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Games Entertainment

The Games of 2006 Awarded 50

Posted by Zonk from the put-on-your-fancy-hats dept.
It's almost the end of the year, and various organizations are handing out awards for what has been a very busy year in gaming. The Associated Press handed the top honor to Oblivion, while Gamasutra's Quantum Leap awards gave Wii Sports the nod for bringing the whole family together. Gamespy and Gamespot are still in the midst of handing out the prizes, but you can already check out genre winners at Gamespy, and Gamespot's list of dubious honors for games that only deserve the faintest of praise.
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The Games of 2006 Awarded More

The Games of 2006 Awarded

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  • Defcon (Score:5, Informative)

    by necrognome ( 236545 ) * on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @05:51PM (#17319162) Homepage
    Overlooked (mind you I didn't look too hard) in both of these articles is one of this year's great strategy games: Defcon. Everybody dies! [everybody-dies.com]

    • Xmas mod ;-) (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      and it's christmas mod http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/defcon/clips-defcon-c hristmas-mod-223048.php [kotaku.com]
      that turns it upside down ;-) [in this game everybody WINS...]
    • Here's [gamepro.com] a little review that I wrote a couple months back.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ClamIAm ( 926466 )
      I played the demo of that game, and I could not finish it. Not because it was hard, or boring, but because I'm a little weirded out by a game where you nuke real cities. Yeah, yeah, I know, "it's just a game". But when you call a strike on Shanghai and it says "17.7 M DEAD", it's a bit unsettling. Of course, that might be the point, and if so, they did a damn good job there.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by luder ( 923306 ) *

        You know, I just finished playing the demo and one thing I noticed was how dramatic it felt when I blasted many cities at the same time: people crying, the mood of the music and a lot of those messages telling the millions of deaths. I think it actually points out how bad wars are, specially when nukes are involved. I can't remember any war/strategy game that made me think or feel this way when smashing enemies and getting ready for world domination... I agree that it might be one of the objectives of the g

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by luder ( 923306 ) *
      I didn't know about that one. I loved Darwinia and Uplink, so I can't wait to try it. Here is a torrent of the demo [gameupdates.org].

  • Oblivion (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MarcoAtWork ( 28889 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @05:59PM (#17319266)
    I still can't understand why this game gets so many top honors, yes, graphically it's quite nice (especially with fan-made add-ons) but that's about it: the unrealistic and immersion-breaking item/level scaling decisions made when creating the game should definitely put it in the 'the game would've been great if...' category. And the plot/writing don't come even close to Planescape:Torment, also hindered by the 'every line has voice acting' decision made by Bethesda, which severely limits the quantity of content available in the game.

    I know that with things like OOO or Francesco's the level scaling and loot issues can be fixed, but the reviewers ought to review the game as it was published, not after the community spends countless hours fixing broken issues (also look at the unofficial oblivion patch for a ton of bugfixes).

    • To each his own (Score:2, Informative)

      by jchenx ( 267053 )

      I still can't understand why this game gets so many top honors, yes, graphically it's quite nice (especially with fan-made add-ons) but that's about it: the unrealistic and immersion-breaking item/level scaling decisions made when creating the game should definitely put it in the 'the game would've been great if...' category.

      First thing first, I agree with you regarding the item/level scaling. I didn't like it, as you lose the sense of "improving", since no matter how much you get better, so does everything

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MaXiMiUS ( 923393 )
      People get sucked in by the graphical hype, then spend 6 months trying to fix everything that's wrong with the game via the construction set. They're basically selling a broken game and the tools to try and fix it.

      Morrowind was a much better game, and thanks to Oblivion, I can't go back to playing it. Morrowind lacks physics, which is horrible after you get used to Oblivion.

      Disclaimer: I spent over a year modding Morrowind, and about 3 months modding Oblivion.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It really isn't fair to compare the writing of Oblivion to Planescape: Torment. This is sort of like comparing the Dragonlance Chronicles to the Lord of the Rings. Both are an excellent series of books, but the Lord of the Rings is the standard set by the master and may never be surpassed. The quality of the team that was assembled for PS:T is something that we will probably never see again. After all, many of them were the people who wrote the Planescape campaign and AD&D 2nd edition core books. I

    • Re:Oblivion (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Bloodmoon1 ( 604793 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `noirepyh.eb'> on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:55PM (#17319834) Homepage Journal
      I have it on the XBox360 and I agree with basically everything you said, as much as I can given the console difference. Good game, yes, I've spent about 40 hours on it and can easilly play it for a while longer. Great... eh, graphically, yes, maybe in the non-graphical departments if you get the numerous bugs on it fixed.

