Four of Best Six Games of the Year are on PC

Fallout 3 has been selected by developers as the best game of 2008.

Many games can lay claim to being some sort of “game of the year,” depending on who’s opinion it’s based on. But winning such an accolade at the Game Developers Conference Choice Awards must be special, as winners are voted on by other developers.

Taking top honors was Bethesda Softworks’ Fallout 3, named as the game of the year and as well as having the best writing. The award applies equally to the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Fallout 3

Although it wasn’t game of the year, Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet on the PS3 took home the most awards with four. The innovative platforming creation game was awarded with best game design, best technology, best debut game and best innovation.

The remaining awards were: best visual arts to Prince of Persia; best audio to Dead Space; best handheld game to God of War: Chains of Olympus; and best downloadable game to World of Goo.

The awards also recognized several key industry figures. This year, Hideo Kojima, creator of the Metal Gear series was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his “influence on the craft of game development and his twenty years of work on Metal Gear and other notable franchises.”

Harmonix co-founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, co-developers the original Guitar Hero games and now the Rock Band franchise, received the Pioneer Award for their work.

Finally, Tommy Tallarico, co-founder of the Video Games Live concert series and founder of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), received the Ambassador Award for helping to advance the game audio community.

While the games industry does seem more focused on consoles these days, it’s interesting to note that, of six games recognized to be the very best in their respective areas, four of them are available on the PC -- and none of them were long-delayed ports.

Does this mean that PC gaming is still alive and well? Hopefully so.

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tipoo 9 years ago

Durr.
duckmanx88 9 years ago

i agree with you that L4D is a great game, but releasing the game with only two versus maps out of the 4 campaign maps totally takes away that award.
Nuke_Meltdown 9 years ago

L4D is the best if not one of the best......period
Anonymous 9 years ago

L4D was one of the best... but the crappy console matchmaking system

and the constant dumbing down of the game for noobs...

and the poor net coding

and the lack of good support via patches which often times break some part of the game severely which is CLEARLY not play tested...

and the fact that the campaigns that are soon to be released 6 months AFTER the game released... SHOULD have been in the ORIGINAL release... is unacceptable... I mean how long can it possibly take to add one or two extra textures to the map... and some ladders.... like seriously...
graviongr 9 years ago

I 100% agree with Dead Space winning for best sound. While I was playing that game, I was just constantly in awe at the games sound design.

So many subtle and cool effects, weapons sounded powerful, enemies were menacing, atmosphere sounds were moody and creepy, the whispering was eerie, the tram sounds, holographic inventory management sounds, the store sounds, upgrade bench, radio / video calls... it was all magnificent.

If only all games had sound design that well executed.

It's funny that this game won for best sound after I was musing about it to myself. Not surprising at all though.
randomizer 9 years ago

Left 4 Dead has serious bugs that would make me not put it at the top. The matchmaker is one of the biggest; if it works, you're growing 4-leaf clovers in your yard.
falchard 9 years ago

Developers are more predominantly PC gamers then console gamers. So it will be a bit biased towards PC games.
eklipz330 9 years ago

in b4 pcgamingisdead
magicandy 9 years ago

I'm wondering what, exactly, the GH/RB creators received a Pioneer Award for. As far as Guitar Hero alone, nothing new there when you consider it's basically just a ripoff (albeit a better-than-the-original one) of Guitar Freaks, which was made by Konami more than six years prior. Hell, Konami even debuted the multiple-instrument home game (Guitar Freaks/Drummania), so it doesn't make sense for Rock Band either.

Usually GDC awards actually hold weight in my mind, but this one seems odd and questionable considering there's really nothing that those two actually pioneered.
that_aznpride101 9 years ago

demonhorde665P.S. I think Left 4 dead should have got some award , the game to me was jsut so revolutionary in how it told it's story and the game play of teh co-op and how teh ai director forces /rewaords team work and punishes non team work. i eman seriously this game told a story WITH OUT ACTUALLY having much of a story. left 4 dead to me will be one of teh greatest peices of game art for a long time if you ask me

I have to disagree with this one, I feel like Left 4 Dead was very similar (almost too similar) to a Half Life mod called Zombie Master. I can't really give credit to L4D as a game that was "revolutionary" as ZM was already released way before L4D.
mustwarnothers 9 years ago

I hated Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead was mediocre.

I can't believe they didn't give any awards to the Hannah Montana video game for Wii.

I think most gamers and developers alike are completely ignorant to the complexities involved it trying to live a life as an ordinary teenager, while at the same time living the life as a tween rock super-star.

The Nunchuk controls were beyond innovative and the adrenaline levels you reach when playing the game are borderline health-risk.

Let's pay a little respect here.
arson94 9 years ago

mustwarnothersI hated Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead was mediocre.I can't believe they didn't give any awards to the Hannah Montana video game for Wii.I think most gamers and developers alike are completely ignorant to the complexities involved it trying to live a life as an ordinary teenager, while at the same time living the life as a tween rock super-star.The Nunchuk controls were beyond innovative and the adrenaline levels you reach when playing the game are borderline health-risk.Let's pay a little respect here.

lol... jesus christ
arson94 9 years ago

I'm trying, but I just can't stop laughing at this. lol. I thought today was gonna suck at work and then mustwarnothers' post came along... lol hannah montana... mother of god.
Niva 9 years ago

^^ Respect given!
gezgo 9 years ago

Best game I played all year - God of War-Chains of Olympus. Even though it was PSP it was just alot of fun - great visual, great sound, great game play, great gamesaves...and portable. Worth buying a PSP just for it.

Dead Space on PC was incredible. I found myself looking over my shoulder (literally) when shadows cut across the screen. Creepy. Tons of fun. Great pace, just the right length. Get it, Play it, you won't regret it.
fatedtodie 9 years ago

As buggy as some versions (all of them) Fallout 3 is, how can it get an award? Heck even their DLC is borked.
Anonymous 9 years ago

the rep system is retarded on tomshardware

most of the time the BEST posts often get de-reped... people seriously need to learn to THINK

seriously... its apparently not common ANYWHERE these days
bounty 9 years ago

L4D auto disqualified itself with the lobby.
Fallout 3... well I dont' steal and 50$ is too much for a game so I don't know.
I'm only qualified to speak on the 'Game of Last Year' or 'Game of 2 Years Ago' competition.
Anonymous 9 years ago

Not to be a downer, but be realistic. None of those is a PC exclusive. The only reason 4 of the games listed are for PC is because almost everything is multiplatform these days. Sony was the real winner, with all but one game being on a Sony platform and the 2 exclusives being Sony ones.
CptTripps 9 years ago

What is wrong with the left 4 dead lobby? I have been playing since release and I don't get what people are saying. Me and my friends start a room, make it public, then we play.

Serious question though, is it because it does not cater to partys like COD4?

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