First, the special awards of which there will be many fewer this year because I'm lazy.
Visual Awards:
BOOTY for Best Cut-scenes: Halo Wars, because not only were they fun to watch, I've never seen more time or effort put into gaming cinematics. The cinematics in Halo Wars contain (or at least they did until Avatar came out) the best CGI i've ever seen be it game or movie. By that I mean something that's completely computer generated. I guess that rules out Avatar actually because it had real people in it.
BOOTY for Best Intro: Left 4 Dead 2, because wow. Just wow. I've never been so pumped up for the game I'm about to play.
BOOTY for Best Visual Style: Borderlands, because I was presently surprised by how little it bothered me. In fact, it didn't bother me at all. It looked great!
BOOTY for Best Visuals: Uncharted 2, I guess. Haven't played it but I hear it's amazing.
Audio Awards:
BOOTY for Best Soundtrack: Halo 3: ODST, because Halo is always known for great music and this is the best of the best Halo music.
BOOTY for Most Improved Soundtrack: Left 4 Dead 2, because it 1) actually had music 2) that moody music fit the location of the game perfectly.
BOOTY for Worst Soundtrack: Scribblenauts, because the music was annoying as hell even though the game was awesome.
BOOTY for Best Remake of a Soundtrack: Monkey Island Special Edition, because it went seamlessly from 8-bit to orchestrated.
BOOTY for Getting it Right: Arkham Asylum, because you'll start the game up and think "The music is PERFECT." I'm not sure I've ever seen a soundtrack that fits the licence as well as this one does.
BOOTY for Best Use of Sound: Batman and Borderlands tie in this one, because they both use sound excellently in different ways. Batman for setting quite a mood like Dead Space. Borderlands for excellent use of sound effects.
Genre Awards:
BOOTY for Best RTS: Halo Wars, because I can't remember any other strategy games released last year that were worthwhile. Also, Halo Wars was pretty great.
BOOTY for Best Fighter: BlazBlue, because Tatsunoko vs. Capcom hasn't come out in America yet and Street Fighter fighting mechanics are beyond me.
BOOTY for Best Third Person Action Game: Assassin's Creed 2, which I have not played but hear is great. Why not Uncharted? It's got enough awards already. And Ratchet is the same damn thing again, I tell you!
BOOTY for Best Racer: Nothing, because I don't remember any worthwhile racers coming out last year.
BOOTY for Best RPG: Borderlands, because Dragonage isn't my style.
BOOTY for Best Downloadable Game: Shadow Complex, for being Metroid for a new age. But I also strongly recommend Monkey Island.
BOOTY for Best Puzzle Game: Puzzle Quest Galactrix, because more Puzzle Quest is always a good thing.
BOOTY for Best FPS: Halo 3: ODST, because it's the best Halo game since the first.
Special Awards:
BOOTY for Most Original Design: Borderlands, for being what everyone though Fallout 3 was going to be.
BOOTY for Best Design: Arkham Asylum, because, well, have you played it!?
BOOTY for Most Innovative Game: Scribblenauts, because, well, have you played it!?
BOOTY for Best Multiplayer: Borderlands, for being the best co-op experience maybe ever. As good as L4D2 was, it was basically more of the same.
BOOTY for Most Immersive Game: Honestly, it's a tie between Arkham Asylum and Dead Space: Extraction. Extraction is like an interactive movie, really. Arkham, well, have you played it!?
BOOTY for Most Overrated Game Possibly Ever: Modern Warfare 2, because, for some reason, people are so stupid that they haven't realized they've been playing the same game for five years with increasingly shiner coats of paint.
BOOTY for Most Gore: Prototype. Oh God, it's EVERYWHERE!
BOOTY for Best New IP: Borderlands, because it was just so original.
BOOTY for Best Licensed Game: Arkham Asylum, because it's not just the best licensed game of the year, but the best licensed game ever.
Supr Spesl Awards:
The award for being disqualified for The Gold BOOTY because nobody here has played it goes to Uncharted 2.
The same damn thing award goes to both Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time, Modern Warfare 2, and any band-related game that came out last year for being the same damn game they were half a decade ago.
The Fable 2 award for worst sequel goest to Resident Evil 5, for not being great, but still not as bad as Fable 2.
The ten year anniversary award goes to Ocarina of Time for being ten years old last year.
The economic collapse award goes to: 3D Realms, Ensemble Studios, BottleRocket, GRIN, Factor 5, Pandemic, Shaba Games, and Midway for all shutting down last year.
The "Oh. My. God. Is it the end? Is it really the end? Can it be? This is terrible!" award goes to Duke Nukem Forever which (as of now, at least) has finally ceased production.
The "We can't make fun of it any more." award also goes to Duke Nukem Forever.
The saddest news of the year award goes to EGM for shutting down.
The happiest news of the year award goes to EGM for then starting back up with Steve Harris at the head.
The most meme-worth peace of technology goes to Project Natal, for this.
The PS3 fanboy letdown award goes to Killzone 2 for not being the greatest thing ever.
The award for the bonus being better than the actual game goes to Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay for being included with Dark Athena and outshining it.
The unworthy of praise award goes to New Super Mario Bros. Wii for being the same as the DS game but with four players which actually makes it worse?
The laziest name award also goes to New Super Mario Bros. Wii for having one lazy-ass name.
The shameless award for using sex to sell games more than usual goes to X-Blades and Bikini Samurai Squad.
The fail of the year award goes to Tony Hawk Ride.
Other awards go to other games.
Overall BOOTYs
BOOTY for Wii: The Conduit, because it's awesome and you still haven't played it, have you?
BOOTY for Xbox: ODST, for being pretty much the only Xbox exclusive I can think of that came out last year.
BOOTY for DS: Scribblenauts, because it was one of two DS games I bought last year and it was awesome.
And now... The moment you've all been waiting for....
THE SILVER BOOTY GOES TO...
Arkham Asylum is, without a doubt, the greatest licensed game ever produced and... you're distracted by the picture aren't you? I knew that was a bad idea. Anyway, it's the greatest licensed game ever produced and one of the best I've ever played. I'd even go so far as to add it to my list of best games of the decade. It's that good. Arkham Asylum does everything right. It's not just a great Batman game, it's a great game in its own right. Everything just fits together to create an unforgettable experience. I'll be reviewing it soon with more in depth details, but until then know this: if you haven't played this game, you're missing out on one of the finest gaming experiences ever.
Which means... THE GOLDEN BOOTY GOES TO...
Yes, legs, I know, but it's the only decent picture I could find (strange, I know). Anyway, why does Borderlands beat Arkham? Well, because it's just downright fun. My ultimate judge of a game is the fun value, and while Arkham is fun, it doesn't compare to Borderlands Experience in terms of replay value. Like Oblivion and Melee before it, I have a feeling this is a game I will want to play for years to come. Nothing compares to it when it comes to co-op. Nothing. Best of all, it has splitscreen. A very welcome addition indeed. For fun factor alone, the consensus here at Installation 04 is that Borderlands deserves to be the very Best Offering Of The Year.
Over on the Cutting Edge the viewers split 40%/40% between Batman and Assassin's Creed 2; I'll be announcing my awards soon
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