Bungie's Halo 3 took top Game of the Year honors during the G-Phoria awards last night, broadcast by game-oriented cable television network G4.
Unlike most industry award shows, G-Phoria's twelve months of eligibility run from August of the preceding year through July of the current year.
Xbox 360 was named the station's favorite system, according to the viewer-voted results of this year's awards -- and this result falls in line with the award distribution.
Of the show's 18 game awards, only four went to titles not available on Microsoft's system: Best Graphics and Best Voice Acting for Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Best Racing Game for Nintendo EAD's Mario Kart Wii, and, by default, Best Handheld Game for Ready at Dawn's God of War: Chains of Olympus.
Grand Theft Auto 4 and Harmonix's Rock Band tied for the greatest number of awards, each earning three. Amongst GTA4's distinctions was the prestigious gum-sponsored Longest Lasting Game Presented By Stride award.
Other notable honors included Valve's Portal taking Most Original, Rock Band snagging Best Downloadable Content, and Propaganda Games' Turok receivng the dubious distinction of Game Most Deserving of an Uwe Boll Movie.
Wii was least represented among the major home platforms (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PC), with Mario Kart and Rock Band being the only G4 award-winning games on the system.
The full list of winners follows:
Game of the Year Halo 3 (Bungie)
Favorite System
Xbox 360 (Microsoft)
Best Graphics Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Kojima Productions)
Best New Character
Niko Bellic, Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North)
Best Party Game Rock Band (Harmonix Music Systems)
Best Strategy Game Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Firaxis Games)
Best Sports Game skate. (EA Black Box)
Best Action Game Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North)
Best Shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward)
Best Racing Game Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo EAD)
Best Role-Playing Game Mass Effect (BioWare)
Most Original Portal (Valve Software)
Best Online Multiplayer Game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward)
Best Downloadable Content Rock Band (Harmonix Music Systems)
Best Handheld Game God of War: Chains of Olympus (Ready At Dawn Studios)
Best Voice Acting Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Kojima Productions)
Best Soundtrack Rock Band (Harmonix Music Systems)
Game Most Deserving of an Uwe Boll Movie Turok (Propaganda Games)
Longest Lasting Game presented by Stride Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North)
Like anyone clearly updated on the game list released this year would say: "Halo 3? What the hell?"
Like the previous posts here, I think all Halo 3 deserves is the award for Most Conservative Game of the Year - not Game of the Year. Probably a typo from their part :)
Halo is polished. Probably more than most games I have played. But if you like playing inside an alien rectum (those of you who finished the game will understand what I'm referring to here...), then you should seek mental help. I thought the game's Campaign was tremendously deja vu.
I don't see why anyone can complain about these results... It's not like these were chosen by a 'select' few on some committee...G4 did not pick these. These are direct customer votes...maybe we should look at the list as a free generic 'what our customers like' focus group... instead of trying to marginalize and tear down the winners.
I'm not surprised by anything on that list...Congrats to all the winners!
I agree. It should be pointed out that these were all voted on by fans of G4 through G4's website. Therefore, it's a display of "What does the audience of G4's programming enjoy the most?"
It's the right stuff on the list, but still tragic. Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 are still several steps behind Battlefield 1942 in terms of game design and features, they're just polished mini-games by comparison but that's all the consumers really have to choose from. Winners by default. GTA 4 seems like an amazing set of environments, but I got bored right about the time I finished taking my character's girlfriend out for bowling... Way to make me wait forever to find out my character's actual goals. Is it to just look nice and have a girlfriend? Where's Gannon, where's my Triforce, where's my MOTIVATION???
Although I do agree that these votes came directly from users that vote on the web site, let's consider this: Xbox 360 owners were swarmed by a freight train containing Halo propaganda and probably the most expensive marketing campaign Microsoft has ever done on his console.
It is only normal that after 6 months of intensive "You will love Halo, you will buy Halo" brainwashing has led to this result. We know how the impressions on the player will greatly be influenced by an immense number of factors outside the gameplay of the game itself. It doesn't surprise me that Halo has sold that much - that it's considered such a "good game".
If we back up from the "What do players want" (AKA what our marketing departments MAKE them want), I do agree that Halo is polished, but in no way it should receive any award for Game of the Year, or "Most Original/Best Design Game of the Year".
Congrats Bungie, hats off for the great game.
Shame on you reviewers for lying to yourselves and the players.
It's amazing how some of you think that YOU are the ones that decide what makes a game good or bad, and the ONLY way someone could like such a 'horrible' game like Halo 3 is by being brainwashed by the media. I don't even own Halo 3, but you self-righteous know-it-alls make me want to go buy it just to annoy you. It's all opinion people, and the majority of the people involved with these awards think that these are all great games. Get over yourselves.
Hell, Halo 2 is way more fun than Halo 3... Not to mention that MUCH better games have come out in that time slot.
Like the previous posts here, I think all Halo 3 deserves is the award for Most Conservative Game of the Year - not Game of the Year. Probably a typo from their part :)
Halo is polished. Probably more than most games I have played. But if you like playing inside an alien rectum (those of you who finished the game will understand what I'm referring to here...), then you should seek mental help. I thought the game's Campaign was tremendously deja vu.
I'm not surprised by anything on that list...Congrats to all the winners!
It is only normal that after 6 months of intensive "You will love Halo, you will buy Halo" brainwashing has led to this result. We know how the impressions on the player will greatly be influenced by an immense number of factors outside the gameplay of the game itself. It doesn't surprise me that Halo has sold that much - that it's considered such a "good game".
If we back up from the "What do players want" (AKA what our marketing departments MAKE them want), I do agree that Halo is polished, but in no way it should receive any award for Game of the Year, or "Most Original/Best Design Game of the Year".
Congrats Bungie, hats off for the great game.
Shame on you reviewers for lying to yourselves and the players.