Happy Australia Day!

We being an Australian Gaming site, and the largest independent one at that, we thought we’d use this day of celebration to give you the results from our Game of the Year 2010 “Reader’s Choice” Voting we’ve had available since late last year. There are some interesting results here, especially in our “Other” category field, but it’s how you voted and so it’s your voice.

This year we’re splitting the awards up over two days, beginning today with the Reader’s Choice portion, while tomorrow we’ll have the Editor’s Picks, which this year is much expanded thanks to our larger crew of contributors. It’ll give you a good idea of the broad spectrum of gamers we’ve surrounded ourselves with here at AusGamers and will hopefully reiterate our importance to an across-the-board style of editorial for the site, and for you.

So without further adieu, turn up the Triple J Hottest 100 and get into the AusGamers 2010 “Reader’s Choice” Game of the Year Awards!

---

First-Person Shooter of the Year

We gave you 11 solid games in this category from which to choose and our “Other” field and you voted as such:

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - 40.2%
  
• Call of Duty: Black Ops - 28.6%
  
• Halo: Reach - 9.8%
  
• BioShock 2 - 6.1
  
• Metro 2033 - 5.7%
  
• Arma II: Operation Arrowhead - 3%
  
• Medal of Honor - 2%
  
• Aliens Vs predator - 1.8%
  
• Singularity - 1.4%
  
• GoldenEye 007 - 0%
  
• Red Steel 2 - 0%

Honourable mentions in the “Other” field include Quake Live, K.O.S. Secret Operations and hilariously Minecraft with the attached “you do have a bow and arrow.

---

Action/Adventure Game of the Year

Like last year, this category was chock full of great games for 2010, and we filled it with some 26 that fit the broad range of action and adventure games. Here’s how you dispersed your votes:

• Red Dead Redemption - 30.8%
  
• Mafia II - 13.7%
  
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood - 11.3%
  
• Just Cause 2 - 8.7%
  
• God of War III - 5.8%
  
• Alan Wake - 5.3%
  
• Darksiders - 5.1%
  
• Heavy Rain - 4.1%
  
• Super Mario Galaxy 2 - 2.9%
  
• Splinter Cell: Conviction - 2.9%
  
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II - 2.4%
  
• Dead Rising 2 - 1.7%
  
• Bayonetta - 1.7%
  
• Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - 0.5%
  
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West - 0.5%
  
• Vanquish - 0.5%
  
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 - 0.5%
  
• Dante’s Inferno - 0.2%
  
• Transformers: War for Cybertron - 0.2%
  
• Nier - 0.2%
  
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - 0.2%
  
• Disney: Epic Mickey - 0.2%
  
• Din’s Curse - 0%
  
• No More Heroes 2 - 0%
  
• Crackdown 2 - 0%
  
• Splatterhouse 0%

Honourable “Other” mentions include Mass Effect 2 and Flyff.

---

Role-Play Game of the Year

This was a tough category, with two of the year’s biggest and highest rated games bumping shoulders with a number of other great games. Here’s how you voted:

• Mass Effect 2 - 43.1%
  
• Fallout: New Vegas - 25.8%
  
• World of WarCraft: Cataclysm - 15.1%
  
• Final Fantasy XIII - 3.8%
  
• Demon’s Souls - 3.3%
  
• Fable 3 - 2.4%
  
• DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue - 2.2%
  
• Monster Hunter Tri - 1.2%

There were a few “Other” mentions here: Alpha Protocol, ROHAN: Blood Fued, Champions Online, Heroes of Three Kingdoms and a super extra mention for whoever added “they are all crap”.

---

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

Another decent year in this category with an extra title everyone saw running away with the crown. Here’s how it went down:

• StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty - 56%
  
• Civilization V - 14.6%
  
• Dawn of War: Chaos Rising - 7.9%
  
• Napoleon: Total War - 7.2%
  
• R.U.S.E. - 4.6%
  
• Command & Conquer: Tiberium Twilight - 4.1%
  
• Sin of a Solar Empire: Trinity - 2.3%
  
• Settlers 7: Path to a Kingdom - 1.3%
  
• Silent Hunter 5 - 0.8%

A couple of other respected names made it into “Other” including Heroes of Newerth, Cities XL 2011 and League of Legends.

