E3 Best of Show, Blue Ribbons for All!

E3 has come and gone, but the fun still continues. Every year after E3, the Game Critics Association gets together and decides what games were the best at E3. Rather than simply listening to them a week from now when the final deliberation has been cast. I will provide you with this list of nominations, as chosen by the gaming community and my personal choices of what is deserving of the title best, because my opinion is more important than any industry expert.

Best of Show:
-Bioshock
-Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
-Fallout 3
-Mass Effect
-Rock Band

We'll start with the big ones. Although Bioshock and Call of Duty 4 are probably at the top of most lists, this one is really split for me between the hardcore awesomeness that is Rock Band and the well thought out Fallout 3.However, although Fallout 3 is going to be awesome, I will choose Rock Band for best of show, simply because it is in fact coming this year and will blow your face off with weekly downloadable content. Lucky thought for Fallout fans though, if Oblivion was any indication on how Bethesda feels about DLC, I think there may be many post-apocalyptic treats in store for us.

Best Original Game:
-Bioshock
-de Blob
-Little Big Planet
-Rock Band
-Wii Fit

There's a soft spot in my heart for De Blob, but nothing compares to the sheer brilliance that is Little Big Planet. This game has me sold on the PS3's potential to deliver compelling multiplayer game experiences. It looks amazingly polished and although Wii Fit is getting gamers to play in so many different ways Little Big Planet's create aspect will have players creating in so many new ways.

Best PC Game:
-Call of Duty 4
-Crysis
-Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
-Fallout 3
-World in Conflict

Fallout began as a PC game and thus will always have a place on a PC gamers shelf. The game will be incredible and Bethesda's genius plan to have either isometric of first-person playable modes will allow neophytes to the series to enjoy the greatness of the Fallout universe. World in Conflict doesn't interest me much, and the rest are basically (although incredible), just shooters.

Best Console Game:
-Bioshock
-Call of Duty 4
-Mass Effect
-Rock Band
-Super Mario Galaxy

I can't go through this without awarding something to Bioshock, as the spiritual successor to System Shock it will be everything you could dream of in a well-paced shooter. The environments really do "tell a story", and you could really see the team experimenting with ways passive and interactive events can suck you into the world. Just a handful of weeks and you will be mine.

Best Handheld Game:
-Contra 4
-Dead Head Fred
-God of War: Chains of Olympus
-Silent Hill: Origins
-The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Although, I could just write Contra, 'nuff said and I wouldn't get any objection, Contra 4 is the answer I needed when I scream to the heavens about the DS getting nothing in the way of hardcore titles. You can't get more hardcore than Contra and with the wireless co-op there will be far less study hours at school next semester.

Best Hardware:
-PSP-2000
-Rock Band Instruments
-Wii Balance Board
-Wii Zapper

Before I crown a hardware winner I would just like to say, this to the gaming community; "WII ZAPPER!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!". How the Wii Zapper got on this list I will never know. in fact here:
-Wii Zapper
I fixed it for you. The winner is PSP redesign, while Rock Band instruments do blow my face to dust the PSP-200 has got me more interested than ever before about buying one thanks to it's incredible title showing and the video output options.

Best Action Game:
-Call of Duty 4
-Crysis
-Halo 3
-Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
-Unreal Tournament 3

For reasons more obvious than I can name, Halo 3. The game's Beta was excellent and while not as graphically impressive as I had hoped the game is still more polished and well planned than the average shooter. I'm still not keen on Metroid's new control scheme and I will never in a million years be able to run Crysis on my computer.

Best Action/Adventure Game:
-Assassin’s Creed
-Bioshock
-Heavenly Sword
-Super Mario Galaxy
-Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Although a few glitches did show in the live demo, Assassin's Creed still has me thoroughly captivated. I always thought that a Tony Hawk-esque parkour game would sell well, Assassin's creed is like having my wish granted plus tons of unique gameplay elements and then having a really cute head designer show it off. Oh, wait. That did happen.

Best Fighting Game:
-Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
-Virtua Fighter 5
-WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008

Virtua Fighter 5 because I hate Cartoons and Wrestling.

Best Role Playing Game:
-Eternal Sonata
-Fable 2
-Fallout 3
-Hellgate: London
-Mass Effect

Eternal Sonata is going to be an excellent game when it hits, but that's just a stop-gap for me until Hellgate: London ships. You can't go wrong with former Blizzard employees, especially when you give them the resources to make awesome games. The DX10 build of the game looks great and the gameplay doesn't hold anything back when letting you customize your mob killing abilities, also playing with friends is always good.

Best Racing Game:
-Burnout Paradise
-Need for Speed ProStreet
-Project Gotham Racing 4
-Stuntman: Ignition

I'm happy with the demo I got to try of Stuntman, it doesn't try to be a racing game at all. Instead it's almost like DDR where you have to hit the right points in the right order to succeed. I love how when playing you still feel like a hero action star with massive skills even though it's telling you exactly what to do step by step.

Best Sports Game:
-Madden NFL 08
-Skate
-Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
-Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

I am all for competition and THPG and Skate are finally set to bring some of it to the skating sim genre. It really is a tie for these two, I can't decide until I play at length, each game side-by-side to pick out who is the victor. Also, golf and football bore me.

Best Strategy Game:
-Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
-Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
-Halo Wars
-Universe at War: Earth Assault
-World in Conflict

No disrespect to Sid Meier, but Russians blowing up America sounds like exactly what the doctor ordered for a bad case of WWII overload. World in Conflict will finally let me crush the capitalist pigs I was taught to hate as a child after signing a confession of love to Stalin back in Moscow.

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game:
-Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
-Little Big Planet
-Rock Band
-Wii Fit
-Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

I hate not giving Guitar Hero III any props, but Rock Band just beats it in every way shape and form. Rock Band is just everything I wanted in a music game, plain and simple. You will have more fun with it than you ever could with Wii Fit and it will have a much larger audience than Little Big Planet will have. The online aspects just further prove that the social aspects of the game are much deserving of this crown.

Best Online Multiplayer Game:
-Burnout Paradise
-Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
-Halo 3
-Little Big Planet
-Unreal Tournament 3

Although the greens will hang me for it, I will not be choosing Halo 3. Unreal Tournament 3 deserves a lot of respect, bringing modded levels to a PS3 in some magical PC - PS3 connection is impressive both in working with the black nightmare and still managing to be a Games for Windows title despite playing with the competition.

So, there you have it. We'll just have to wait and see how accurate I am. If anyone feels like it I will offer a prize to anyone who picks at least 80% right when we see the results shortly. Post your choices in the comments and we'll see how well you do. (Anonymous posters: include an e-mail address for verification). Anyway, it's late and I'm tired of writing insubstantial filler.