2006 GWJ Community Game Of The Year Awards
Thanks go to Sinatar for managing an outstanding GWJ Community GOTY contest. Over more than a week of voting dozens of GWJ readers were given the opportunity to rank the ten best games of the past year in order. The votes were tabulated by Sinatar, and put together into what may become our first annual Community GOTY awards.
The votes are in and the goodjers have spoken. We have the results for the 2006 Gamers With Jobs Community Game of the Year Awards.
Overall Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Gears of War
3. The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess
------
Xbox 360 Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Viva Pinata
3. Dead Rising
------
PC Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Half Life 2: Episode 1
3. Warhammer 40k Dawn of War: Dark Crusade
------
Wii Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Wii Sports
3. Excite Truck
-----
Playstation 2 Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Okami
3. Final Fantasy XII
-----
DS Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Final Fantasy III
3. Electroplankton
-----
Xbox Game of the Year
Runners Up:
None
-----
Gamecube Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Chibi Robo
-----
Xbox Live Arcade Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2: Assault Heroes
3. Uno
-----
Indy PC Game of the Year
Runners Up:
2. Defcon
3. Armadillo Run
-----
Playstation 3 Game of the Year
That's right, a big fat zero for Sony's new console.
------------
There you have it, and here is the raw voting data for those who want it.
Oblivion 428
Gears of War 370
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess 192
Company of Heroes 191
Half Life 2 Episode I 155
Guitar Hero II 144
Viva Pinata 135
Wii Sports 128
Dead Rising 105
Okami 87
Final Fantasy XII 84
New Super Mario Bros. 84
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 72
Dawn of War: Dark Crusade 70
Civilization IV: The Warlords 59
Neverwinter Nights 2 57
Dwarf Fortress 55
Chromehounds 46
World of Warcraft 46
Rainbow Six Vegas 38
Battlefield 2142 35
Galactic Civilizations II 32
Lego Star Wars II 31
Titan Quest 30
Lumines Live 29
*Shadow of the Colossus 29
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 29
Guild Wars 26
Bully 24
Saints Row 22
Tomb Raider Legend 19
Prey 17
Splinter Cell Double Agent 17
Final Fantasy III 16
Final Fantasy Va 16
DEFCON 16
Tony Hawk Project 8 15
Electroplankton 15
Total War: Medieval 2 15
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic 14
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin 14
Chibi Robo 13
Armadillo Run 13
Burnout Revenge 12
Madden 07 11
Rise of Legends 11
Clubhouse Games 10
Fight Night Round 3 10
Assault Heroes 10
Sam & Max 10
NHL '07 9
Rayman Raving Rabbids 9
Rhythm Tengoku 9
Space Rangers 2 8
Roboblitz 8
The Ship 8
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistance 8
Line Rider 8
Trackmania: Nations 8
Battle for Middle Earth II 8
Dragonball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 7
Thrillville 7
Sin: Episode 1 7
Mount & Blade 7
Test Drive Unlimited 7
Elite Beat Agents 7
FEAR 6
Excite Truck 6
NBA 2K7 6
Cooking Mama 6
Sensible Soccer 2006 6
Pocket Bike Racer 6
Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime 6
College Hoops 2K7 6
Metroid Prime Hunters 6
Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerebus 5
WWE: Raw vs Smackdown 2007 5
Avatar 5
Battlefield 2 Armored Fury 5
Hitman Blood Money 5
Scurge: Hive 5
Frets on Fire 5
God Hand 5
Pro Evo 6 5
Everquest II 5
Starfox Command 4
Kingdom Hearts II 4
Elebits 4
Dreamfall The Longest Journey 4
Call of Duty 3 4
Sid Meier's Railroads 4
Uno 3
Call of Juarez 3
The Outfit 3
Yakuza 3
Flatout 2 2
Dominions 3 2
Red Orchestra 1
NHL 2K7 1
X3 The Reunion 1
Darkstar One 1
Tetris DS 1
Red Steel 1
Enchanted Arms 1
The Hidden (HL2 Mod) 1
Print
Delicious
Digg
As pointed out in the thread, DEFCON should actually be the runner up for indy PC game but I am apparantly blind.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
Fixed
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
A little bummed to see GalCivII so far down - why don't all of you share my clearly transcendent opinions?
You did a fantastic job Sinatar, thanks for running this. The quality of both the list and the thread which spawned it are both testaments to the excellent and unique place we have here.
How is it that Oblivion wins game of the year overall, but then is not in the top 3 for any of the other categories?
Because it isn't clear which platform each person's vote indicated. Besides once there is a clear GOTY, I like it being exempt from other awards. I think it's safe for people to assume that if Oblivion is available for their platform of choice then they should probably pick it up. What good to have it win GOTY, PC GOTY, and 360 GOTY?
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
/totally agree
Good job Sinatar on organizing this... it's a credit to the quality of your post that it made front page! Congrats and looking forward to next year's already!
Bear wrote:
Xbox Live: TheWalt2
Precisely. I'd be a big list of Oblivion otherwise.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
Nice work Sinatar. That was a fun vote and I think clearly shows how the community is able to recognize the truely remarkable titles.
