And the best video game of the year is .....

Give up? It's not 'Super Mario Galaxy.' It's also not 'Bioshock'



The super-realistic military shooter "Call of Duty 4" won our reader-selected Game of the Year.

The Votes are in, and you’ve told us that you really, really like shooting things.
Your
favorite new video game? “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.” The
super-realistic military shooter developed by Infinity Ward garnered 33
percent of the over 17,000 votes we tallied in our Game of the Year
vote between Dec. 19 and Dec 27.
Not
too far behind, at 22 percent, was “Bioshock,” 2K Games’ spooky
deep-sea title that earned accolades from fans and critics alike in
2007.

We started out this voting process way back
before Thanksgiving. We envisioned this Game-of-the-Year thing kind of
like the presidential primaries: Every week, we’d roll out our picks as
the best of nine genres. We’d let you vote on the best in each genre,
which would then advance to compete for Game of the Year.
As
a result, we had the likes of “Madden NFL ’08” taking on “LEGO Star
Wars.” Unorthodox? Perhaps. But this was an uncommonly good year for
games, with killer titles across nearly every category. Why not see if
“Guitar Hero III” could beat out “Mass Effect?” (It didn’t.)
First up? Racing and sports
We
kicked off the whole project with best sports games and best racing
games. “Madden” was the runaway winner in the former category,
garnering 48 percent of the popular vote. To be sure, this wasn’t much
of a mandate: Less than 1,000 readers voted in this category.
Racing
didn’t fare much better: Only 500 or so readers weighed in on our five
choices, electing “Project Gotham Racing 4” as the winner. Maybe we all
get enough driving in real life?
Casual
games got more of an audience, and “Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree” beat
out Nintendo sibling “WarioWare” as the best-of-category. Readers in
our forum pointed out that the PC had some strong contenders, listing
“Snapshot Adventures,” “Sally’s Salon” and “Chain Factor” as some of
their favorites.
Which family fare was best?
For
family games, we put “Super Mario Galaxy,” one of the year’s most
universally beloved titles, up against the likes of “LEGO Star Wars”
and “Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure.” To our surprise,
“LEGO Star Wars” bested “Galaxy,” nabbing 47 percent of the vote in
that category. “Galaxy” would get another shot in the action-adventure
category several weeks later.
It
was a great year for fans of the music and rhythm game genre, with
“Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero III” joining “Dance Dance Revolution
Universe” and “Hannah Montana: Music Jam” (you read that right) in our
best-of breed lineup. Not much of a turnout for this primary election,
and “Guitar Hero” ran away with the top prize.
“Top
prize” and “Nintendo DS” are like peanut butter and chocolate. The
ubiquitous handheld has sold a bazillion units — and that popularity
was evident in our best handheld category. Nintendo’s “The Legend of
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass” wiped the floor with PSP games “Syphon
Filter: Logan’s Shadow” and “Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the
Lions.” Here’s hoping next year brings even more good games for the
PSP, which is starting to pick up some great momentum.
Die-hard RPG fans sound off
The
action stepped up in the best role-playing game category, where nearly
5,000 readers logged votes. Blizzard’s “World of Warcraft” expansion,
“The Burning Crusade” was in a virtual dead heat with Bioware’s “Mass
Effect” and Red Studio’s “The Witcher.” The talky “Mass Effect” ended
up winning the category, but die-hard fans of the genre took issue with
our list.