And the best [insert category] - updated.

EDIT:

You can listen to the show here, folks: http://hatchetjob.libsyn.com/hj90-your-2010-game-awards Thanks for all your entries. Apologies if yours didn't make it in, but there's always next year.

***
I'm taking entries for the second-annual HatchetJob gaming awards (aka Insert Category). I asked GWJers for help with the first one and got some great responses, so here I am again.

Our show is very different to most: we're doing games from 2010 and we don't have any set categories. You create the category, you pick a winner.

Here's why:

By covering games from 2010, you've had longer to play titles released later in the year. This is esp. important for coop/MP games.

Most established games awards - 'best action/shooter', 'best open world' - are limiting and try to squash your experiences into their categories. With our awards, you create the category so it's immediately personal.

Last year's winners included:

Look at the size of that thing - Batman: Arkham Asylum, for the game with most over-sized
third person avatar.

Best Use of a Dog
: Torchlight. 
 (Boxquote - "I still named my dog Barkspawn")

Best game I don't think I actually liked, although I might have: 
Demons Souls

Best MP mode where you play exclusively as the SP's bad guys: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood

Best DLC that makes an existing character far, far more interesting: Mass Effect 2's Lair of the Shadow Broker

Best Worst Story: Heavy Rain

Best Pecs: God of War III

Best Time Sink: Battlefield Bad Company 2

Best Glitch: Bad Company 2's Won/Lost Screen

Best Performance by Hair: Bayonetta

Good grief haven't we done enough variations on 2010 GOTY already?

Best game that makes you play as a little girl: Bioshock 2

Best game for making spectators seasick: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Best use of a sandwich: Deadly Premonition

Best bizarre, unquotable catchphrase: Deadly Premonition ("F.K. in the coffee.")

Best hermaphrodite character: Nier

Best use of pornographic sound effects: Bayonetta, with runner-up Dante's Inferno

Sorry, here's our original show for people are wondering about the format:

http://hatchetjob.libsyn.com/hatchet...

And, I've sent a reply to Scratched, but I'll post it here to anyone wondering. This isn't really a GOTY show. In fact, it's kind of an antidote to it. Because the categories are so specific (see 'best pecs' and 'best use of a sandwich') it's more like a BGADWTCIA show: best game at doing what this category is about.

Best Team-killing: Magicka

Best Worth Completing to 100%: Eversion

1Dgaf wrote:

And, I've sent a reply to Scratched, but I'll post it here to anyone wondering. This isn't really a GOTY show. In fact, it's kind of an antidote to it. Because the categories are so specific (see 'best pecs' and 'best use of a sandwich') it's more like a BGADWTCIA show: best game at doing what this category is about.

Like the awards that alt-weeklies give out, right?

These probably won't mean much to most HatchetJob listeners, but I'll share them anyway:

Best (and only) new game of 2010 that misplacedbravado actually finished in 2010: STALKER Call of Pripyat

Most controversial game in the GWJ Video Game Deals Catch-All thread: Darksiders

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Best game for making spectators seasick: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Really? Never noticed this.

Best game that's the exact same thing it was 10 years ago: StarCraft 2

Best game to annoy the GWJ deals thread crowd with: Darksiders

Best Nintendo franchise game Nintendo didn't make (or even get on their platform): Joe Danger (aka Excitebike HD)

EDIT: Darksiders Tannhauser'ed b/c I just had to keep tweaking things!

EDIT EDIT: Best Nintendo franchise game that wasn't originally a Nintendo franchise game/Cutest game ever that a bunch of podcasting men will talk about and admit they like: Kirby's Epic Yarn

Best Use Of Interspecies Nookie Not Shown On-Screen: Mass Effect 2.

Most Casually-Handled Off-Screen Annihilation Of An Entire Planet: Mass Effect 2 The Arrival DLC

Game Most Likely To Force Me To Hear People In My Demographic Sing The Same Damn Classic Rock Songs Over And Over: Rock Band 3

Best Second Half Of A Game That Deserved A Better First Half: Bioshock 2

Best Game With The Worst Side Missions, So Bad It Ruined The Game, Seriously, Nobody Wants To Herd Cattle: Red Dead Redemption

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Best Game With The Worst Side Missions, So Bad It Ruined The Game, Seriously, Nobody Wants To Herd Cattle: Red Dead Redemption

mrtomaytohead wrote:

EDIT: Darksiders Tannhauser'ed b/c I just had to keep tweaking things!

If you hadn't said that, I'd have thought you were bringing the running gag over to this thread.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Best Game With The Worst Side Missions, So Bad It Ruined The Game, Seriously, Nobody Wants To Herd Cattle: Red Dead Redemption

First runner up in the "seriously, nobody wants to herd cattle" category: Mount & Blade Warband

I actually liked herding cattle in Red Dead Redemption. I have a soft spot for games willing to dive headfirst into the boring and mundane aspects of a character's life for relatively small bursts. It's part of the reason why I loved Shenmue so much back in the day, it's what made Half-Life's opening sequence so memorable, and it's something a game like Heavy Rain couldn't work without.

Press A to Board Bandwagon, ho!

Best Sh*tty Graphics: Deadly Premonition
Most Deceptively Difficult: Donkey Kong Country Returns
Most Ridiculously Epic: God of War 3
Most Violent: God of War 3
Best Example of All the Right Ways to Make a Game: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Best Camera: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (perhaps that's cheating, because the camera system is exactly the same as in the first Galaxy)
Most Disappointing Character Arc in an Otherwise Fun Game: Samus - Metroid: Other M
Best Easter Egg: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (there's a sequence with a bunch of trucks that includes about a half-dozen great easter eggs, including a recruitable Kojima.)
Best Gears of War: Mass Effect 2
Best Racism: Red Dead Redemption

mrtomaytohead wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

Best game for making spectators seasick: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Really? Never noticed this.

