AKA "Lipid's End of the Decade Video Game Awards"...

I haven't played enough games this year to really give an honest list of awards, but I've certainly played enough for the decade.

For starters, here is the list of my picks for the GOTY for each of the last ten years, as well as those that were worth mentioning.

Games of the Year:

2001 – Halo: Combat Evolved
Halo was the reason for gamers to own an Xbox, and its multiplayer was the reason those same gamers were willing to haul their TVs to their friends house for system link.
Honorable Mentions – Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

2002 – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Vice City took the addictive sandbox gameplay of its predecessor and tossed in Hollywood voice acting and licensed 80s music to create one of the most memorable gaming experiences ever.
Honorable Mentions – Kingdom Hearts, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

2003 – NCAA Football 2004
NCAA 2004 refined the already impressive gameplay of the prior installment while improving the dynasty mode, making for one of the best sports games of the decade.
Honorable Mentions – None

2004 – Half Life 2
I only played bits and pieces of Half Life 2 prior to its release on the 360 three years later, but the little that I did play was some of the best gameplay and storytelling I’ve ever experienced.
Honorable Mentions – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo 2

2005 – MVP Baseball 2005
While modern titles may boast more features and a more realistic presentation, no game released since MVP Baseball 2005 has done a better job at the core gameplay mechanics of baseball.
Honorable Mention – Resident Evil 4

2006 – The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
I’ve spent hundreds of hours exploring the world of Cyrodiil, yet I’ve still only scratched the surface of what this amazing RPG has to offer.
Honorable Mentions – Final Fantasy XII, Gears of War, Kingdom Hearts II

2007 – Halo 3
A memorable campaign and a greatly improved online multiplayer were the big draws, but Forge stole the show and gave Halo 3 replay value like no console offering before it.
Honorable Mentions – Bioshock, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, The Orange Box, Rock Band

2008 – Grand Theft Auto IV
GTA IV was a step back to the stripped down sandbox mechanics of GTA III, allowing gamers to focus on exploring Liberty City in all of its hi def glory.
Honorable Mentions – Fallout 3, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Resistance 2
 
2009 – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
The breathtaking worlds you are taken to in Uncharted 2 are eclipsed only by the amazing adventures you experience in them.
Honorable Mentions – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, infamous

2010 – Mass Effect 2
Mass Effect 2 traded some of its predecessors RPG elements for greatly improved shooting mechanics, while retaining the same quality of storytelling and character development.
Honorable Mentions – Halo: Reach, Red Dead Redemption

I would like to nominate "Toy Store 3" on the Wii system. Awesome. Good chance for a dad to play the role of hero for his kids.

"Toy Store" only on the Wii .... where you walk up and down virtual aisles selecting the best bargains while keeping your virtual kids from virtually wrecking the store and virtually running away or being taken by virtual vagabonds .... use your Wii controller to call the store manager regarding price disputes, jab other customers in the ribs to get them out of the way, and to discipline your kids - earn bonus points (and shopper confidence) for handling unruly children from other shoppers' loins - now for your Nintendo Wii.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Ladies and Gentlemen, Don Tiny!

Did COD Black OPS come out too late to be included in 2010?

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I haven't got to that level yet. I'll keep trying.

And we rented the system for a New Year's treat.

No...I just never got around to playing it...

Alright...part deux...for lack of a better term, I dub these the "technical achievements" of the decade...

Technical Achievements

Best Gameplay – Grand Theft Auto III
When you can spend hours ignoring the storyline because driving around and killing people is so much fun, you know the gameplay is gold.
Honorable Mentions – inFamous, Portal

Best Setting – Cyrodiil (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion)
While not the most fantastic of settings, being able to venture from one corner of the world to another without seeing a single loading screen makes Oblivion all the more immersive.
Honorable Mentions –The Capital Wasteland (Fallout 3), Liberty City (Grand Theft Auto IV), Rapture (Bioshock)

Best Story – Mass Effect 2
The gripping yarn spun in Mass Effect 2 is all the more impressive considering all the choices one makes throughout that impact how the story ultimately unfolds.
Honorable Mentions – Final Fantasy X, Red Dead Redemption