---

Sports/Racing Game of the Year

Quite a few games in this catetgory this year, with a few stand-outs and a few surprises. Here’s what you had to say:

• Gran Turismo 5 - 29%
  
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit - 21.4%
  
• FIFA 11 - 10.6%
  
• F1 2010 - 9.4%
  
• NBA 2K11 - 6.7%
  
• NBA Jam - 4.4%
  
• Split Second: Velocity - 3.2%
  
• Blur - 3.2%
  
• FIFA 2010 World Cup - 2.1%
  
• Football Manager 2011 - 1.5%
  
• MX vs ATV: Reflex - 1.2%
  
• Rugby League 3 - 1.2%
  
• MotoGP 09/10 - 0.9%
  
• PES 2011 - 0.9%
  
• WRC FIA World Rally Championship - 0.6%

A few “Other” mentions in this category, including Skate 3, Madden 11, Tiger Woods Online, NHL 11, iRacing and DiRT 2 among others.

---

Fighting Game of the Year

Capcom continue to dominate the fighting game field year on year, but 2011 might see that change. Before then, however, let’s look at how you voted here:

• Super Street Fighter IV - 57%
  
• UFC Undisputed 2010 - 19%
  
• WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2011 - 8.9%
  
• BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger - 6.8%
  
• Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars - 5.9%
  
• EA Sports MMA - 1.7%

Only two mentions in “Other” here: Dynasty Warriors Online and Kinect Uncaged (really?)

---

Casual/Puzzle/Party Game of the Year

This was a hard category to create, because it’s more about the ‘casual’ side of all of them, but hey, even casual games need a vote, right? Here’s what you thought:

• Tales of Monkey Island - 18.4%
  
• Donkey Kong Country Returns - 17.7%
  
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent - 13.4%
  
• Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock - 10.4%
  
• Rock Band 3 - 9.7%
  
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 - 8%
  
• Sam and Max: The Devil's Playhouse (Eps 1-5) - 5.7%
  
• ModNation Racers - 4.3%
  
• Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games - 2.7%
  
• DJ Hero 2 - 2.3%
  
• Jolly River - 1%
  
• Batman: The Brave and the Bold - 0.7%
  
• RUSH - 0.7%
  
• Runaway: A Twist Of Fate - 0.7%
  
• Puzzle Chronicles - 0.3%
  
• Kung-Fu LIVE - 0.3%

Quite a few “Other” entries here. Dance Central, Angry Birds, and Plain Sight among some that just don’t belong.

---

XBLA/PSN/WiiWare/Steam 'Arcade' Game of the Year

Every year this category gets more and more full, and more and more quality. Here’s how the 2010 votes went down:

• Super Meat Boy - 31.2%
  
• LIMBO - 18.8%
  
• Dead Rising 2: Case Zero - 10.9%
  
• Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game - 8.3%
  
• Shank - 7.9%
  
• X-Men Arcade - 7.5%
  
• Fat Princess - 6.4%
  
• The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom - 2.6%

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light dominated our “Other” field here along with Trials HD, Alien Swarm and Doritos Crash Course (among others).

---

Handheld Game of the Year

2010 was the last year the handheld market would be as it was for many years previous. This year, with 3DS and iPad/iPod/iPhone and other handheld devices really exploring the market, it will be changed forever. Here’s what you liked in the portable world in 2010:

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - 19.9%
  
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta - 19.4%
  
• Super Scribblenauts - 10.5%
  
• Professor Layton and the Lost Future - 9.4%
  
• Valkyria Chronicles 2 - 6.8%
  
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - 6.8%
  
• Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - 5.8%
  
• Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes - 4.7%
  
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn - 3.7%
  
• MotorStorm: Arctic Edge - 3.1%
  
• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - 1.6%
  
• Football Manager Handheld - 1.6%
  
• Infinite Space - 1%
  
• Phantasy Star Portable 2 - 0.5%
  
• Piyotama - 0.5%

The “Other” field saw Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, Infinity Blade, Angry Birds and Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver entered.

