Other best game nominees include BioShock, Crysis, Gears of War, Guitar Hero II and Kane & Lynch. Of those, two titles haven't yet been released. If Crysis and Kane & Lynch somehow get delayed until 2008, will be the eligible for next year's awards, too?
There are 15 categories, including Artistic Achievement and Best Story/Characters. Winners will be announced October 23; you can view the full list after the break.
Action and Adventure
- Crackdown
- Gears of War
- God of War 2
- Orange Box
- Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Artistic Achievement
- BioShock
- Heavenly Sword
- Okami
- Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction
- Skate
- Viva Pinata
Best Game
- BioShock
- Crysis
- Gears of War
- Guitar Hero II
- Kane & Lynch: Dead Men
- Wii Sports
Casual
- Big Brain Academy for Wii
- Cake Mania
- Guitar Hero II
- More Brain Training
- Singstar PS3
- Wii Sports
Gameplay
- Crackdown
- Gears of War
- Sega Rally
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Warhawk
- Wii Sports
Innovation
- flOw
- Okami
- Super Paper Mario
- Eye of Judgment
- Trauma Center: Second Opinion
- Wii Sports
Multiplayer
- Battlefield 2142
- Crackdown
- Guitar Hero II
- Wii Sports
- World in Conflict
- World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
Original Score
- Final Fantasy XII
- God of War 2
- Lair
- Okami
- Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
- Viva Pinata
Sports
- Football Manager 2008
- Colin McRae: Dirt
- FIFA 08
- Motorstorm
- Virtua Tennis 3
- Wii Sports
Strategy and Simulation
- Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars
- Forza Motorsport 2
- Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
- Wii Sports
- World in Conflict
Story and Character
- Final Fantasy XII
- God of War 2
- Heavenly Sword
- Okami
- The Darkness
- The SImpsons Game
Technical Achievement
- Crackdown
- Gears of War
- God of War 2
- Motorstorm
- Okami
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Use of Audio
- Crackdown
- Elite Beat Agents
- Gears of War
- God of War 2
- Guitar Hero II
- Skate
BAFTA's One to Watch (in association with Dare to be Digital)
- Ragnarawk
- Climbactic
- Bear Go Home
- Brain Training
- FIFA 07
- Football Manager 2007
- Gears of War
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
- Resistance: Fall of Man
- Wii Play
(Page 1) Reader Comments
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You must've missed PacMania. Pac-Man had NO BUTTONS!
But yeah, Wii Sports is the first game to have wide-spread appeal through simple gameplay since games went 3-D even.
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Artistic Achievement
Okami - While I did think that BioShock tore it up in terms of atmosphere, Okami does the art better. The two are almost tied, but the flavor of Okami pushes it over BioShock.
Best Game
BioShock - For me anyway. Wii Sports if we're talking mass appeal.
Casual
Wii Sports - No contest.
Gameplay
Gears of War - Again, Wii Sports will more than likely actually win due to mass appeal, but this one is my vote on this particular list.
Innovation
flOw - I thought this one was pretty damned cool.
Multiplayer
World in Conflict - Two words: in sane. Though I do think Burning Crusade will win it based on sheer volumes of people playing it.
Original Score
Okami - Apart from the artistic merit, this was the only other real saving grace of the game, and boy did it ever save the game. Great music.
Sports
Wii Sports - My vote, but being Britain, Football Manager 2008 has a stronger chance of winning the actual award.
Strategy and Simulation
World in Conflict - See statements from above.
Story and Character
I don't like any of the options for this category. Really, The Simpson's Game? I'll take BioShock here, but it isn't even an option.
Technical Achievement
Gears of War - Nothing has been released to come close to this visual fiesta. Crysis should kick it to the curb, but that isn't out yet.
Use of Audio
Elite Beat Agents - Just becuase I have me a soft spot for guys dancing to solve people's problems.
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The darkness is at the same level as Bioshock in IMO.
Action and Adventure: Twilight Princess
The gameplay was nothing new, but it's Zelda. How can anyone not like it? Were it not for God Hand, Zelda would've been my game of 2006. One of the few games that I've played for a 7 hour stretch.
Artistic Achievement: Okami
Bioshock is pretty, but ultimately it's just art deco. Okami just blows everything off the map on that list, in terms of artistic vision.
Best Game: Wii Sports
I bet this'll go to Bioshock, but Wii Sports is still fun with friends to this day. Bowling is always good, too, even alone. A game with that kind of replay value doesn't come along often.
Casual: Wii Sports
Pfft...no contest.