      That said, the only thing about the game that has really pissed me off is the need to play it power gamer style to "correctly" level up if you want your character to be even remotely usable by the time you get around level 13 or 14. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I was always under the impression that your 7 major skills should be things that help you and that you use almost exclusively, not that hinder you because they're all you use and now you're suddenly hosed when the game's enemies level up with you, but because you leveled "poorly" a wolf is now a problem for you, and imps and other humans are almost able to kill you in two hits.

      I tried the whole power gamer thing for a few hours and realized how retarded it is, since then it just feels like work, but then I discovered the magic of the difficulty slider. Sure, you kind of feel like a bitch for a few minutes after turning it down to 1/4th of the maximum, but then the game is fun again and you get over it.

      All told, I'd gladly buy it for $45 used again, but I certainly wouldn't pay the full $60 for it. Though, out of principal, I refuse to buy any game over $50.

      • All told, I'd gladly buy it for $45 used again, but I certainly wouldn't pay the full $60 for it. Though, out of principal, I refuse to buy any game over $50.


        I, too, only buy games over $50 out of interest. Gotta keep that principal growing the net worth, am I right???

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by FictionalAccount ( 1041822 )
        BloodMoon grasped the package firmly in his hands. It was his! Finally, through the bogs of Glumding, towards the Mountains of Ill and across the River of Evil he had fought his way at each step of the long journey.

        The blood of his enemies was washed from his hands by his tears for fallen comrades. The Circle of Eight had started the journey, and now only he remains. Just as the mystic from Laf'haven had predicted.

        But here was The Game! The Game to end evil and restore the balance of power across all o

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Bah. the best fix to the level scaling is the lightest and simplest, IMO: It's called "No Obsolete Loot And Enemies." All it does is remove the lower bound on what can spawn.

      Bandits come not in full daedric at level 20, but in fur/iron with maybe a piece of glass or daedric once in a while. Lower level enemies never vanish, so you can get a bit of munchkinish glee from one-shotting that stunted scamp that scared you way back at level 2.
      And anyway, why should game reviewers not take into account the

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Knightking ( 810855 )
      The first 10 hours of Oblivion were some of the best 10 hours of game I've ever played. If I'd played those 10 hours and then stopped, I'd have absolutly no problem calling it the best game of the year (if I wasn't opposed to saying that sort of thing about games I'd only played for 10 hours). Thanks to mods and such, I'd say I easily got 50-60 hours of great gameplay out of Oblivion. The problem is that 50 hours is nowhere close to enough time to "beat" Oblivion. It was when I started gaining significa
  • can't forget that wii sports also gets gamers off the couch too. That's always good! In fact, DDR should have won this year lol. Anyway, too bad Neverwinter Nights 2 crashed and burned cuz of that stupid camera and other dumb, avoidable problems. 1 ROCKED!
    • I can't believe NWN2 got 5th place on Gamespy. User reviews have been nothing but negative, and even the reviews by gaming sites seem less than enthusiastic, but it still got pretty high scores. Atari probably lacked the funds to bribe anyone, so I don't know what happened there.

  • Which game won the... (Score:4, Funny)

    by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) ( 613870 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:29PM (#17319576) Journal
    ...prize for the biggest bribe paid to a gaming magazine to get it to award a prize to a game?

  • I know I'm a bit off-topic but why on Earth has Nintendo chosen such blank and unpersonal characters for Wii Sports as they, in my humble opinion, should have used their Nintendo characters just like in Mario Tennis? I mean, really, why? I just cannot think of a single reason.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by MonkeyCookie ( 657433 )
      1. They wanted to concentrate on gameplay rather than the visual elements
      2. They wanted it to be simple to get the non-gamers interested in the Wii.
      3. They're probably planning to release an actual Mario Tennis/Golf game a couple years down the road that has much more to it than the tennis game in Wii Sports.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sien ( 35268 )
      So that next year they can bring out Mario Sports collection.

      And everyone will go off and buy that. They may not have been happy with Wii sports and wanted to get something better together after they had tried with Mario sports.

    • Re:OT : Why no Mario in Wii Sports? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by LineNoiz ( 616971 ) <kal_durak@yahooDEBIAN.com minus distro> on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @06:56PM (#17319840)
      Unpersonal? They use the Miis: user generated characters. How is a personalized avatar anything BUT personal?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by JMZero ( 449047 )
      Meh? The guys are as blank and unpersonal as you make them. From what I've seen, kids thoroughly enjoy making little versions of themselves and using them to play games. Or if you're Steve Colbert, you can practice boxing Pelosi [youtube.com].
    • Even using Wii Sims (the Will Wright game for Japanime fans that will be on the Wii), your Mii characters you create for your Wii console and Wiimote can be used - and even taken to play on your friends consoles.

