Game of the Year, 2008

[Del]

Originally Posted by Szlia

I must say I was a little surprised to see all the Fallout 3 praises, because the only feedback I had about the game came from a die-hard Fallout fan and video game connoisseur who basically said "It's a post-apocalyptic version of Oblivion: it is super lame". He was pretty early in the game though and wanted to heavily (and evilly?) play the social aspect, so he was pretty underwhelmed when getting attacked on sight by everything that moved. Note that he may have been completely off base and may have changed is mind since, but that's all I heard from him.

He is correct about it being "a post-apocalyptic version of Oblivion", except they did make a few improvements. Namely, the setting, characters and main quest line were all more interesting to me--albeit a little depressing--than Oblivion's. And the leveling system is a much better system than Oblivion's, however Oblivion's was so bad that any changes they made probably would have been for the better.

[AladainAF]

Originally Posted by Szlia

I must say I was a little surprised to see all the Fallout 3 praises, because the only feedback I had about the game came from a die-hard Fallout fan and video game connoisseur who basically said "It's a post-apocalyptic version of Oblivion: it is super lame". He was pretty early in the game though and wanted to heavily (and evilly?) play the social aspect, so he was pretty underwhelmed when getting attacked on sight by everything that moved. Note that he may have been completely off base and may have changed is mind since, but that's all I heard from him.

Good buddy of mine who was a die hard fallout 1 and 2 fan pretty much echoed these thoughts. He ended up liking Fallout 3, but said that he will never look at it as a fallout game, but just some "off-the-wall" game with the fallout name slapped on it.

*Shrug*

[wild_whiskey]

Fallout 3 is a solid game, well-composed (like Oblivion was), and has a lot of work put into it, but it lost my attention pretty quickly. It's missing something, but I can't put my finger on it.

[Zest]

It's just Oblivion 1,000 years in the future.

The world is entirely empty (lol no its post apocalyptic!!!1), and what little exists is populated my boring repetetive dialogue and stiff robot-like NPCs.

I can't on good conscience give a vote to a game that needed a 3rd party patch to prevent crashing... or something where story central NPCs can fall and die on their normal pathing... or AI so bad you can snipe someone standing two feet from another NPC without him reacting.

How can that be Game of the Year?

[Lyenae]

F3 and GTA4 are multiplatform, on top of being great games. I think most online mags will lean toward one or the other.

Fall 2008 had some crazy ass good games all around. Probably best quarter in gaming in a long time.

[AladainAF]

I'd love to see something like Braid, Geometry Wars 2, or something to that effect win a game of the year award. Personally, I find those infinitely more fun than 99.9% of the $59 titles.

[Vorph]

Persona 4, no contest.

[Kevincheese]

Going to have to go with Castle Crashers.

I've probably gotten the most playtime out of that, other than L4D, and that doesn't really feel like game of the year to me, as much as I enjoy it.

[meStevo]

The Spike awards...

• Best Shooter: Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)
• Best Xbox 360 Game: Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)
• Best Indie Game Voted by the Fans: World of Goo (2D Boy)
• Big Name in a Game: Kiefer Sutherland (Call of Duty: World at War)
• Gamer God Inductee: Will Wright (Sim City, Spore)
• Best RPG: Fallout 3 (Bethesda)
• Best Music Game: Rock Band 2 (Harmonix)
• Best Soundtrack in a Game: Rock Band 2 (Harmonix)
• Studio of the Year: Media Molecule (Little Big Planet)
• Best PS3 Game: Little Big Planet (Media Molecule)
• Best Driving: Burnout Paradise (Criterion)
• Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show: Lego Indy (Traveller's Tales)
• Best Fighting: Soul Calibur 4 (Project Soul)
• Best Multiplayer: Left 4 Dead (Valve)
• Best PC: Left 4 Dead (Valve)
• Best Portable: Professor Layton (Level 5)
• Best Wii: Boom Blox (EA Casual)
• Best Individual Sports: Shaun White Snowboarding (Ubi Montreal)
• Best Female in a Game: Jenny McCarthy as Tanya in Red Alert 3 (EA Westwood)
• Best Performance by a Human Male: Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic (Grand Theft Auto IV)
• Best Performance by a Human Female: Debbie Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh (Metal Gear Solid 4)
• Best Graphics: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Kojima Productions)
• Best Original Score: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Kojima Productions)
• Best Action-Adventure Game: Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)
• Best Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)

So GTA4 the game of the year, but isnt the best game for PC (L4D), 360 (GoW2) or PS3 (LBP).

Grand Theft Auto IV crowned Game of the Year at Spike VGAs - Joystiq

[Ronne]

J.K. Simmons should have won best male performance =\

[Szlia]

A "Best Female in a Game" award but no "Best Male in a Game" ? Ok...

[Dumar]

guys, i just got the ability to predict the future!! it's hazy, but i believe, yes, yes i can, see the winners for next year:

computer fps: call of duty 6
console fps: gears of war 3
xbox: gears of war 3
ps3: metal gear solid 5
computer rpg: fallout 4
console rpg: persona 4
rts: starcraft 2
overall: grand theft auto 5

guys, GUYS, WOAH, i'm even able to look FURTHER into the future. it's appearing before my eyes.. the winners of 2010!:

call of duty 7
gears of war 4
metal gear solid 6
fallout 5
final fantasy 36
red alert 4
grand theft auto 6

god bless this industry full of original titles! where would we be without such creativity seen YEAR AFTER YEAR. i'm so glad you as an industry aren't whoring IP's or affected by MBA's shitting out sequels and micro transactions. and to think, i thought you had gone the way of hollywood!

i am so proud to call myself a gamer.

[wild_whiskey]

Spike awards are extremely predictable. I think we've gotten to the point where personal top 5s are much more important than some attempt at making a comprehensive list.

I'm sure they were manufactured in a way to get an overall even appeal amongst the fanbase. Game of the year is cross-platform this year, even though many people would agree that the exclusive titles in the list surpass GTA4 in several areas.

Meh, I don't really care either way.

[Sean]

Nothing really stood out for me this year like Bioshock did last year. There's a lot of solid titles, but none I can really put head and shoulders above the others.

Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto 4, Tales of Vesperia, and Dead Space are all really amazing games in their own right I think, but I can't say I have any real attachment to them like last year's crop. Mirror's Edge and Prince of Persia look like they're about the same quality as those games too, but I just haven't put any real time into them.

There is one game this year that I really, really loved - Valkyria Chronicles. As much as I love it though, I can't really nominate it either.

There's just something missing this year.

[wild_whiskey]

Here is Edge Magazine's GOTY wrap-up:

Best game:
LittleBigPlanet
GTA IV
Fable II

Best Innovation:
LittleBigPlanet
NXE
Left 4 Dead

Best Visual Design
LittleBigPlanet
Street Fighter IV
Far Cry 2

Best Audio Design:
Dead Space
GTA IV
No More Heroes

Best hardware:
Xbox 360
PS3
Wii

Best Publisher:
Microsoft Game Studios
Electronic Arts
Sony Computer Entertainment

Best Online Experience:
Left 4 Dead
LittleBigPlanet
Gears of War 2

Best Developer:
Media Molecule
Criterion Games
Rockstar North

Continuing on my perceived streak of hate regarding Gears of War 2, I can't believe it's a runner up in the "Best Online Experience" as its online mode was a complete broken mess for awhile and the netcode is awful, but not in the "best visual design" category, which is what it gets tons of credit for. Edge magazine has high cred, but some of these decisions I don't understand.

Dead Space has really nice audio design, but MGS4, which has received accolade after accolade for its masterful audio design, is not even in the running there? Some really confusing decisions.