Seph

killinggameshow

Chris Taran

I have to agree though, out of those four picks I wouldn't be upset at any of them winning.

Toasticus

ErickTheRed

Just an awesome achievement.

f0cus

DaiMacculate

VishusBurn

Guizzy

Y3K

Yadamon

Just sayin as far as the polling is, is all!

EnigmaNemesis

Or PC as well ... which was my point.

People vote cause of platform more often than not. If one of those was taken away, one or the other would have bare minimum half more.

You can clearly see that by them being neck and neck. The statistics presented dont lie.

EnigmaNemesis

Read this post please:

@EnigmaNemesis:

It is true, very true! Especially with polls.

EnigmaNemesis

Crux117

Crux117

Dliu22

Dumbass.

Toasticus

HawaiianActor

This is a tough decision for me T_T

goldwings

Tye-The-Czar

Then again, I'm probably not upset because my game of the year is on the list: BioShock.

I can't criticize the other candidates, because there's nothing to criticize. I don't understand the mud slinging going on. They are all great games! Cake. Rocking. Treasure hunting. Sniping. We should feel blessed to be gamers right now. One of the best years to date for the medium. In the end, though, I just loved my time in Rapture the most.

Anarchist_Gamer

Ra is on House

Toprem

homernoy

SirGecko

Akin

Soyerz

Gamewatcher at Busy Gamer News

Bioshock looks beautiful, but as a long time SS/SS2 fan I felt it was 'watered down' ;) (in the same way Oblivion was a neutered Morrowind)

Haven't played the others, so how can I vote for them?

As there are more Wiis than people, so SMG should stroll to victory as it's had more exposure than the other games.

foamdino

rexor0717

WasabiJoe

But honorary mention goes to Portal for gameplay(I still say they stole my idea) and to GoWII for an amazing story and characters, but also fun gameplay.

Codexx

rexor0717

MySoul7

Christoph

Stormbringer

bluesquareapple

No voting. Awful choices...

ビッグ ボス

Oh wait, you can: with a snarky computer, clever puzzles, an innovative mechanic, and a wonderfully put-together gaming experience.

Loved both games to death, voted Portal. Like it or not, Bioshock has simply been seen before. The likes of Portal has not... and don't whip out Narbacular Drop on me - it's really more proof of concept than game.

Furthermore, in my opintion, GOTY should reflect a well-made, fun game that has made a significant impact on gaming at large. More of my non-gamer friends are playing Portal and SMG than Bioshock ... and by the same token, more of my gamer friends are playing Portal and SMG than Bioshock.

Only my FPS-loving gamer friends really played Bioshock. Great as it was, that doesn't quite hold up to Overall GOTY material in my book.

antialias02

basilan

Portal is all about minimalism. It made you worry and care about a cube for no good reason. That's a more amazing narrative trick...

Well, I'll agree Portal is about minimalism, if you're talking about playing time. It's like trying to give the Best Picture award to the animated short on the latest Pixar DVD. Sure it's good, but it just doesn't meet my minimum requirements.

More to the point, though, I know that the Companion Cube has become an internet meme adored by the geeky millions who used to say 'It's all good,' and absolutely adore Ben Afleck movies, but having just played Portal yesterday after all the build-up of love for the six figured object of nerd lust everywhere I was a bit let down that it appeared in only one very brief level.

You're oversimplification of Bioshock's plot is an affront to that story. Forget your imagined sentiments for a cube, Bioshock made you care for people; people who were nothing more than a madman's con. Every splicer you encountered, despite the repetition, is a tragedy borne of man's relentless pursuit of perfection.

I certainly didn't feel the same when I tossed the inanimate object of your desires down an incinerator as I did when I harvested a Little Sister, or when the submarine supposedly carrying the people you sought to rescue suddenly exploded, or when I confronted Andrew Ryan, or when Fontaine revealed himself.

But if you want to boil Bioshocks 20+ hour plot into a man in a castle with some zombies while you hope to get to second base with a giant block, by all means go ahead, but you're just being disingenuous with yourself.