Everyone who watched me play that game complained that it made them horribly motion sick. Personally, I didn't have any problems, unless I didn't watch Mario but instead watch the backgrounds, then I'd get a bit swimmy.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Best Game With The Worst Side Missions, So Bad It Ruined The Game, Seriously, Nobody Wants To Herd Cattle: Red Dead Redemption

It's funny you said this. That's exactly where I put down the controller, traded it back to Amazon, and never played RDR again. I wasn't particularly upset with the game, it was more of a feeling of "eh, this isn't really for me".

As for motion sickness award, Minecraft wins that for me, hands down. I don't know why, but I can't play it for 60 seconds without turning green.

Best way to make yourself feel like a horrible human being: NIER
Best way to "accidentally" slap someone in the face: Kinect Adventures
Beadiest Eyes: Limbo
Best Reason to Buy New Underwear: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Best Colloquial Game Name (tie): AssBro / Blops
Best Satire Cover: Carl on Duty: Black Cops
Best Way to Learn How to Jerk: Dance Central
Best Arrested Development Reference: Costume Quest
Most Politically Incorrect (tie): Fat Princess / RE5
Biggest Pixels: Minecraft
Creepiest Dream Sequence: Heavy Rain
Best Skynet Photo Opportunities: Kinect Adventures
Most Saccharine: Ilomilo
Best Use of Worsted Wool: Kirby's Epic Yarn
Best Use of Plain Text: NIER
Best Assumption that All Players Are Total Idiots: Don't Take It Personally, Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story
Best Way to Feel Like You Have Some Modicum of Musical Talent, Even Though You Can't Clap on 2 and 4 Consistently: Rock Band 3
Most Damned Expensive to Play Properly: Rock Band 3
Best Use of a Homicidal Rabbit: Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse
Biggest Piles of Cash Being Raked in Like 15 Years After Release: Team Fortress 2
Best Juxtaposition of Pixel-Precise Platforming with Laggy Motion Controls: Donkey Kong Country Returns
Most Likely to Have You Look up at the Clock and It Be Like 4 AM and You Have to Be at Work in Three Hours: Minecraft
Best "Why Does This Crummy Battery Run Down So Fast?": 100 Rogues
Best Awkward Multiplayer Conversation Starter: Fable III
Best Use of (and Best Reason to Huff) Paint Thinner: Epic Mickey
Best Bird in an Afro: Final Fantasy XIII
Best Everything: NIER

MechaSlinky wrote:

Best Racism: Red Dead Redemption

I'd nominate Mafia 2 for that category as well!

Best Way to Really Be a Whore for Achievements: Fable III

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Best Way to Really Be a Whore for Achievements: Fable III

You said it better than I did.

Minarchist wrote:

Creepiest Dream Sequence: Heavy Rain

Is that the one where you undress the girl to take a shower?

Podunk wrote:
MechaSlinky wrote:

Best Racism: Red Dead Redemption

I'd nominate Mafia 2 for that category as well!

Agreed. Mafia 2 had more racism than RDR from what I remember.

Most Gratifying Ending Moment: Red Dead Redemption
Best Zombie Cowboys and Zombie Horses: RDR Undead Nightmare
Best Game That Made You Want to Be a Kid Again: Costume Quest
Biggest Blue Boobies: Mass Effect 2
Most Colorful Excrement: Deathspank (Unicorn Poop)
Bloodiest Platformer: Super Meat Boy

Best co-op game on PC ruined by the PC co-op interface: Borderlands

It was workable using Steam chat, but useless to attempt the in-game gamespy interface.

MeatMan wrote:
Podunk wrote:
MechaSlinky wrote:

Best Racism: Red Dead Redemption

I'd nominate Mafia 2 for that category as well!

Agreed. Mafia 2 had more racism than RDR from what I remember.

But in RDR, you could kill the guy, let him resurrect, and kill him again. And again. And again.

demonbox wrote:

Best co-op game on PC ruined by the PC co-op interface: Borderlands

It was workable using Steam chat, but useless to attempt the in-game gamespy interface.

Ha! Never even tried to get the in-game working. Me and my buddy just started playing after the summer sale and we always use Steam chat when we're gaming together. It just works. And the whole no push to talk is nice to make things simple.

Best Game I watch 10x more than I play: Starcraft 2

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Best game that makes you play as a little girl: Bioshock 2

Well yeah, I guess so if this is a popularity contest...

ClockworkHouse wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Best Game With The Worst Side Missions, So Bad It Ruined The Game, Seriously, Nobody Wants To Herd Cattle: Red Dead Redemption

:lol:

I love this. I couldn't get through RDR because of the tutorial forcing me to do boring things.

Game That Made You Play It the Longest After the Final Credits: Dragon Quest IX. I spent tens of hours on downloadable quests alone, several tens more to master jobs and it already took me some 90 hours to polish off the main game.

MeatMan wrote:
Podunk wrote:
MechaSlinky wrote:

Best Racism: Red Dead Redemption

I'd nominate Mafia 2 for that category as well!

Agreed. Mafia 2 had more racism than RDR from what I remember.

I only played the demo for Mafia 2, so whatever. But this is Best Racism, not Most Racism.

Most heartless hero: Rico from Just Cause 2 - He just goes around destroying an entire country's infrastructure (water towers, powerstations, gas pumps, and boat docks) and stealing any and everybody's vehicle while the civilians sit idly by and watch.

Best game that would have made millions of people swoon if a spaceship crested over the horizon: Red Dead Redemption

Best use of a flashlight as a weapon that eventually gets very repetitive: Alan Wake