This is in answer to laughlyn12's blog about how we vote for Game of the Year.

For me, I always vote based on this criteria:
1) Whichever game brings the industry furthest forward. If it's a tie, then
2) Whichever game embodies one of the new movements that are favorable to the industry. If that fails, then
3) Whichever game was most innovative. If there's still no clear winner, then
4) Whichever game was hands-down most engaging. Again, if that fails, then
5) Whichever game had the most overall polish. Finally, if I still can't decide,
6) I just pick whichever game I like more.

Oh, and because it's relevant, I voted for Braid. This one won on the second criteria, because it (alongside World of Goo) symbolizes the new (and very uplifting) trend of highly-accessible, blockbuster-quality indie games available at low cost, but it wouldn't have even made it to criteria 2 if it hadn't done so well with the time-traveling mechanic and poetic presentation. It told it's story just as well as Metal Gear Solid 4, with an entirely different approach.

Now, a couple of things I should mention. First off, I haven't even played any of the finalist games, I was only voting on word-of-mouth. Thus, my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

The other thing is that I don't ACTUALLY think in terms of favorites, rather in terms of preferences (i.e. I don't have a favorite color, although I PREFER shades of blue). Increasingly, this has applied to video games. This is because the industry has become so diverse lately that it's difficult to make comparisons. The only reason you could compare, say, Metal Gear Solid 4 and LittleBigPlanet is because of the new MGS4-themed expansion pack for LBP. Platformers and stealth-shooters are completely different genres. Racing and real-time strategy are totally different. Sports and puzzles share nothing in common except the gamepad. I could go on and on...

Of course, this would mean that it's somewhat disanalogous for me to vote in the first place, but my point is that the "Game of the Year" Award no longer holds the weight in the industry that it used to, except in marketing. I think we should turn our attention to "Genre-focused-Game of the Year" Awards. What was the best RTS game? Out of all the shooters, which came out on top? Which RPG was Number 1?

Maybe I'm wrong, and Game of the Year means THE Game of the Year. Either way, I don't care. I shared my opinion, and that's good enough to scratch my writer's itch for now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I finally got Call of Duty 4 in the mail (yes, I'm behind! Who cares?), and I need to make sure it's safe for human use.

Cheers,

athenian29

Yes, I'm back. Forget every promise I made in my last few posts, they were lies. So was the cake I was GOING to promise. Oh well.

A sharp-eyed observer will notice that the title of this blog is one of the last lines in Red vs. Blue, Episode 38, spoken by Tex. Well, it's still fresh in my mind, because I got the entire RvB boxed set over Christmahannukwanzadanstice. That's my version of non-denominational holiday (Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Solstice).

I know I said I'd have a teaser, but at the last moment I decided to cancel it because of legal reasons. The book isn't close enough to completion yet, and I don't want any IP squatters coming in and making my life miserable. Sorry!

In other news, that review of The Time Paradox is still on the way. Keep your chin up!

Sorry again. Have a good one!

P.S: I'm getting another RvB shirt. Grifball!