Portal's writing was good, but it was just a sadistic, smart-ass AI monologuing that is hardly comparable to the multi-character twists and turns that took a faceless, nameless player character and turned them into the most integral facet in the entire story. It was brilliant and light years beyond 'I was just kidding before when I tried to kill you.'

doubtful

Marcus117

Best PS2 game of the year. Made me rebuy PS2. Was completely awesome.

That, and Mass Effect wasn't an option.

AZRoboto

Huxle

L_K_M

Charlie303

Five Element Ninja

Portal on the other hand was too great, especially when you would figure out crazy ways to solve a puzzle and then realize there was an even simpler way to go about it.

But, my god, where is mass effect?! The story in that game was enough to spawn a 3 movie series! Plus the voice acting! Although, it was kind of linear..I mean sure you could run around your rover on different planets but in the end the game ended basically the same way.

Terrorsaur.

No CoD4 on the list = No vote from me.

tlj101010

qbix

NessD12

Fair enough Brian... the other lists are clearly the problem then I suppose. Any chance of fixing them up, to get a more representative Kotaku reader's choice GoTY?

kiigan

Dunno much about the rest but Played bioshock & Uncharted they are just another Eye Candy shooter:P

If u had halo3 on there Xbots would have made it #1 LOL

Q80

etchasketchist

etchasketchist

digitalrift

Portal's not a bad game by any measure... but it's no Mass Effect.

Walshicus

@Aprotosis: Have you played the game? It's like Mario 64 in the fact that it's a 3 platformer, that's where the similarity ends.

Orange Box #2 for me.

JimmyPageJun1or

Evil Jim

How does Portal have great writing? The computer talking to you? Um no. Bioshock is written better than most hollywood movies and immerses you deep into the world of Rapture.

Absolutely agree. Sure, Portal (which I started and finished yesterday) was funny and cute, but it had nowhere near the depth of Bioshock's story.

I know it's a broken record, but specifically in reference to the writing, it was too short. The sustained quality of narrative in Bioshock over the entire game was masterful and a much larger accomplishment than some witty banter from a sadistic AI. It's apples and oranges.

Portal was great, but it was really just a demo to me, not a full game and the novelty which many people have praised was tired by the end of it.

Could you imagine playing a whole 20+ hour game based off just that one concept? I enjoyed Portal, but to me it was a nifty proof of concept included with Half-Life 2, not a complete game and isn't even a consideration for my GOTY choice.

I think Bioshock gets my vote for shirking the multi-player first, single-player as an afterthought mindset so many FPS designers have these days; It had wonderful writing, great voice acting, great art direction, and they managed a unique setting. Mario Galaxy is my second choice, and Everyday Shooter is my third.

doubtful

argh

I loves me some Ratchet, actually everything from the three Sony 2nd party platformer companies: Insomniac, Naughty Dog, and Sucker Punch.

And when it comes to PSP, Size Matters and Daxter are both high favorites of mine.

dv8godd

Brian Crecente

Its just a list on a website. Calm down.

That being said, I think these lists should be done by genre, because a lot of people only like FPSes, and thats the only thing they play. Going with this logic, they will not vote for Galaxy, because they refuse to play it in the first place.

Also, The Orange Box is not a game. It is 5, and thus should not be on the list. So stop saying it should be.

ImCowman

HawaiianActor

DrunkRaba

Otherwise, it's obvious that Wii will win, followed by 360, with the PS3 game in last, purely down to installed base, and nothing to do with game quality.

Nobody is going to vote for games on systems they don't own.

I would suggest a weighting of:

Wii 1x
360 2x
PS3 4x

Based on current installed base.

Stormbringer

Fine I wont say half, but "majority" will go one or the other.

That is just the nature of these voting/polls.

Fandom of platform more so than not.

