Fighting Game- Super Smash Bros. Brawl- Wii

I've already explained this, but I don't really think this needs explanation anyway.

Platform Game- LittleBigPlanet- PS3

There are so many great innovations abour this game, from the physics engine to the level creator. This game only looks to get better over time.

Best RPG- I didn't play enough RPGs from this year and I'm not giving this award to Fallout 3.

Best Original Score- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots- PS3

Best Use of Sound- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots- PS3

Best Voice Acting- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots- PS3

This game has great sound in all departments.

Best Artistic Design- Braid

Don't get me wrong, LittleBigPlanet is an amazingly creative game, but in the end Braid is the game that sticks out as being a clear work of art in almost every way. From the emotional story to the endlessly inventive gameplay, this game really makes you think outside the box to solve many of its puzzles.

Best Graphics- MGS4

As I've mentioned before, the beautiful graphics used in the cutscenes for this game are the same graphics used when you're playing the game, and that is pretty cool. Not to mention this game looks better than any game to come this year anyway.

Best Shooter- Gears of War 2- Xbox 360

I didn't play many shooters this year, but this game deserves recognition for polishing over the problems of the first game while keeping the core gameplay the same.

Best Action/Adventure- MGS4

I've explained so many reasons this game is great, but I guess I'll add I like the ability to play certain sections in either a stealth-oriented or action-oriented way. That freedom in certain areas of the game is very cool, especially for such a linear adventure.

I'll have my Game of the Year nominees out soon.

Xbox 360- Rock Band 2

My reasoning for this category essentially boiled down to which game had the most improvements over the last game. Gears of War 2, while an improvement over the last game, didn't go far in innovation. As for Fallout 3, I liked some of the ideas implemented in the game, but I couldn't shake the feeling it didn't compare to Oblivion, and I still feel this game is inferior to its predecessor. But Rock Band 2 in the way it addresses all the problems of the first game. It has extensive tutorials, a better drum set, a better implemented online system, and a continually growing amount of DLC. Not to mention you can take all the songs from the first game so you don't have to change discs to access those songs. Add to that a wonderful array of master tracks, and you've got the best Xbox 360 game of the year.

PS3- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

This game is amazing. Little Big Planet was unique and innovative, but this takes the award for the plethora of outstanding achievements it boasts. While it may not be my favorite game in the series (some of the games are still closer to my heart), it was the right path for the franchise. In many ways, it is a vast improvement over the previous installments in the series, most notably in the gunplay and ability to fight your way through many of the games sequences. It had one the best stories I've ever see in any medium, and its storytelling is masterful. In truth, it transcends just being a video game and effectively creates a new medium, no better exemplified than at the very emotional (and playable, I might add!) sequence near the end of the game. I would defintely call this game a piece of art becuase it evoked so many emotions in such intricate ways. Sure the cutscenes were long, but they were great, and what is so cool is that the cutscene graphics are the in-game graphics.

Wii- Super Smash Bros. Brawl

This wasn't a good year for the Wii, but Brawl was still the great game we all knew it would be. With more characters, a story mode, more moves for each character, and many other things, it never stopped giving us reasons to play, and remains to be the amazing party game we remember from the first two iterations in the series.

I hope to have my nominees for game of the year up soon. I'll do genre awards, but I won't go into nominees and will try to be more concise in my reasoning.

This year I'm going to be more direct in my awards and hopefully not drag on about why I think a game deserves an award. I must also mention I have not played Grand Theft Auto 4 as well as several other titles, so I will not be able to factor those into my awards. I did not play the games on more than one system, but using Game Informer as my reference, I believe there to be no significant differences in these multiplatform games.

Xbox 360

Nominees-

Fallout 3

Gears of War 2

Rock Band 2

PS3

Nominees-

Fallout 3

LittleBigPlanet

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Rock Band 2

Wii

Nominees-

No More Heroes

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Wii Fit

I hope to have the results in soon.