And your Gamespot game of the year is....

[Cry Havoc]

Demon's Souls.

Pretty amazing. Probably the biggest upset we've seen in a while in gaming.

Modern Warfare 2 was not even nominated. :lmao

[IronMexican]

Wish I could play it. Can you name all the games in the running?

[lefty]

Nhl 10 :D

[iggypop123]

its a coop rpg. people love it. never played it but mw2 is all hype. uc2 however wow that game had my jaw dropping

[balli]

I'd be all over Demon's Souls if I could. Everyone says Uncharted 2 is the shit, and I'm sure it is, but I have a hard time caring; the Nathan Drake character does nothing for me.

I have two days of play time on it and will have a lot more, but mw2 still sucks. Just absolutely sucks.

I just started Dragon Age so this might change, but probably the most fun I had with a game this year was AC2 &/or Shadow Complex. Which doesn't speak well for 2009.

[z0sa]

I still believe MW2 is a great, even spectacular game. IW just let the fanboys get to their heads. They thought they could change the formula without any precaution. Too many were adverse to its outcome before the game was even released. And the plethora of bugs and exploits justified that.

[Cry Havoc]

Wish I could play it. Can you name all the games in the running?

Here's the video if you want to watch for yourself. There's actually a pretty good comprehensive review with all the editors for Gamespot and why they picked it for GotY.

http://www.gamespot.com/best-of/game-of-the-year/index.html?tag=topslot;title;1

Nominees:

Assassin's Creed 2
Batman Arkham Asylum
Demon's Souls
Dragon Age: Origins
Forza Motorsport 3
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Killzone 2 (which got a ton of awards as it was, including best FPS)
Rachet & Clank 2: A Crack in Time
The Sims 3
Uncharted 2

---

I got a $20 gift card to Best Buy, so I think I'm going to pick it up tomorrow.

[Chomag]

Demon's souls is a sweet game and fun as hell. However it will slap you silly and make you pay for fucking up in it though. Not a game for those that have gotten used to easy mode games that hold your hand.

IF you love the old school challenges games used to have in them then definitely check this one out.

[BlackSwordsMan]

don't own a ps3 so fuck it

[IronMexican]

My vote for GOTY would be Madden.

[Cry Havoc]

My vote for GOTY would be Madden.

:lmao

It didn't even win the sports game of the year.

[resistanze]

I wanna play that bayonetta game.

[mFFL03]

Ac ii.....????

[Creepn]

Here's the video if you want to watch for yourself. There's actually a pretty good comprehensive review with all the editors for Gamespot and why they picked it for GotY.

http://www.gamespot.com/best-of/game-of-the-year/index.html?tag=topslot;title;1



A comment in that link made a good point:
tud101 (http://www.gamespot.com/users/GerStud101/)

Posted Jan 2, 2010 5:49 pm PT
I just dont understand how Uncharted 2 got a 9.5, and demon souls got a 9.0, and it can beat out UC2 for both ps3 GOTY and overall GOTY. Unless a higher review score doesn't mean that its a better game,which makes little to no sense if you ask me. The whole point of reviewing games is so the public can tell which title is better than the other. If one game gets a higher score than another, I will be more likely to buy it, primarily because I would be lead to believe the game with the higher score is better. So how can Demon Souls win GOTY over Uncharted 2 when Uncharted 2 got a higher review score, and as such would be normally understood as the "better" game? It kind of contradicts the value of your whole review system, and undermines my trust in you as reviewers

[Cry Havoc]

A comment in that link made a good point:
tud101 (http://www.gamespot.com/users/GerStud101/)

Posted Jan 2, 2010 5:49 pm PT
I just dont understand how Uncharted 2 got a 9.5, and demon souls got a 9.0, and it can beat out UC2 for both ps3 GOTY and overall GOTY. Unless a higher review score doesn't mean that its a better game,which makes little to no sense if you ask me. The whole point of reviewing games is so the public can tell which title is better than the other. If one game gets a higher score than another, I will be more likely to buy it, primarily because I would be lead to believe the game with the higher score is better. So how can Demon Souls win GOTY over Uncharted 2 when Uncharted 2 got a higher review score, and as such would be normally understood as the "better" game? It kind of contradicts the value of your whole review system, and undermines my trust in you as reviewers