EnigmaNemesis

nman

given that pretty much none of us have played every game on this list, various console biases, complaints about which titles didnt make it to this point (yes, mass effect/COD4) i think we're gonna have to settle for this as a GOTY contest on a popular gaming blog, rather than an official process conducted by aperture science or something. i mean, some of you seem pissed that mario galaxy looks to win on popularity alone, but truth be told, its a solid game: if it was sunshine, id be bitching too, trust me.

that said, while my heart would love to support Alien Hominid (except i played that one in '05) and Everyday Shooter, or even Portal for what it brought to the table, Bioshock's the only one i found myself replaying on hard mode, and i dont usually replay shit (RE4 was a rare exception). Yeah, some of you are crying that its repackaged System Shock 2, but you should prolly look up what a sequel means - granted, not playing system shock helps my outlook here.

Bioshock: GOTY, cause if were gonna keep up this ratio of shooters, i wanna see more thought-provoking and well-made ones like this to keep me interested.

TheIrishNinja

suntorytime

Funny how you failed to notice that.

Hiltz

there is no major innovation in BioShock. the major ideas are from System Shock 1/2. while i commend and admire Irrational for bringing it mainstream, there's just nothing new. the vitachambers, confined setting, plasmids, radio diaries, story-by-radio - all from system shock. BioShock introduced the big daddies, but that barely counts as innovation when compared to Portal.

you may say, well shit, portal's are nothing new either. and you'd be right, but has any other game taken it to Portal's extent? not that i know of. they took the idea of portals and ran with it miles beyond anyone else.

i also found BioShock to be pretty flawed design wise. the hacking game, the dull level design, etc. all stand out. not huge deals, but compared to the perfection that is Portal, they stand out.

i haven't played Galaxy, but if you're deciding between BioShock and Portal, go for Portal.

djcoffee

Green-clad Gamer Dude

sxp151, the happy-headed nose

KK, double minues 1!

EnigmaNemesis

tk.

Kid_Kitten

How are they suffering from split votes when oen is on the DS and the other the Wii, and they are NOT 50/50 like Portal and Bioshock.

What I am saying is they are split due to BOTH being on both the 360 and PC and many people in here saying they like both, but...

If Zelda was removed, it would not effect the votes with the smallest of margin for Mario... if Portal or Bioshock was removed, guarantee either one would have double the votes.

Dont be so naive.

EnigmaNemesis

And no Mass Effect?

Where did you go wrong, Kotaku?

Akinos

tk.

First of all System Shock did not have that story with moral elements like the sisters...

Second, you accuse Bioshock of being System Shock with different skin, then proceed to mention shit that Mario has done it the past ...

Bee/Ice Mario? Wow, transforming, I remember Raccoon/Frog Mario, well before the N64 or Cube ... but since you don't mention Mario 3, and only those two, you may be too young to know/play.

Blasting from planet to planet? Just a new way for Mario to zone to different worlds ... Sonic had similar shit from island to island, nothing revolutionary about that mechanic, come on now.

Massive Boss Battles? Must be a first in gaming, wow!

Being in space? Well what else is left for Mario to do, been on land and under water forever now! And Mario is pace is every bit as relevant as "System Shock Under Water".

The stuff you bring up about Mario just makes the hypocrisy you presented to Bioshock.

My Goodness! The Nintendo Kool-Aide is thick!

EnigmaNemesis

L_K_M

Super Mario Galaxy and Zelda are suffering from split votes too! Maybe they should combine them after the polls are done.

Why do you think the votes are split? That Portal is for the PC. And Bioshock for the 360. Had Portal been ported unto the Wii, I doubt you would be saying anything.

Green-clad Gamer Dude

No Mass Effect? Well, Portal or SMG it is.... *flips a coin*

tk.

Where is Mass Effect and Rock Band?!

Kotaku's GOTY has been total BS. Worst nominee's EVER!

Parabolee

WaterMedia

Haha you crack me up. Bioshock is the same game with a different skin (system shock 2 underwater).
Mario galaxy is not. I don't remember running around spherical worlds, ice mario, bee mario, blasting from planet to planet, absolutely massive bosses, fighting bower on a small spherical planet, being in space etc

in mario 64 or sunshine.