      All of ours are interesting - maybe you should try using the menu options to design better ones?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by The-Bus ( 138060 )
      Screw Mario. I'd rather play as Richard Starkey [flickr.com] or have my opponent's baseball team pitch with Jennifer Wilbanks [flickr.com].

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Their explanation

      When we tried playing with these very simple characters, we really felt that we were the ones in the game. We tried using Mario as a character once, but then it didn't feel like we were the ones playing anymore. It felt like Mario was actually the one playing and we were just controlling him.
      http://wii.nintendo.com/iwata_asks_vol4_p2.jsp [nintendo.com]

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Ribbo.com ( 885396 )
      Nintendo often get slated for "falling back on Mario" to sell their games. Maybe they have so much faith in their own title this time they want a pure game to sell on playability alone. It will also help them more accurately see the potential player base. Many mature gamers will not buy something aimed at 'kids' and trust me, the over 50's will want a Wii!
    • I know I'm a bit off-topic but why on Earth has Nintendo chosen such blank and unpersonal characters for Wii Sports as they, in my humble opinion, should have used their Nintendo characters just like in Mario Tennis? I mean, really, why? I just cannot think of a single reason.

      As others have commented, the Mii's are user created, and are supposed to reflect themselves. (Sometimes to a very good likeness). The issue with putting Mario in there, is that you're controlling Mario. When you put your Mii chara

  • Interesting List... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by 7Prime ( 871679 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @07:19PM (#17320074) Homepage Journal

    I'm confused... they have a "Best First Person Shooter" award, but nothing for Sports, Action/Adventure, RPG, Platformer, or any other type of game, why do FPSs stand out on their own? It's not like they're particularly innovative in any way, and outside of the US, they're pretty much dead.

    Some of these awards, although probably justified, seemed completely made up in order to put one game or system in the spotlight. For one thing, would they have given out a "worst console launch" at all if Sony hadn't bungled theirs? Or was this an "honor" made specifically to them. Let's just call it the "Blundering Behemoth Special Recognition" and be done with it. "best game on an old console", what old console? the PS2 and GameCube was the only game in town (besides 360) until last month, so obviously most of the games chosen would be for them anyway.

    That said, it was a chance to plug Okami, which leaves me happy. Twilight Princess, Okami, and Final Fantasy 12 are my games of the year (in that order), but Zelda and FF12 have gotten their rightful dues (although I'll still stand by TP being the best game of all time, just ABOVE Ocarina of Time), Okami has been sadly overlooked due to low sales. Hell, I'd give it the award for "best use of PS2 hardware", as I believe it was one of the few games that was exactly what it was intended to be, without any noticable glitches or graphical compromises... it still would have been more at home on the GameCube though.

    I am still sad to see Oblivion win, though, as it shows such a bias toward PC "style" gaming (even if was released similtaneously for consoles). And if we're going to go there, what about Battlefield 2142? From everything I've heard, that game is PERFECT, much less complaining from fans than Oblivion gets. And still, Zelda should at LEAST get a mention. When it gets an 11th place EVER from GameRankings (compiled scores of all major game publications), far above Oblivion and FF12, it just looks ignorent not to say anything.

    • The thing about Zelda is, whilst it is a wonderful game, that is more to do with the controller than the game. Giving it an award for best game would be unfair as there are many other Wii games yet to come out that will probably share the enjoyment of using the Wii remote. Part of Zelda's high score is down to the uniqueness of the gaming experience due to it being a new system. Oblivion just reeked of attention to detail that I personally have not seen before in a 1 player game.
      • I wouldn't be so sure... the game plays very similar to Wind Waker (hell it uses the same engine) and I thought Wind Waker was plenty fun. Sure hacking and slashing with the remote is pretty neat, but besides that its still one hell of a game.
        • It's a fine game, although it is restricted by being linear, atleast in comparison to Oblivion. Hell, real life appears linear when compared with Oblivion :-)

          • Non-linearity... (Score:5, Insightful)

            by 7Prime ( 871679 ) on Thursday December 21, 2006 @01:37AM (#17322456) Homepage Journal

            I like my non-linearity like I like my women... short, and sucking my cock.

            Let me clarify: Fuck non-linearity. I'm sick of the pedistal that many in the gaming community have made for it; it seems to be some people's be-all-and-end-all of gaming. It reminds me of when I used to play trumpet back in high school; the only thing anyone ever cared about is being able to play as high as possible; that was our benchmark for a "good" player. Our dream was to be able to hit double Cs, while at the same time, our low Cs sounded like shit. What I'm trying to say is that there's nothing wrong with non-linearity, a healthy dose is great, but without some linearity or structure, a game has no purpose. It's like a trumpet playing playing nothing but double-Cs throughout a solo, just to show his balls. That's what I feel when I hear people talk about non-linearity: "you're some kinda pussy if you're taste doesn't revolve around being as non-linear as possible." Just the day, I saw someone flaming someone else's post because they dared to bring up the importance of dramatic elements in video games. Are we, as gamers, becoming a culture so afraid of experiencing another person's creative vision, that we're willing to turn our backs on artistic intent?

