The 2009 GWJ Community Game of the Year Awards Results

The votes are in and the goodjers have spoken. Here are the best games of 2009.

GAME OF THE YEAR: DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS

IMAGE(http://i46.tinypic.com/1zy79c.jpg)

Runners Up:
2. Batman: Arkham Asylum
3. Torchlight

PC EXCLUSIVE GAME OF THE YEAR: TORCHLIGHT

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Runners Up:
2. Plants vs. Zombies
3. WH40K Dawn of War II

XBOX 360 EXCLUSIVE GAME OF THE YEAR SHADOW COMPLEX

IMAGE(http://i46.tinypic.com/b8mque.jpg)

Runners Up:
2. Forza Motorsport III
3. Halo 3: ODST

PLAYSTATION 3 EXCLUSIVE GAME OF THE YEAR [i]UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES[/i]

IMAGE(http://i45.tinypic.com/k9garb.jpg)

Runners Up:
2. Demon's Souls
3. Fl0wer

WII EXCLUSIVE GAME OF THE YEAR: [i]NEW SUPER MARIO BROS. WII[/i]

IMAGE(http://i45.tinypic.com/znn0oi.jpg)

Runners Up:
2. Wii Sports Resort
3. Muramasa The Demon Blade

DS EXCLUSIVE GAME OF THE YEAR: [i]THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: SPIRIT TRACKS[/i]

IMAGE(http://i47.tinypic.com/106bhhs.jpg)

Runners Up:
2. Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Survivor
3. Retro Game Challenge

PSP EXCLUSIVE GAME OF THE YEAR: [i]DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY[/i]

IMAGE(http://i49.tinypic.com/j6kdx3.jpg)

Runners Up:
2. PSP Minis
3. Gran Turismo PSP

There you have it. Here's the raw voting data for the curious.

Dragon Age Origins 587
Batman: Arkham Asylum 430
Torchlight 366
Left 4 Dead II 324
Plants vs. Zombies 315
Borderlands 252
Assassin's Creed II 224
Uncharted II 189
Dawn of War II 164
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 146
Red Faction Guerilla 138
Shadow Complex 119
Rock Band: The Beatles 110
Trine 110
Team Fortress II 99
World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King 96
Demon's Souls 91
New Super Mario Bros Wii 91
Brutal Legend 87
Street Fighter IV 83
Forza Motorsport III 76
Demigod 61
Flower 55
Fallout 3 GOTY/DLC 54
inFamous 48
Resident Evil V 44
League of Legends 35
Empire Total War 35
Halo: ODST 34
NHL '10 32
Tales of Monkey Island 30
Wii Sports Resort 29
Killzone 2 29
Overlord II 29
Arma II 28
AI War: Fleet Command 27
Zelda Spirit Tracks 26
Solium Infernum 25
Machinarium 25
The Path 24
Battlefield 1943 23
Dawn of Discovery 22
Mirror's Edge 20
Sins of a Solar Empire Entrenchment 18
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time 18
D&D Online 17
The Secret of Monkey Island SE 17
FIFA '10 17
Zeno Clash 17
Muramasa The Demon Blade 15
X3 Terran Conflict 15
1 vs. 100 14
Punch Out!! 14
Valkyria Chronicles 14
Ghostbusters 13
Cryostasis 13
Shin Megami Tensei - Devil Survivor 12
A Boy and his Blob 12
Retro Game Challenge 12
Crayon Physics Deluxe 12
Peggle iPhone/XBLA 12
Burnout Paradise 12
X-Men Origins Wolverine 12
Braid 11
The Hunter 11
BlazBlue 11
House of the Dead Overkill 10
Dissidia: Final Fantasy 10
GTA Chinatown Wars 9
Prototype 9
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box 9
Altitude 9
Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 9
Drakensang 9
WiC: Soviet Assault 9
PSP Minis 8
Silent Hill Shattered Memories 8
Skate II 8
Today I Die 8
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes 8
Splosion Man 8
Gratuitous Space Battles 8
The Spirit Engine 2 8
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena 8
King's Bounty Armored Princess 7
Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story 7
Darkfall 7
Noby Noby Boy 7
Battleforge 7
Tropico III 7
Tiger Woods '10 7
The Sims III 7
Pixeljunk Shooter 7
Way of the Samurai III 7
GTA4: The Lost and the Damned 7
Canabalt 7
UNO Rush 6
Afrika 6
Gran Turismo PSP 6
Blueberry Garden 6
Drop7 6
Metroid Prime Trilogy 6
Small Worlds 6
3 on 3 NHL Arcade 6
Madden '10 6
FEAR 2: Project Origin 6
Uniwar 6
Desktop Tower Defense DS 6
Fight Night Round IV 6
Trials HD 6
Bonsair Barber 6
Knights of the Chalice 5
DCS KA:50 Black Shark 5
Wallace & Gromit 5
Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor 5
Hearts of Iron III 5
Defense Grid 5
Overlord Dark Legend 5
Shatter 5
Champions Online 5
Lord of the Rings Online 5
Rhythm Heaven 4
Risen 4
Audiosurf 4
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon 4
Space Invaders Infinity Gene 4
Majesty 2 4
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! A Reckless Disregard for Gravity 4
TapDefense 4
Scribblenauts 4
Cogs 4
DiRT II 4
Wolfenstein 4
Panzer General: Allied Assault 4
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure 3
Wipeout HD Fury 3
Suikoden Teirkreis 3
Powder 3
Bubble Bobble Plus 3
GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony 3
Aion 3
Blood Bowl 3
Lego Rock Band 3
Bionic Commando 3
Tetris iPhone 3
Phantasy Star 0 3
Men of War 3
Prinny Can I Really Be the Hero 2
Rock Band Unplugged 2
Section 8 2
Marvel Ultimate Alliance II 2
Out of the Park Baseball X 2
LocoRoco II 2
Raiden Fighters Aces 2
Shattered Horizon 2
Katsuro 2
Need for Speed Shift 2
Sacred II 2
Guitar Hero V 2
Dungon Hunter 2
FIFA '09 DS 2
Battlefield Heroes 1
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix 1
MLB 2K9 1
Operating Flashpoint II: Dragon Rising 1
Fairytale Fights 1
And Yet It Moves 1
IL-2 Sturmovick: Birds of Prey 1
Today I Die 1