Ouenben

tornaydo

homernoy

DrunkRaba

The ending to portal blows bioshock's away, though.

oh, and galaxy? Yeah, really fun gameplay mechanics, excellent game, but for the same reasons as stated above, I can't put it over bioshock.

galewind

Sucks too, because that game is a blast.

Ducky

Yamster

Nu

Natpalm

EnigmaNemesis

Grimalkin

cakeordeath

Wow!

EnigmaNemesis

hansamurai

Lezard

mizzle

laziejim

So let me get this straight? Mario uses shit that was in many games before it, and it is "original", and portal uses it's physics that was only "talked about" and it isnt original but just polished?

Hmmm, I detect some sort of bias there.

EnigmaNemesis

JonC

Phantom Hourglass is bland, lazy... one of the weakest Zelda titles ever. I can't believe how much love that game is getting.

I'm not one for 'best of' lists anyways... but the lists here aren't very well thought out nor well picked.

Madeira

I think you misunderstood Tycho's comment altogether: He doesn't say a 2 hour game is better, but that its better to have an awesome 2 hour game than a game that has 2 good hours and 4 hours of filler.

Galaxy has no filler.

And to those ignoramus that think that Galaxy is nothing new: You are blinded by the mario character. Gravity physics, strangely shaped worlds, platforms that form beneath your feet, sound games, more than double the number of power-ups, daredevil challenges... the game has so many original moments that concepts that you could make 3 great games out of it by just exploiting each new mechanic to its limit.

Portal has one gun, which is just a simple application of portal physics, which have been talked about since the late 90s. The reason the game is awesome is not originality, but how well polished it is.

hibikir

How does Portal have great writing? The computer talking to you? Um no. Bioshock is written better than most hollywood movies and immerses you deep into the world of Rapture. Where the computer in Portal is mostly just funny or annoying and doesn't suck you into the experience.

Oldboy26

Actually the PSP Rachet is just as much of an accomplishment as the PS3 version is. Both take it to another notch other games on their respective systems haven't touched.

Oldboy26

You call it READER'S CHOICE, yet they were EDITOR'S CHOICES for the final three on each system.

It should be called, READER'S CHOICE FROM THE EDITOR'S ORIGINAL CHOICES GOTY!

/shrug

EnigmaNemesis

homernoy

Collapse The Control

I dont want to insinuate, ah fuck it I will, you havnt played it have you?

Cause if you did, you wouldnt be drawing your words from forums, and realize there is more too it than "Far Cry"!

Seriously!

Not my GOTY, but definitely not Far Cry! That is just follow the leader crazy talk for those who havnt played it. You also sound bitter that you cant play it. /shrug

EnigmaNemesis

Buzzy Beetle

so becuase its pretty it wins, besides the "look how godly my pc is i can play this game" aspect of it its a OK shooter. nothing amazing besides graphics. its basicly Far Cry just super pretty. the only thing it has is graphix. if that won game of the year that is a sad sad year in video games if just graphix alone = win.

2inches

Leptok

Bingo!

EnigmaNemesis

KaneRobot

I wouldn't use it as a means to bring down quality just a reason to say that it is not as much entertainment as one of it's big brothers. Really, When Price is out of the door, and not an issue, I would still pick a game like Mass Effect or Bioshock over Portal due to the amount of entertainment given.

cmonty06

EnigmaNemesis

Crash McCloud

CreatureX

'So, people like to talk about game length, but game length is no indicator of quality. Portal knows how long it is, and it doesn't try to make itself some other game in order to succeed at retail. As we know well, not every game has six or eight hours of unique ideas - they must be worked over, extrapolated, drawn out to the length a game must be to slot itself into the retail continuum. They are like museum tyrannosaurs, where two or three bones represent prime T-Rex and the rest is wax and plaster of the appropriate shape. Somewhere between what we demand for our money and what they are willing to sell us, gamers, publishers, and retailers have struck some Faustian bargain to the detriment of the medium.'

via PennyArcade.

jynxycat

jmote

cyhborg

Portal is the game I had the most fun with, its innovative, hilarious, and has a great story which wasn't exactly expected.