            THIS is why video games aren't embraced as Art, and will never be, until we stop creating these intrinsic benchmarks.

            • I agree. Most of my favorite games seem to be pretty linear in nature. Oblivion didn't interest me because there was no sense of urgency or purpose in the story, which all took place in a very confined space, so there was eventually no sense of travel or adventure because you just kept bouncing between the same locations (that you could autotravel to). I also quickly got tired of the dungeons (I've recently been playing Twilight Princess, and the dungeons are really ingeniously designed and distinct).

              I gues
            • JRPGs are like classical while oblivion is like avant garde. I prefer hard bop myself (mostly linear gameplay with a good amount of choices that affect at least some gameplay (baldur's gate II chapter 2, for example). Any of the extremes sort of ruin the fun for me.

              Neverwinter Nights 2 has come close, I'm just waiting another month or 2 so they can fix most of the bugs.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by 7Prime ( 871679 )

                I'm more of a cool bop and early fusion kinda guy myself. Of course, my bread and butter is prog rock... very very thoroughly crafted to create an intricate auditory experience... same basic compositional premise as classical. I think your analogy is right on, though. I've tried my hand at avant garde: listened to it, composed some of it... but I never feel as if I'm really creating my own work when I do... that my soul is less "in it" then with my thought-out material. Even though my degree is in electro-a

              • KOTOR1&2 did it better than NWN2, IMO.
            • Personally, being someone who sucks at most games, I don't like the idea that should I get stuck on a section in the game, my enjoyment for the game stops right there. Atleast if I can go off and do other things instead I can carry on getting enjoyment from it.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by 7Prime ( 871679 )

                Oh, I'll agree to that one, that's what sidequests and alternate routes are for. I have no problem with branching progressions; basically as long as someone was at the helm, creating a unified game experience, I have no problem. What I have a problem with is that some people seem to be complaining that "the creators are trying to take away our freedom!" To me, this is like getting angry at a composer for not letting you hear your favorite melody played by the horns instead of string section.

                Unfortunately,

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
        I've got the game for the Gamecube and I have to thoroughly disagree with you since it's an awesome game even on that system. The improvements over previous Zeldas are more subtle than the Wii remote, stuff like being able to swing your sword while running makes the game a lot nicer to play.

    • Re:Interesting List... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Spikeles ( 972972 ) on Thursday December 21, 2006 @01:13AM (#17322346)
      I am still sad to see Oblivion win, though, as it shows such a bias toward PC "style" gaming
      My god, have you actually played Oblivion? It is so glaringly obvious that it's NOT DESIGNED FOR PC. Notice the huge font that only allows 5 or so items to be displayed?, the limited key configuration?, the stupid little mini-games?. They designed Oblivion for console and left PC gamers who are used to much more in depth RPG's out in the dark.
    • It has some strange phrasings as though it's trying to be "hip" and "cool":

      Sony Corp. had already delayed its much-hyped uberconsole twice this year, then botched the launch with only a few hundred thousand units available.

      Much-hyped uberconsole?

      Seriously, button tapping can't compete with this system's intuitive, tactile remote controls that must be swung around.

      Seriously, I can't believe this is in this article. Seriously, it just doesn't sound right. Seriously, they really need an editor.

      Apparently we
  • Any article that gives Sony the WORST CONSOLE LAUNCH award is sure to be popular with the Slashdotters. What I can't understand about Sony, is who exactly they are trying to sell their products to... Nintendo clearly did their market research with the Wii and it shows due to getting an award. Sony need to backpedal and allow games released on their system to be compatible for playing online against people with the 360 and Wii versions of the game. This is why the gamers hate Sony, Sony refuse to do stuff th

  • GoW an FPS ince when? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by wickedsteve ( 729684 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @09:09PM (#17320930) Homepage
    I think Gears of War is a great game and deserves recognition but since when is it a first person shooter?

    • I think Gears of War is a great game and deserves recognition but since when is it a first person shooter?

      I thought you were kidding, till I read TFA (the Yahoo one at least), where ... yup, they did call Gears a "first person shooter". I guess they don't understand what "first person" means ...

      That said, Gears of War and the upcoming Lost Planet appear to be redefining the general "shooter" genre, showing that you don't have to be in first-person to be a good shooter. Heck, after playing both, I would say,

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