Mod DB's Mod of the Year award is a big deal in the modding community, and it should be. Previous winners include Garry's Mod, Red Orchestra and Natural Selection, each of which has gone on to achieve commercial success. This year there are several awards up for grabs, with up and coming mods and indies included in the mix for those who are taking their own sweet time getting their projects finished.

You can visit the awards site to see a list of the top 100 released and upcoming mods and indies, voting for your favorites as you see fit. It's an excellent way to catch up on some innovative mods you might have missed, as well as a nice introduction to the modding scene for those of you who've been limiting yourselves to the boxed versions of PC games.

Voting runs from today through February 20th. so you've got plenty of time to browse.

Please note that my use of the NeoTokyo Half-Life 2 mod in no way constitutes my endorsement for it as Mod of the Year, unless you want it to.

2009 Mod Of The Year Awards [Mod DB]

Voting is now open for Spike's 2009 VGAs, with 28 categories awaiting your input to help determine this year's winners, though according to a Keighley tweet, Halo fans are already winners. The latest installment in the Halo saga, Halo: Reach, will be premiering during the show, giving fans their first look at the game since the rather vague E3 2009 teaser video.

The 2009 Spike VGAs will air live on December 12th at 8PM. I will once again completely forget about them, kicking myself about it the next day.

It's that time of the year again. One of the world's oldest video game award programs seeks gamers to flock to its website, nominatting their favorite games in fifteen different categories. This is the preliminary voting from which a short list shall be compiled consisting of the titles with the most votes, so just about every game published between May 22nd 2008 and May 22nd 2009 are applicable. That means that you can vote for games that aren't even out yet, which I suppose is only fair.

Head over to the Golden Joystick website now to cast your reasoned, well though-out votes for the best games of 2008. The nominations will no doubt be dominated by LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3, and Fable II, but voting will give you a brief feeling of empowerment, which is always nice.

Voting kicks off today at ModDB.com, where users browsing the collection of mods on the website are urged to click the VOTE button located in each mod's listing to nominate their favorites. On January 17th the top 100 mods by votes will be listed, with a second round of voting to follow, continuing though February 2nd. The winners will be announced on February 29th.

Past winners include Garry's Mod and Red Orchestra, both of which achieved tremendous retail success, so you can see how this is kind of a big deal for the modding community. Hit up Mod DB now and vote for your favorites!

Mod DB Announces 7th Annual Mod of the Year Awards, Public Voting Continues through February 2nd

Premier Event Celebrating the World’s Most Creative “Modified” Video Games Scheduled to Unveil this Year’s Winners on February 28th

Melbourne, Australia, January 2, 2009 – Mod DB (www.moddb.com) today announced that voting has begun for its 7th Annual Mod of the Year (MOTY) Awards. The entire gaming community, including independent developers, game designers and the general public, are encouraged to participate in what has become the premier event celebrating the world’s most creatively remastered video games or ‘modifications.’ Votes are being accepted through February 2nd and winners will be announced on February 28th.

“Modders are tomorrow’s game development professionals, exploring new ideas and pushing boundaries,” said Scott Reismanis, Founder, Mod DB, the event organizer. “Their creativity and determination has positively influenced the video games industry and brought sheer enjoyment to gaming fans everywhere. We’re proud to be hosting the Mod of the Year Awards for the seventh straight year and to be recognizing the great works of such talented artists.”

Last year’s winner, Insurgency, is now featured on Steam and is being played by thousands of gamers – a remarkable achievement even for more established developers. Other MOTY recipients include Garry’s Mod and Red Orchestra, both of which have become commercial success stories, generating millions of dollars in retail and online sales. More than 1800 mods competed last year; winners are decided by site staff and community member votes.

A number of high profile prize sponsors are participating in the 7th Annual Mod of the Year Awards, including Garagegames, 3Dtotal, GOG.com, NuclearFallout and Noesis Interactive.

How to Vote

Those interested in playing and voting for their favorite mods can do so by browsing the mods available (www.moddb.com/mods) and clicking the “VOTE NOW” button prominently shown in all mod profiles. Then on January 17th the top 100 mods will be announced (www.moddb.com/events/2008-mod-of-the-year-awards/top100) and a second round of voting will begin for only these mods, which are recognized as the year’s best independent games.