Flakor

KEITH1437

Of course, Uncharted was probably the cleanest, purest gaming experience I've had all year. So that got my vote.

Portal was also excellent and I'd love to see an expansion or sequel...but I just can't see where everyone's obsession with Half Life is coming from. It's good...but that's pretty much it. Nothing really mind-blowing on any front and plenty of things I've seen done better in other FPS.

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is easily among the best entries in the series. Wind Waker was sublime and Phantom Hourglass definitely lives up to the standard set by that title.

I was disappointed to not see Hotel Dusk, Silent Hill: Origins, Chocobo Tales, Dracula X Chronicles, and Jeanne D'Arc not make the cut among the various portable nominees.

Nightshift_Nurse

metal_dawn

Toasticus

Cpryd001

Yamster

Trowble (XBL/PSN)

ashn0d

I still don't like not seeing Halo on this list as I think it brought everything people could want to a shooter (even my friends who scoffed at Halo:CE and 2 love it).

BUT, with what's here, Mario is the clear winner, IMO. It's an amazing game. Bioshock deserves credit, too. Awesome, mature, smart and atmospheric title. I don't think I've seen another game promote political chatter in such a smart, open and unbiased way, either.

GorbyGipper

last_dread

Mario is just a rehash. Same damn game, different skin. Nintendo fanbous are legion though so it will be a tough nut to crack.

Aprotosis

Don't get me wrong, I'd say Orange Box was my favorite release this year, but it's not a cohesive product. Mass Effect was 30 hours of mind-blowing awesome, at least for me.

jettokisora

KroBa

dv8godd

GameChad

latrine

Clearly. It was just the first thing remotely analogous in Episode 2 that came to mind.

Heliophage

cactaur

Genre division would have been ideal. Platform is far less important than the type of game itself. If Kotaku isn't tired of setting up polls, it'd be nice if we could have a genre-centered GOTY set as well.

Heliophage

Crux117

I'm sure the people at Valve are more than content with how well Episode 2 and The Orange Box as a whole have been received. Considering its individual parts, though, which of the two we're discussing is more memorable overall?

For example, if the Valve store had unlimited stock of the Weighted Companion Cube plushies and released, at the same time, a Magnusson Device plushie, which would be more successful?

Sales figures themselves don't tell the whole tale, otherwise Halo 3 would easily be GOTY, but considering a vast majority of the owners of Portal own Half-life 2: Episode 2 as well, it isn't a stretch to imagine that both have experienced similar exposure to the consumer (though, admittedly, not to the media -- Portal's internet fame grants it an unfair advantage on that front).

Beyond that, direct comparisons between Episode 2 and Portal become less viable. They don't aim to do the same thing. One is a continuation of a gripping story and part of one of the best first person shooter franchises ever, while the other is a humorous puzzle game that, deeply hidden within, forshadow future events in that same franchise as well as offer a fresh and entirely new approach to a practically nonexistent first person real-time puzzle genre.

I can see your point, though, and when both your and my arguments make clear points as to why both games are great, it further confirms that The Orange Box was one of my best purchases of the year. Even so, I wouldn't support it for GOTY, because Half-life 2 is included in the bundle and has already received that reward years ago numerous times. But, I digress...

Heliophage

Where is Call of Duty 4? Oh that's right. Because those Votes went to Platform specific titles in their best of category. No one will vote for COD4 when Uncharted is there because Uncharted "needs" the Attention.

WatershipDown

Toasticus

Next person who calls it a tech demo or a proof of concept gets a cake in the face.

kingclip

Jaleeb Caru

SAKY

appaws

Bioshock has a lot of replayability. Laugh at me, but the achievements really make it worthwhile. The Objectivist sociopolitical atmosphere, combined with moral and ethical choices, makes this a really special shooter.

Really, when you look at Bioshock as just another FPS, sure, it's just another FPS. When you look at it as a romp through a dying underwater city, forced to make moral decisions, it's a great, unique game.