XBL Gamertag: Bear Patrol
Blog: Triple Point Blank Fire
Dwarf Fortress is the perfect example of that.
The fact that it beat out games that actually have a budget? Testament to its true worth.
EDIT: I also think its telling that two of the PC Games of the Year were Relic-made.
Quintin_Stone wrote:
um... I'm a little confused here, but shouldn't Lumines Live be XBLA game of the year? It has more votes than Assault Heroes.
"The pen is mightier than the flaming bag of poop" - Bart Simpson
Xbox Live | Steam | Rockband Profile
Wow you are right. Looking over that list it was a bit easy to overlook stuff, I should have added a platform listing next to them to make it easier.
If any of the mods want to fix it, here is a banner for the real winner. I feel like a putz...
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
Great list! I picked the XBox game of the year all by myself! Hehehe. Goes to show just how well MS is supporting that big black brick, post 360.
Thanks for the work, Sinitar! I like the way this was tallied.
"PEACE ON EARTH. GOOD WILL TO MEN. PUBLIC SHELTER. ADMISSION 50¢"
Yea, hence why it won.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
Damn, your replied before I could edit!
I read the "Slave the Armok" thing, and no further. Hadn't known that was part of the title for DF.
"PEACE ON EARTH. GOOD WILL TO MEN. PUBLIC SHELTER. ADMISSION 50¢"
Hooray for the DEFCON fix, but Condemned still remains without credit for my #10 vote.
This is a travesty and something to be taken very, very seriously!
WII FRIEND CODE: 6936 4764 8384 6058
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
Xbox Live: Legion SB / PSN: Legion_SB / Steam: legion028 / Twitter: legion
Guess this means Condemned is the Maurice Jones-Drew of indie games.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"If ads put your sanity to the test
come on down to Rat Boy's nest!
light up a stogie, and soon you'll see
how rock can be commercial-free!
'I'd hit it!'" - HP Lovesauce
Ugh, the XBL winner is one of the biggest rip-offs in recent memory? Buy the game, keep paying for small parts of it not because it's some extra add-on feature like an expansion pack, but just because the developer can. Keep those Microsoft points coming boys! I refuse to acknowledge it as my GOTY in any category. I'll keep it with Assault Heroes.
Freeagent is formerly known as divorced. Please make the necessary legal and illegal adjustments.
Yankeefan4444
Condemned came out in 05 and I can see from your Gamercard that the 360 version is the one you played.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
I should kill you for skipping Lumines. KILL!
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
I'm sure if you could stop playing it for 5 minutes you'd do all kinds of awful things to me. Thankfully that won't be happening for quite some time.
Sweet sweet digital heroin.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
I don't see it as a rip-off. It would have been nice if it had been a bit cheaper, but honestly it is such a brilliant game that I feel the price is justifiable, and I haven't regretted my purchase in the slightest. And beside that, buying the base and advance pack gives you everything you got in the original PSP version of the game for about the same price, and you get to play the game on your nice TV with surround sound. Further, buying just the base pack gives you a complete and immensely enjoyable game as it is, despite what overwrought reactionaries like 1up's Luke Smith would have you believe.
XBL/PSN: zeroKFE | BHA: zeroKFE
On a side note, Zero I am troubled by your ability to approach my score. I'm hoping my 620,000 point effort will scare you off.
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
I sadly still haven't managed to clear the base pack despite putting over 10 hours into it. I can make it to the crazy coffee bean stage and then I totally blow it.
My days of not taking you seriously have certainly come to a middle.
Steam Profile
My Gamercard
Damn. What did I look at that said it was 2006? Oh well.
EDIT: Oh I know, it was Edwin's honorable mentions. It's his fault!
WII FRIEND CODE: 6936 4764 8384 6058
Gaming / PC Tech Blog: www.blastprocessing.net
Xbox Live: Legion SB / PSN: Legion_SB / Steam: legion028 / Twitter: legion
Nice to see Wii Sports rating so high up there.
Xbox Live: StaatsM
Condemned came out for the PC on 04/11/06.
XBox Live|Tshirts|xfire | Last.fm
Great thread, great list. Good job. The industrie will acknowledge and respect the "GWJ Community Game Of The Year Awards" (tm) from this time on.
I don't watch, I interact!
Yeah, this deserved front page and nothing less. Friggin' great job, Sinatar!
Oh, and developer of the year: Relic!
Roo: "Just to cheer you up if any of the above made you sad: Boobies."
Koning_Floris, on my online 'skills': "Stinking is a skill too!"
Cheers Sinitar, great job!
If nothing else, looking down this list shows that 2006 was a truly great year for gaming. Here's to a better 2007!
Requires 2 non-replaceable LR41 button cell batteries for the monkey (included)
I'm still sad that all you nintendo lemmings voted for Twilight Princess and knocked Company of Heroes out of the top three.
XBLive: Thin J
PSN: Thin_J
I don't imagine master craftsmen leaping away from completed projects and shouting "Done, motherf*ckers! - 1Dgaf