day to pick up the special corrugated edition.

Street Fighter IV Figurines: Vote for your Favorites! [Capcom Unity Blog]

Vote for Interloper From Beyond The Heavens at Threadless.

We just thought you should know.

Electronic Arts lifts Ubisoft voting stake [via maxconsole]

One of the thing I liked about the original Fable was the ability to purchase different titles for yourself. Once your title was bought, the townsfolk would start calling you by that name every time you strolled into town. That same mechanic is going to be used in Fable 2 and Lionhead Studios is letting their forum members pick one of the names.

A few weeks ago, members were asked to submit possible names for inclusion in the game. The developers then chose twenty of their favorites which are now posted int he forums for members to vote on. You can view the list here, but you must be a forum member to actually cast a vote.

As of now, "Lionheart" is in the lead, followed swiftly by "Wanderer" and "Gunslinger." While all those are great, I can't help thinking whatever happened to names like "Arse Face" "Rat Bastard" and just plain old "Jerk." Sometimes the classics are the best. Flynn De Marco

Hero Title Competition PHASE #2 [Lionhead Studios]

I guess it was just a matter of time before EA's uber-popular Sims franchise started expanding outside the computer and game screens. But EA wouldn't be satisfied with stickers or action figures, oh no. They are going straight to the top by issuing a Sims credit card.

Currently on The Sims' website, you can vote for one of four designs. Not that I really want a Sims credit card or even care for The Sims in general, but in the interest of crackerjack reporting, I voted so I could see the results. Design number three seems to be the front runner with design number four making a close second.

There are no details yet on what the terms of the card will be, but the site promises "exciting rewards and offers for The Sims player community." Whatever these exciting rewards are, I hope they are tangible items and not some exclusive in-game super toilet so your Sims can pee faster. Did you ever notice how long it takes those little bastards to go to the can? Flynn De Marco

[Thanks, knukleur]

Machinima.com and Lionsgate Films are currently holding a contest for... machinimas! Who'd have guessed, right? There are ten finalists competing for the Gamebox 1.0 Machinimaker Award and the top three winners will receive an Nvidia graphics card so as to allow them to make even more, even better machinimas to share with the world. Some of the submissions are extremely impressive and even though they are using already made graphics, the talents of the creator still shine through.

If you are a machinima fan, set aside a little block of time to check out the ten finalists and then vote for your favorite. The voting period goes from now until April 8, 2007, so you still have some time to cast your votes. A DVD of the winning entries will follow soon after the contest ends so you can enjoy them in your very own home. Flynn De Marco

Gamebox 1.0 Machinimaker Award Finalists [Machinima.com - Thanks, Joe]

Ok, so he's not actually on crack, but a headline reading "See Mario's Crack" or any other such iteration didn't sound very enticing. And I want you to be enticed! Why? Because this has got to be one of the best video game related T-shirts I've seen on Threadless in a while and I want one! But, as you know, with Threadless, every vote must be counted before a shirt can be made. There's only two days left for voting on this design, so for my sake and yours, head over to Threadless and vote for this awesome shirt titled "Keeping It Real." Besides, what's a little crack between friends?

Keeping It Real Tshirt [Threadless]
[via Wonderland]

Get to it. Brian Crecente

Show slogans that are: popular | new | top-rated.

Well dammit, now we are. The good techs at Gawker have whipped up this fancy voting and slogan entry system to let you craft what you think would be the best slogan to have on a shirt and then vote.

If you're not the crafting a slogan sorta person you can just jump straight to the list and vote otherwise hit the jump and submit your idea... and then vote.

Skip the slogan, get to voting. Brian Crecente

Choose your slogan carefully! While you can submit as many slogans as you want, you can only submit one slogan every 30 minutes.

You've had to bear countless Games of the Year awards over the past three months, but now you get to actually have a say.

Gamespot and the 9th Annual Independent Games Festival have teamed up to host a 2007 IGF Audience Award. Starting today, anyone can vote for their favorite indie game from a pool of 19 IGF finalists. You can even check out each of the game's free playable demos.

The winner will be announced at the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival Awards ceremony on March 7 in San Francisco and be awarded $2,500.

Now get on it, you have until March 7 to vote. Come back here after you've checked out the games and let us know which ones you picked. These are the games that myself and plenty of other judges helped narrow down to finalists earlier this year. Brian Crecente

Sony's Playstation Underground recently took submissions from it's members for their "God of War II Alternate Costume Contest". While it may be too late for you to submit you Bob Mackie inspired, Swarovski crystal encrusted tunic for Kratos, you can still have a hand at picking the winner.

Out of the sixteen entries, most are pretty run of the mill with a few standout exceptions and some are thrown in for obvious comic effect. Just for the hell of it, I hope one of the comic ones wins. Watching Kratos run around in a giant misshapen fish costume or Michael Jackson's red leather Thriller outfit would be totally worth it.

You must be a member of Playstation Underground to participate in the vote, but it only takes a minute to sign up and the fish costume is worth it, trust me. Flynn De Marco

The God of War II Alternate Costume Contest [Playstation Underground - thanks, erutangis]

I am so sick of Wii news and stories about babypunching and student-shooting that I just vomited tiramisu all over Florian's letterman jacket.

So here's a link that might help us fix some stuff. Well, we don't need to fix the Wii. But you know what I mean.

According to ESA president Doug Lowenstein, who cited low voter turnout in the 18-29 age range during the 2004 election, "We want to help engage gamers by offering this new registration tool, and by spreading the word that it's time for gamers to put down their controllers and play for real by voting in the upcoming elections."

That's sort of a lame tagline, but the idea is sound. Go to it. Eliza Gauger

ESA Wants to Rock the Vote [GamePolitics]

Special thanks to Destructoid for loaning me the title of this post.

Let the mayhem begin.Brian Crecente

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This is it, the last week for the Kotaku Costume Contest. (There are very obvious reasons why I didn't go with the whole starting all the words out with a K thing.) Vote now and vote often. Voting will be open until Friday and then I will be announcing the winners over the weekend.

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Apparently I m now part of the Spike TV VG Awards Council. That means that I am one of "over 200 video game industry writers/reporters from media companies" I get to vote on the winners for the award show and wear a spiffy robe. Actually, I m not quite clear on the robe thing, they never mentioned one, but I plan on wearing one anyway.

Before you start pointing fingers at me, the council doesn t get to vote in the Power Rank category, which includes Best Game Blog. (Kotaku, Slashdot Games and Joystiq are the nominees.) Instead those categories will be decided by an open poll being conducted on the site starting today.

Yes, that s right, the winner will be the site with the most fans willing to spend time repeatedly clicking on a button. Spike TV continues to live up to their name.

VGMWatch has more to add on this delightful turn of events, so go check it out.

Spike TV VGA Site Pre-Launches [Video Game Media Watch]