RPharazonius

But portal doesn't do enough, as awesome as Portal's gun is, the game lacks substance. Some games work with only one good gameplay mechanic, I don't think the portal gun does the job. So where does the game excell? In the dialogue and story? Not compared to Episode 2, now THAT had excellent dialogue and story. In level design? Not really, nothing spectacular about that.

I think there is some level of misconception about originality. As I see it, being original is being individual, and when I play Half-Life, I know it's half-life, and not anything else. You could maybe say the same thing about Portal, but then Episode two was much more substantial, pacing, the essential part of a FPSs, is honed to perfection.

You say, "It brings less new to the table simply because Half-life 2 and HL2: Episode 1 had already offered so much.", I say it brings even more to the Half-Life table.

I have less of a problem with sequels, especially when the only thing they do is to improve, or at least keep the same level as the past installements, a level not attained by Portal

I almost think it's unfair to the people at Valve who made Episode 2 to receive so little attention and praise, and to be overshadowed by a lesser game.

belger0g

Doomstink

Still, this isn't a "most innovative GOTY" award. To me, the honor goes to the game that I had the most fun with this year. Bioshock had me engrossed, Portal had me impressed, but Galaxy just straight up made me remember why I got into gaming when I was 5 years old: Mario games are ridiculously fun.

PrimetimeFool

I would like to see just a poll or portal vs galaxy or bioshock vs galaxy... see how things look when the FPS genre is not divided...

dalethedino

Icharius

Smitty

Now the other lists you could make plenty of arguments about.

Brian Crecente

Episode 2 was great (and the ending, flawless), but where it does indeed trump Portal as far as story is concerned, it fell slightly behind in replayability, certainly in originality. Episode 2 has the unfortunate nature of being a hybrid expansion/sequel, and as such suffers through comparison to earlier iterations.

It brings less new to the table simply because Half-life 2 and HL2: Episode 1 had already offered so much.

Heliophage

Marcel_de

In your opinion.

Gumbydunzeeto

Lstormy10

Raian1

Super Mario Galaxy
The Orange Box
Halo 3
Call of Duty 4
Mass Effect
Bioshock
Uncharted Drake's Fortune
Crysis

If we were feeling generous we could include stuff like Crackdown, Assassin's Creed, Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Pac-Man CE, Space Giraffe, Metroid Prime 3, PGR4, Forza 2 etc.

kiigan

Justice7541

roxya

No, that's the point, I've been a fan of Valve since Half-Life 1, I preordered the Orange Box some time before it came out, played a lot of TF2 in the beta period (and after), finished Episode 2, finished Portal, and I think Episode 2 is a parsec ahead of Portal (and many other games released this year for that matter, suc h as Stalker, Bioshock, Company of Heroes OF, Mass Effect). If one game deserved to be on that list, it's Episode 2, much more so than Portal.

belger0g

Eman311

Eman311

I normally don't agree with or like Gamespot, but in their GOTY video, one guy said something I couldn't agree more with. SMG sucks at nothing. Portal, sorry but it was too short. Bioshock, the last bit of the game... Great games, but they didn't have the consistent wow factor that I got from SMG.

And as I said before, "Just FPSes"? I would vote for CoD4 if I could.

Blind_Evil

Gumbydunzeeto

Hard choices. Mario Galaxy was fun, but gave me motion sickness. Portal was fun, but I was too stupid to get very far. Drake is a beautiful game, but I'm getting tired of shooting so many people...I can't believe how many people you have to kill for this treasure, it's like you're wiping out a small army.

I think I'll go with Bioshock, because of the story. The good ending really touched me, and the bad ending...I couldn't stomach the idea of harvesting little sisters, so I'll never know. But kudos to Bioshock for creating a situation that's so uncomfortable people won't do it.

Islandkiwi

satek

Ballaboy311

Still, good though it is, I'll still be playing Ridge Racer 7 much much more than anything else. Horses for courses, innit? :)

liveinabin

klogg