Gameplay: Twilight Princess
As I said, it's Zelda. It's been absolutely perfected by this point.
Innovation: Super Paper Mario
I'm really not terribly jazzed about any of those titles being innovative, although I'm tempted to give the nod to Wii Sports. But in SPM, at least we have the 2D-3D thing, which I don't think we've ever really seen before.
Multiplayer: Wii Sports
I really wish there were a better selection on this list. For me it's between Wii Sports and Guitar Hero...and since I don't like Guitar Hero (most of the music isn't my cup of tea), I give it to Wii Sports by default.
Original Score: Okami
Easy pick there. I still find myself humming the field theme without even realizing it sometimes.
Sports: Wii Sports
All I've actually played on that list is Wii Sports and Motorstorm. Motorstorm was alright, but nothing we haven't seen before, really. Wii Sports, though, was a totally new way to play a sports game. I've actually bought golf games because of it! I never thought that would happen in my life!
Strategy & Simulation: ???
I haven't played any of these but Wii Sports and I refuse to even acknowledge Wii Sports in this category. I can see HOW it's a simulation, but it completely jives with the spirit of what the category is meant to represent.
Story & Character: Okami
Okami's story didn't really floor me by any means, but it was enjoyable and I didn't see the twist with Rao coming right up until it happened after you get the Fox Rods...plus, it's hard not to like Issun.
Technical Achievement: God of War II
Pretty amazing, considering it's a PS2 game!
Use of Audio: Elite Beat Agents
I love the premise of this game. It's just a shame the DS has such lousy speakers.
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I don't think any other golf game has gotten it as right as Wii Sports. Super Swing would have were it not for having to lock in your shot's power. So lame.
[some random person shouts "PangYa!"]
I love that.
How many months are they counting in this?
By my count, Gears of War and Wii Sports were out a year ahead of Uncharted
what's their cutoff, or am i missing something about Uncharted's Euro release date?
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A lot of choices on this list seem out of place.
Kayne and Lynch, for anything? Battlefield 2142 for multiplayer? WiiSports for anything but Casual Game? Trauma Center for innovation, we saw everything it did on the Wii on the DS last year. No Orange Box (specifically TF2) for multiplayer?
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And look in popular acclaim. Football manager and FIFA 08 but where is Super Paper Mario, Metroid or Halo 3 WTF? Then look Resistance fall of men and Wii play are you serious?
If halo3 doesn’t shows up in the next year list this is Failure.
I don’t know how this would work but I feel most of the categories will be taken by Nintendo, for example in action adventure I’m sure Zelda will win.
Now I find really weird Wii sports is up there also Crackdown I mean Crackdown is good and everything but not enough to win a prize in the case of Wii sports WTF? I mean is fine because is included with the wii but as stand alone just NO.
I really hope Bioshock and the Darkness win but I'm afraid Gears of war is going to leave empty handed.
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Wiisports is nothing amazing. The only reason it's gotten so much attention is because it's on the Wii. The Golf is one of the most unbearable experiences I've ever gone through, the tennis gets boring faster than you can say "wiisports" due to the fact that all you do is swing the Wiimote (hell, your damn player even moves on it's own) the boxing requires no skill at all, as can be seek by watching any of the numerous videos of 5 year olds flailing their arms around to victory on youtube. The baseball is equally as shallow as the rest of games.
The only fun experience on the disc is Bowling, and to a lesser extent Homerun Derby in the baseball mode.
and this gets nominated for awards?
whatever.
I'm not hating on the Wii, but this game doesn't deserve awards.
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What? Leave it open for modern artists to make crap and call it art? So the wii is leaving the video game world open to crap?
And seriously where's Halo 3? It should definately be nominated. If for nothing else then at least best original score.
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Action and Adventure
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Artistic Achievement (tie for me--they both have very different styles)
BioShock
Okami
Best Game
BioShock
Casual
Wii Sports
Gameplay
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Innovation
Okami
Multiplayer
World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
Original Score--tie (my love for FF makes me bias towards it but Okami was fantastic as well)
Final Fantasy XII
Okami
Sports
Wii Sports
Strategy and Simulation
World in Conflict
Story and Character (tie--I couldn't decide and haven't finished these 3 games yet)
Final Fantasy XII
Okami
The Darkness
Technical Achievement
Gears of War
Use of Audio
Elite Beat Agents
BAFTA's One to Watch (in association with Dare to be Digital)
??? didn't recognize any of these titles
The PC World Gamers Award (voted by public)
Gears of War
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By most people's accounts Team Fortress 2 is the most fun multiplayer to come out in years.
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