I think the simple answer to that lies in the fact that Demon's Souls is not the type of game that everyone wants to play. In fact, DsS caters to an extremely specific group of gamers -- the hardcore fans who have a lot of experience and are willing to dedicate time and effort to become highly skilled in a game. It is a unique game in that it is not just an experience you can jump into and dominate, quite the opposite, really. The game will beat humility into you until you allow yourself to continually learn from it. This means it's probably not a great or perhaps even a good game for the more casual crowd -- like Uncharted 2 is. However, it wins the Game of the Year because for those who DO choose to overcome the difficulty and put the time and effort into it, Demon's Souls offers an unparalleled gaming experience that is truly original and wonderful. But Gamespot realizes that not every gamer is going to make the attempt, hence docking it from the total score.

[Rip-Hamilton32]

i wanted to get Demon Souls but i got little big planet instead

[Creepn]

I think the simple answer to that lies in the fact that Demon's Souls is not the type of game that everyone wants to play. In fact, DsS caters to an extremely specific group of gamers -- the hardcore fans who have a lot of experience and are willing to dedicate time and effort to become highly skilled in a game. It is a unique game in that it is not just an experience you can jump into and dominate, quite the opposite, really. The game will beat humility into you until you allow yourself to continually learn from it. This means it's probably not a great or perhaps even a good game for the more casual crowd -- like Uncharted 2 is. However, it wins the Game of the Year because for those who DO choose to overcome the difficulty and put the time and effort into it, Demon's Souls offers an unparalleled gaming experience that is truly original and wonderful. But Gamespot realizes that not every gamer is going to make the attempt, hence docking it from the total score.

So then Gamespot are kind of selling themselves out for the mainstream if they are docking points out for that. If a game is good as a game, no matter what difficulty it is, it should get the rating it deserves no matter what type of genre is popular right now. You know what I mean?

I wonder what other games that were pretty damn good but Gamespot gave it a lower rating because it was hard to play into.

[DarkReign]

So then Gamespot are kind of selling themselves out for the mainstream if they are docking points out for that. If a game is good as a game, no matter what difficulty it is, it should get the rating it deserves no matter what type of genre is popular right now. You know what I mean?

Yes and No. Yes, because an objective source of information should just cite these differences as being determinate in its review.

No because reality is far different. Gamespot owes its very existence and profit to advertising money....advertising money spent by the same companies submitting their products to them for review hoping for a really high score to drive sales.

Bottom line: Uncharted 2's publisher (Sony) spent FAR more money on advertising and gimics than Demon Soul's publisher (Atlus in North America) did. Especially with Gamespot.

Thus, the score difference.


I wonder what other games that were pretty damn good but Gamespot gave it a lower rating because it was hard to play into.

In my experience with Gamespot, I think theyre really fair in that regard. A 0.5 point difference is extremely negligible according to their scale. It just may as well be the difference between one super-hyped, super-anticipated game like UC2 delivering the experience everyone wanted and more. As opposed to an unknown game being localized out of Japan that delivered a unique co-op experience coupled with traditional RPG elements and a brutal difficulty/learning curve.

Six of one, half a dozen of another.

[Cry Havoc]

So then Gamespot are kind of selling themselves out for the mainstream if they are docking points out for that. If a game is good as a game, no matter what difficulty it is, it should get the rating it deserves no matter what type of genre is popular right now. You know what I mean?

There are a couple of factors at play here. One is that perhaps the individuals who reviewed the game for Gamespot found it to be so hard as to be frustrating, and therefore did dock it points for the difficulty. The other is that it's a game that does have a much narrower appeal than Uncharted 2.

As another example: does anyone doubt that Eve: Online has a much deeper, more potent gameplay mode with thousands of hours more of replay value than something like Madden or Assassin's Creed 2? The E:O community is literally staggering, and the amount of detail and work put into that game (it has it's own stock market) completely dwarfs that of most. However, E:O will get a lower score because it takes about 2 weeks of solid gameplay to really even get a grasp of how the world functions. Thus, it is not as accessible to newer players, and gets a lower score as a result.

Gamespot is a gaming review site that attempts to recommend whether or not to buy a game to the readers. Demon's Souls, as good as it is, is simply not a game for most gamers.