Wow, awesome tabulation and presentation Sinatar. Nice work!

Awesome. I believe all of those results are well deserved.

Thanks again for counting the votes, Sinatar!

That took alot of work, thanks Sinatar. I see a few up there that I'll have to keep an eye out for.

Not a strong year for handheld software.

Thanks for the effort, Sinatar! 2010 Start!

Dragon what? Batman who?

Thanks for doing this, Sinatar.

Wow, in past years my list looked nothing like the community top ten. I was hoping Dragon Age would at least rank pretty highly, but I never imagined it would take the top spot by a huge margin.

Pretty surprised to see it sharing the top ten with the likes of Torchlight, L4D2, Plants vs. Zombies and DoW II. For all the discussion over the year on the forums, this place remains a community with a big PC audience.

As always, thanks a bunch, Sin!

Great job Sinatar! Good winners all around this year.

Great job!

Parallax Abstraction wrote:

Great job Sinatar! Good winners all around this year.

Agreed. However, after having put some hours into Borderlands, I'm kind of disappointed it didn't make the top 3. I'm also disappointed that I didn't pick this up earlier.

I played 3 of the top 10! Probably a new record for me.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I played 3 of the top 10! Probably a new record for me. ;)

I own 4 of the top 5. I'm almost certain thats a record for me.

AnimeJ wrote:

However, after having put some hours into Borderlands, I'm kind of disappointed it didn't make the top 3.

O'rly?

53 hrs is some, huh?

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is online.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is playing Borderlands.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is offline.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is online.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is playing Borderlands.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is offline.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is online.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is playing Borderlands.

[GWJ] AnimeJ[team throwback] is offline.

I'm sort of shocked that DoWII was so high.

Evo wrote:

I'm sort of shocked that DoWII was so high.

There was quite a bit of GWJ DoW II-ing when it first came out. Steam sez I put 113 hours into it, and a lot of that was multiplayer. That's a lot for me. I don't play multiplayer much, especially RTS multiplayer. As usual, though, this gang makes it more fun, even with some pubbies along for the ride.

Great Work Sinatar, it's appreciated

I'm shocked that Torchlight was rated as highly as it was. I mean I rated it pretty highly myself and it's a great game, but I think it has some serious problems as well. I think its more accessible price point is what catapulted it above major releases like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. Plants vs Zombies is also remarkably high for a mid-year release casual game. Left 4 Dead 2 is relatively highly rated compared to other GotY lists, but I'm not surprised given our strong Left 4 Dead community.

