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These Are Kotaku's Favorites For Best of E3

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This is a first for Kotaku.

While we've been judges for oodles of other people's best of E3 awards, we've never actually done our own. And there's a reason for that: They're really hard work. Just ask Geoff Keighley.

But we figured that it was probably a good idea for us to start. Take a moment, if you'd like, to check out our list of nominees for best of E3 this year and let us know what you think. We'll be declaring the winners next week.

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Also, we'd love to hear your take on our categories. It shouldn't come as a surprise to those of you who are regular readers that we didn't include a break down by genre.

Enjoy, debate, suggest.

Ed's Note: In case you were unable to read the proceeding four paragraphs and understand the difference, this is not a list of our nominees for the Game Critics awards. Those are entirely different, have different categories and a totally different set of rules used in the selection process. :D

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Best New Game (Not a sequel)


Hamonix's Dance Central for the Xbox 360
Junction Point's Epic Mickey for the Wii
SCE's Sorcery for the PS3
Epic's Bulletstorm for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Ubisoft's Shaun White Skateboarding for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
THQ's Homefront for the PS3, Xbox 360,PC
Uber Entertainment's Monday Night Combat for the Xbox 360
Id's Rage for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Hudson's Lost In Shadow for the Wii
Playdead's Limbo for the Xbox 360
Klei Entertainment's Shank for the PS3, Xbox 360

Best Character Design

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Good Feel's Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii
Id's Rage for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Splash Damage's Brink for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Fatshark's Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360
Valve's Portal 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Capcom's Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 for the PS3, Xbox 360
Ignition's El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron for the PS3, Xbox 360

Best Gameplay Mechanic

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Day 1's FEAR 3 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC : Fettel and Pointman dichotomy.
Lionhead's Fable III for the Xbox 360, PC: Weapon morphing.
Ubisoft Reflections' Driver San Francisco for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC: Disembodied car swapping.
Yager's Spec Ops The Line for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC: Use of sand.
Ninja Theory's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the PS3, Xbox 360: Trip and Monkey's relationship.
Splash Damage's Brink for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC: Button-free traversing.
Hudson's Lost in Shadow for the Wii: Use of shadows.
Epic's Bulletstorm for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC: Reverse bullet-time.
Fire Hose Game's Slam Bolt Scrappers for the PS3: Mix of building and brawling.
Tiburon's EA Sports MMA for the PS3, Xbox 360: Submission holds.

Best Motion game

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Harmonix's Dance Central for the Xbox 360
SCE's Sorcery for the PS3
Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved for the Xbox 360
Good Science's Kinect Adventures! for the Xbox 360
SCE's EyePet for the PS3, PSP
Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii
Q Entertainment's Child of Eden for the PS3, Xbox 360

Best Trailer

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Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved for the Xbox 360
Nintendo's 3DS Iwata & Miyamoto & Reggie 3DS Trailer
Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Vigil's Warhammer 40K MMO for the PC
Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Valve's Portal 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Relic's Warhammer 40k Space Marine for the PS3, Xbox 360
Firaxis's Civilization V for the PC

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Boldest Move (Biggest gamble for a developer)

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Harmonix's Rock Band 3 for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
Sony's PlayStation Plus
Seven45's Power Gig for the PS3, Xbox 360
Sony's PlayStation 3 3D Gaming
Ubisoft's Battle Tag

Best Setting

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Yager's Spec Ops: The Line for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Crytek's Crysis 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Id's Rage for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Junction Point's Epic Mickey for the Wii
Good Feel's Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii
2K's XCOM for the Xbox 360, PC
Valve's Portal 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Epic's Bulletstorm for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Ace Team's Rock of Ages for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Best PC Game

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Valve's Portal 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Id's Rage for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Bioware's Star Wars: The Old Republic for the PC
Vigil's Warhammer 40K MMO for the PC
Firaxis's Civilization V for the PC
CD Projekt's The Witcher 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Best DS Game

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Capcom's Okamiden for the DS
Capcom's Ghost Trick for the DS
Camelot's Golden Sun: Dark Dawn for the DS
5th Cell's Super Scribblenauts for the DS

Best PS3 Game

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Eat Sleep Play's Twisted Metal for the PS3
Epic's Bulletstorm for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Valve's Portal 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Crystal Dynamic's Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Id's Rage for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Sucker Punch's Infamous 2 for the PS3
Q-game's Pixeljunk Shooter 2 for the PS3
Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet 2 for the PS3

Best PSP game

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Novarama's Invizimals for the PSP
Ready at Dawn's God of War: Ghost of Sparta for the PSP
Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep for the PSP
Sega's Valkyria Chronicles 2 for the PSP
Pyramid's Patapon 3 for the PSP

Best Wii game

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Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii
Good Feel's Kirby's Epic Yarn for the Wii
Junction Point's Epic Mickey for the Wii
EA's NBA Jam for the Wii
Hudson's Lost In Shadow for the Wii

Best Xbox 360 game

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Bungie's Halo: Reach for the Xbox 360
Epic's Bulletstorm for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Valve's Portal 2 for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops for the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC
Playdead's Limbo for the Xbox 360
Harmonix's Dance Central for the Xbox 360
Crystal Dynamic's Lara Croft & The Guardian of Light for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Id's Rage for the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Mac
Epic's Gears of War 3 for the Xbox 360
Lionhead's Fable III for the Xbox 360, PC