To make your voice briefly heard and get a chance at winning Nokia phones, games, or magazine subscriptions (yay), head over to www.goldenjoystick.com before the 27th. Then watch the show live on the website on October 31st to see what difference if any your opinion made.

Last chance to vote in the 26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards

Have you say and make a difference in this record breaking year!

20/10/08 - Gamers now have less than a week to make a difference in gaming’s most prestigious awards, the 26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards – together with Virgin Media.

With voting closing at midday on Monday 27th October – the event has already broken its voting record, smashing last year’s total and almost breaking 800,000 nominations with a week to go. More gamers than ever before have voted in this year’s awards, which are for the first-time, a headline event at the London Games Festival (www.londongamesfestival.co.uk) - a week long cultural celebration of gaming, from Friday 24th October.

Organised by Future – the Golden Joystick Awards were first hosted back in 1982, and are the world’s longest-established gaming awards. Celebrating the last 12 months of the games industry, winning a prestigious Golden Joystick is considered by games developers as the ultimate accolade, having been voted for by gamers themselves.

Voting is still wide open in many of the 17 gamer voted categories, with the top spots changing regularly throughout the day as votes are cast. If there’s a game you feel deserves a Golden Joystick – get over to www.goldenjoystick.com and vote now!

26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards – together with Virgin Media
• Virgin Media Ultimate Game of the Year
• The Sun Family Game of the Year
• Nuts All Nighter Award
• BBC 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year
• Bliss Handheld Game of the Year
• Play.com The One To Watch Award
• 4Talent Mobile Game of the Year
• Nintendo Game of the Year
• Online Game of the Year
• PC Game of the Year
• PlayStation Game of the Year
• Xbox Game of the Year
• Publisher of the Year
• Activision Blizzard Retailer of the Year
• UK Developer of the Year
• Edge Most Wanted Award
• E4 Grand Master Flash Award

All voters have a chance to scoop a fantastic prize, with organisers dishing out exclusive prizes like Nokia N96 mobile phones, games and magazine subscriptions for every 10,000th vote.

TV’s Frankie Boyle presents the Golden Joystick Awards live from 1.30pm GMT on Friday, 31st October and you can see the show online at www.goldenjoystick.com or www.virginmedia.com.

You can head over to the G-Phoria website to cast your vote, or they've got an option to vote via text message in case you don't have access to the internet or just really enjoy typing with your thumb. Hit the jump for the full list of award categories.

“X-PLAY” PRESENTS “G-PHORIA 2008,” WHERE VIEWERS TAKE CONTROL OF G4’S ANNUAL VIDEOGAME AWARDS SHOW

“G-Phoria,” the only videogame award show that puts the voting controllers in the hands of real gamers, returns to G4 with interactive features that make it the most engaging awards show on TV. Once again, G4’s experts put their personal opinions aside and allow the game-playing public to decide the winners in a wide variety of categories ranging from Best Party Game to Best New Character, with the ultimate victor being named Game of the Year.

“G-Phoria” gives gamers interactive voting options which include G4tv.com and Verizon Wireless phones. It’s television’s only awards show where real gamers choose the games they like best. The public’s choices for the year’s best games will be announced during the special “X-Play” presentation of “G-Phoria 2008” which premieres TONIGHT at 8 p.m. ET/PT, only on G4.

Winners in each “G-Phoria 2008” category, including Game of the Year, are determined by votes submitted online and via text message. “X-Play” hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb are your hosts for this annual gaming celebration.

“G-Phoria 2008” award categories include:

Best Party Game

Best New Character

Best Shooter

Best Strategy Game

Best Sports Game

Best Action Game

Best Racing Game

Best Role-Playing Game

Best Handheld Game

Most Original Game

Best Multiplayer Game

Best Downloadable Content

Best Voiceover

Best Graphics

Best Soundtrack

Longest Lasting Game

Game Most Deserving of an Uwe Boll Movie Adaptation

Game of the Year

A complete listing of the 90 nominees in 18 categories, along with additional “X-Play” information, is available online at http://www.g4tv.com/xplay. Visitors can learn more about “G-Phoria 2008” and how to cast their votes, and can also find reviews of the latest games, participate in the show’s online forums and engage in some of the interactive features that make every episode of “X-Play” completely unique.