Latrine wrote:

I'm shocked that Torchlight was rated as highly as it was. I mean I rated it pretty highly myself and it's a great game, but I think it has some serious problems as well. I think its more accessible price point is what catapulted it above major releases like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. Plants vs Zombies is also remarkably high for a mid-year release casual game.

It seems to be both the price as well as the size itself. Small games you did not expect that much of before it was releases (thanks to the low hype/marketing).
When thinking back on the games of the year, I'd bet many people would rather mention those small games which surprised them, than the 'obvious' major blockbusters of the year.

This is awesome Sinatar, but when is the prime-time TV special with dancers, pop stars, and CG graphics zipping around the screen? I want to watch Claudia Black accept the GWJ GOTY award on behalf of Bioware! Preferrably wearing Morrigan's getup from the game!

Latrine wrote:

Plants vs Zombies is also remarkably high for a mid-year release casual game.

You are quite mistaken, sir. Clearly you have not play the best game that came out in 2009. Don't make me take my glove out...

cyrax wrote:
Latrine wrote:

Plants vs Zombies is also remarkably high for a mid-year release casual game.

You are quite mistaken, sir. Clearly you have not play the best game that came out in 2009. Don't make me take my glove out...

I played Dragon Age and rated it as my personal #1 as well.

Plants vs Zombies is a tower defense game, a fairly casual variant on the RTS. It's also not too difficult to master and can be broken up into many small play sessions. That's pretty much the definition of casual game. It's not necessarily an insult although I will admit that low budget casual games are usually rated at a lower tier than AAA games.

Wow, an XBox Live Arcade title took the top spot for 360 exclusives? That's pretty impressive. Too bad there weren't more titles like Shadow Complex though.

Great list and great job. I picked up Batman:AA during the steam sale. I can't wait to it in a couple of weeks after I finish Dragon Age. Oh wait that's when Mass Effect 2 comes out. Then Assassin's Creed 2 for the PC......DAMN...

Can Batman get a neat banner for best multiplatform?

Also, I think it's interesting that Demigod is above League of Legends by quite a bit. I don't have access to the voting (well I do obviously, but don't want to read all those posts), but I get the feeling that demigod got fewer, but higher votes.

That is to say, the people that feel about Demigod, myself included, feel strongly. Our LoL counterparts feel less strongly about that game.

Sweet list, awesome job. I guess now I really have to play Dragon Age, or I just won't be running with the in crowd.

I call shenanigans because I don't agree with this list. Therefore, this list must be wrong and all who had anything to do with this list must be terrorists. Then something about burning the place down, comparing everyone to nazis and then a confusing comment about burger testicles that I didn't really think through. Finish off with some profanity-laden fanboyism and I'm out. Nice doing business with you.

Atomicvideohead wrote:

Can Batman get a neat banner for best multiplatform?

Why? Dragon Age was mutliplat and got far more votes.

cyrax wrote:
AnimeJ wrote:

However, after having put some hours into Borderlands, I'm kind of disappointed it didn't make the top 3.

O'rly?

53 hrs is some, huh?

Ok, so perhaps 'Borderlands has grabbed me by the scrotum and won't let go' would be a more accurate statement. I do love that game, it's definitely scratching the itch that Diablo used to, and far, far better than Torchlight did, sadly.

Oh, and I'm at 64.1 hours played in the last 2 weeks.

Shadout wrote:
Latrine wrote:

I'm shocked that Torchlight was rated as highly as it was. I mean I rated it pretty highly myself and it's a great game, but I think it has some serious problems as well. I think its more accessible price point is what catapulted it above major releases like Uncharted and Assassin's Creed. Plants vs Zombies is also remarkably high for a mid-year release casual game.

It seems to be both the price as well as the size itself. Small games you did not expect that much of before it was releases (thanks to the low hype/marketing).
When thinking back on the games of the year, I'd bet many people would rather mention those small games which surprised them, than the 'obvious' major blockbusters of the year.

Yeah, I'm sure Portal ranked really high on the GWJ list whichever year Orange Box came out. I know it was my GotY pick that year.
I think the big thing is, people with jobs and kids and lives are able to play AND finish games of this size and, as such, feel much more confident in voicing support. I mean, they finished it! They can vote for it because they actually saw the ending!

Plus, Torchlight is pretty awesome.

Edit: Yep, Portal beat out Bioshock in 2007. http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/3...

Thanks for all the hard work, Sinatar!

I shouldn't have read this thread, this is going to hurt my wallet