---

2010's Most Played Game

Every year we also offer a field for the game you played the most in the year, even if it wasn’t released in the year in question, because we realise many, many games have a long shelf-life. here’s what you played most throughout 2010:

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - 19.3%
  
• World of WarCraft - 16.9%
  
• Team Fortess 2 - 11.2%
  
• StarCraft 2 - 10.6%
  
• Left 4 Dead (1 or 2) - 7.6%
  
• Minecraft 5.2%
  
• EVE Online - 1.3%
  
• Star Trek Online - 0.2%

Not surprisingly, we had more entries in our “Other” field here then the list leader, Modern Warfare 2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 got a number of mentions, as did Call of Duty: Black Ops. Fallout: New Vegas and Mass Effect 2 were also entered a number of times while Dragon Age: Origins, Fallout 3, Borderlands, Heroes of Newerth, Halo: Reach, and Red Dead Redemption helped flesh out the list. Obscurity wasn’t missing though with the likes of Demigod, Flyff, Guild Wars and even Final Fantasy XI making appearances.

---

Worst Game of the Year

This was an open category for punters, and it looks like it became a way to vent frustrations at some of the year’s releases, here are a few of the honourable mentions thrown in:

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
  
• Borderlands + Expansions
  
• Red Dead Redemption
  
• StarCraft 2
  
• World of WarCraft: Cataclysm
  
• Final Fantasy XIII
  
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  
• Dead Rising 2
  
• Resident Evil 5
  
• Medal of Honor
  
• Aliens Vs Predator
  
• Kayne and Lynch 2...

The list really does go on, but for comedy purposes, here are a few quotes that accompanied entries:
“Mafia II - Very linear, and short, such a waste of a solid game engine”
“Mafia 2 - Great expectations, great disappointment. So much potential shafted at every turn”
“Black Ops - The game designed/downgraded for bitchy 12 year olds”
“Napoleon: Total War (An expansion not a game)”

---

2011's Most Anticipated Release

Finally, we asked you to tell us what your most anticipated game for 2011 was, given the year is most likely the biggest in videogaming history. Here’s what you can’t wait to play:

• Mass Effect 3 - 13.9%
  
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - 12%
  
• Portal 2 - 9.8%
  
• Duke Nukem Forever - 9.3%
  
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution - 7.2%
  
• Batman: Arkham City - 5.4%
  
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - 4.8%
  
• Brink - 4.6%
  
• Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception - 3.9%
  
• Homefront - 3.7%
  
• Dragon Age II - 3.5%
  
• Nintendo 3DS - 2.4%
  
• Dead Space 2 - 2.2%
  
• L.A. Noire - 2.2%
  
• Mortal Kombat - 2%
  
• Forza Motorsport 4 - 2%
  
• Killzone 3 - 1.1%
  
• Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds - 1.1%
  
• RAGE - 0.7%
  
• InFamous 2 - 0.4%
  
• Prototype 2 - 0.2%
  
• Resistance 3 - 0.2%

This entry also had a lot thrown in the “Other” field, inlcuding The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, Warhammer 40k Space Marine, Diablo 3, Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Dungeon Siege III and Shogun 2: Total War, among a few others.

---

So there you have it, the year that was 2010 as you voted for it. We also had another field we asked you to enter, which was for Game of the Decade, but we’re saving that one for Friday as it’s a feature in and of itself. Tomorrow we’ll be giving you the AusGamers Editor’s Top Picks for 2010 which is an equally interesting and telling feature for our intrepid crew of gaming journalists.

As usual we encourage dialogue and discussion among our readers regarding the results of the above, as well as tomorrow and Friday’s features. Please have a safe and happy Australia Day and well be back tomorrow with a lot more. And thanks for participating in the AusGamers Game of the Year 2010 Awards!