Is your favorite not represented? Then you should have voted harder during the preliminaries. Don't make the same mistake twice! Head over to GoldenJoystick.com and vote today!

You can head over to the website at www.goldenjoystick.com right now and watch it desperately try to load up, or you can simply wait a bit later after the initial announcement frenzy has died down and cast your vote in a more relaxed fashion.

We need you! Name your favourite games and be counted

Make a difference by voting in the 26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards

19/05/08 - Voting is now open for the 26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards and your vote really can make a difference in helping crown the UK's favourite games.

Visit www.goldenjoystick.com now and vote in as many of the 15 gamer voted categories as you like. Let us know your favourite games from the last year and you could be in with a chance of winning some top prizes from a stack of the latest gaming gear worth more than £10,000!

Organised by Future UK, the Golden Joystick Awards are voted for by gamers only - you'll find no industry suits or company bosses calling the shots or deciding your favourite games.

The games industry loves the Golden Joystick Awards, with these awards seen as the ultimate recognition of their hard work. As the granddaddy of gaming awards, the Golden Joystick Awards have been taking place since 1982, when a ZX Spectrum was the pinnacle of UK gaming, and PlayStation was just a dodgy nightclub in Romford. Last year UK gamers cast almost 750,000 votes, and with your help, the 26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards will smash 1,000,000.

By voting NOW, you can help to shape the shortlists, which are announced at midday on Monday, June 23rd.

26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards

Ultimate Game of the Year
The Sun Family Game of the Year
Nuts All Nighter Award
BBC 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year
Bliss Handheld Game of the Year
Editor's Choice
The One To Watch Award
4Talent Mobile Game of the Year
Nintendo Game of the Year
Online Game of the Year
PC Game of the Year
PlayStation Game of the Year
Xbox Game of the Year
Publisher of the Year
Retailer of the Year
UK Developer of the Year

If you are totally fed up with your favourite games not getting the praise and attention they deserve from the folks writing the websites and magazines, why not start your own voting campaign? Join up with fellow fans online and make that ignored game finally get the praise and recognition you believe it deserves.

To find out more about the 26th Annual Golden Joystick Awards and to be in with the chance of winning some cool gaming goodies, visit www.goldenjoystick.com now.

Apparently I'm an idiot and don't quite get, among many other things, the concept of turning off cookies.
Instead, the editors of Kotaku, all peerless in their own minds, will be the deciding party.

The good news is that I'll be announcing the winners tonight.

Sorry about the screw-up. I'll self-flagellate and drink plenty of Gin Tonics over the weekend to make amends.

You can, and should, still listen to the fantastic finalists here. Though it won't count for anything but your own personal amusement. Brian Crecente

This morning the Video Game Voters Network sent out an email to its members urging them to make their voices heard this Tuesday by voting in the mid-term elections.

We need to send a clear signal this Tuesday: video games are protected speech, afforded constitutional protection by the First Amendment. Our taxpayer time and money should be spent on the real issues affecting our country and taxpayers.

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.

We recently reported on the satisfying squashing of the latest anti-games legislation, but the villains are on their feet and itching to get back into the fray.

State Sen. Sandy Pappas, pictured at right getting her first good look at that haircut, is very upset:

The whole ruling defied common sense. I am so disappointed.

The federal court said we don't have a right to protect our children, but we protect our children from other things. We don't let them smoke or buy liquor. You score points (in video games) for how many women you rape, how many cops you kill. How could that not affect them psychologically?

If someone had told me I got points for rape and not just cop-killing, I'd have enough tickets by now that I could redeem them for that autographed hardback of The Female Eunuch I've been eyeing down at the skeeball alley.

I recently read a comment where someone asked for the Kotaku voting guide, and it looks like Game Politics has done some of our work for us. They point out that Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch ("[Videogames are] worthless, disgusting speech.") is running for Governor in November. So now you know who not to vote for.

But some good news comes in the form of Rep. Jeff Johnson, who co-sponsored Minnesota's legislation, admitting that perhaps lawmaking was the wrong thing to do here, and that "informing parents about game content might be a more effective approach." He's running for Attorney General, so keep an eye on him. If he's really learned something he might be a decent bet. Eliza Gauger

More here [GamePolitics]

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