Best Cinematics – Final Fantasy X
The opening sequence in Zanarkand, the despair of Operation Mi’ihen, and the crew crashing Yuna and Seymour’s wedding are just a few of the memorable moments FFX offered.
Honorable Mentions – Halo 3, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best Visuals – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
From the ridiculously lifelike characters to the amazingly detailed worlds they explore, Uncharted 2 features the best visuals of any game I’ve played.
Honorable Mentions – Half Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Voice Acting, Overall – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Playing Uncharted 2 was like playing through a Hollywood blockbuster, and that was due in large part to the outstanding ensemble cast of voice actors it featured.
Honorable Mentions – Grand Theft Auto IV, Half Life 2

Best Voice Acting, Individual – Ellen McLain as GLaDOS (Portal)
The true genius of McLain’s performance wasn’t that she sounded like an artificial intelligence, but rather that her AI sounded more lifelike than almost any other human character.
Honorable Mentions – Billy Zane as Ansem (Kingdom Hearts), David Hayter as Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)

Best Music, Original – Halo 3
While it’s true that many of the legendary themes carried over from the previous two games, this was the first time they were heard in their full orchestral glory.
Honorable Mentions – Final Fantasy X, Mass Effect 2

Best Music, Licensed – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
No music, licensed or original, did a better job of putting the player in the setting as the soundtrack for Vice City put the players in the eighties.
Honorable Mentions – MVP Baseball 2004, Rock Band

Best Local Multiplayer, Competitive – Halo: Combat Evolved
While the feature set may seem meager compared to later installments in the franchise, there was a certain charm about system link Halo that may never be reproduced.
Honorable Mentions – NCAA Football 2004, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

Best Local Multiplayer, Cooperative – Rock Band
Rock Band allowed everyone in the room to have a good time, regardless of skill level, something that few other games can claim.
Honorable Mention – Halo: Combat Evolved

Best Online Multiplayer, Competitive – Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
While others may have more features, the addictive nature of COD4’s online gameplay is what puts it a step above all others.
Honorable Mentions – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3

Best Online Multiplayer, Cooperative – Halo: Reach
Customization is king, and the endless ways you can play Campaign or Firefight cooperatively makes Reach the clear choice.
Honorable Mentions – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Gears of War 2

Uncharted 2 is the best game I have ever played.

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I am all about POWER ON FIRE

MW2

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Uncharted 2 is great...I can't wait for the third one...

I must be in a time warp, because Final Fantasy X didn't come out in 2010.

You're right...it didn't...

End of the Decade Video Game Awards

If only it didn't take so many bullets to kill foes... It got to a point for me where gun fights became annoying rather than entertaining, everything else about that game though was money...

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team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

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OVER.......RATED
OVER.......RATED

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FWIW, I'm with him on this one, the game is good, but not even close to the best games I've played all year...

_________________
team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

The post has since been pruned and I can't find it on my hard drive but now that I think about it, I might have picked MW2 was game of the year last year...

Having a year to reflect...I think I made the right choice this time...

Note that I didn't say 2009 I didn't play it until 2 weeks ago...

Let me just put it this way, I would rather play Medal of Honor again than Uncharted 2. It had a great story, graphics, and voice acting, but the gunplay wasn't up to par with the greatness of everything else in that game. Being that it is such a vital part of that game, I consider that to be a pretty fatal flaw...

_________________
team Mully & Hanley
team Meatpants

Alright, let's try to make this thread useful ... is anybody playing Fallout New Vegas yet? I need some reviews here people.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Damn...

I definitely agree that Mass Effect 2's story was the best of the year. However, I still liked Mass Effect 1's story was better. I felt like ME2 ripped off X-files and every other conspiracy story line out there. I also think by introducing so many new characters that it diluted the plot. The final boss battle was a little silly... a big robot? Really? I loved the ending of ME1 with the fleet of baddies ready to invade like a mofo. It wasn't really followed up in ME2. Still, I think many of the subplots of the new characters were genuinely interesting. I just felt that these subplots kinda took away from the main plot line. I expect that we'll get back to the main plot line in ME3.

I agree, the gunplay was pretty bad. You could never figure out which gun to use and the shooting itself wasn't satisfying and it took too many shots to knock a guy down if I remember correctly. Also, the game was way too linear and sometimes the paths you were supposed to take weren't easy to find which was frustrating.

I don't give a shit about voice acting and story so the overrated gameplay is all I base my opinions on.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George