Disclaimer: One Draft + 2AM = this long ass post

Let's be honest here Game of the Year is the most important annual event in gaming. It is of incredible importance that each gaming publication take great time to decide upon this life or death decision. It is actually life and death when you think about it. Will giantbomb.ru starve the family's of Gearbox employees because they didn't name Borderlands 2 GOTY? I don't know but if they don't name Borderlands 2 GOTY then they wont be able to release a GOTY edition of the game down the road thus preventing little jimmy from buying all that dlc on one disc. If little jimmy doesn't give gearbox his cash then who is to put food on the table for the family's at Gearbox? Not Aliens: Colonial Marine that's for sure.

Game of the Year is serious business the publications have to be absolutely right in their individual judgement. With the full of weight of the situation their is only one solution: No GOTY this year. Be honest with yourself: does any game deserve GOTY this year?

Syndicate?

The value wasn't there even when the multiplayer was active. Also Deus Ex came out last year.

SSX?

It's a snowboarding game and thus is disqualified for being sports related.

Mass Effect 3

More like Ass EffectMass Erect Ass Erect? Ending. Jeez guys even I know the ending was horriable and murders babies without even having to play the game.

Diablo III

Had a crappy mmo launch without being an mmo but it's OK because that's how mmo's launch anyway. Those darn devs never know how many people want their game. Also the late game is bad which means the whole game is retroactively ruined, also known as the Ass Erect effect.

Persona 4 Arena

Is a visual novel like The Walking Dead and thus not a game except for when it's a fighting game but that doesn't count because I don't understand fighting games.

Sound Shapes

Was meant to sell the me and you on a Vita and can't be a GOTY because it's related to the Vita.

Darksiders II

Was padded out and Patrick didn't like it and Patrick is some sort of authority on heavy metal things like death or rock and roll...

Guild Wars 2

Is an mmo. Sorry.

Borderlands 2

Has Tiny Tina and decade old internet memes.

Torchlight II

Is just another Fate clone. What? I call it like I see it.

Resident Evil 6

Camera, shooting, bland supporting characters that aren't Sherry, and co-op. Also your decisions in past resident evil games aren't reflected in this one. What happened when I took that shotgun back in Raccoon City!

Dishonored

Is the greatest Has a crap story, terrible stealth in comparison to Mark the Ninja, and a binary morality system.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Refuses to inform the player of the actual chance that you'll hit with that shot.

Forza Horizon

A console exclusive for the 360. It can't be GOTY because no one played the superior PC version.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Had a Vita release. End of story. VITA BAD I OWN A PSP.

Assassin's Creed 3

Had frame rate issues and was generally aimless having no coherency with it's systems.

Halo 4

Console exclusive. Change of scenery, story, and guns was true for about five seconds.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Ollie North, decapitation, and left trigger right trigger.

New Super Mario Bros. U

It ain't so new and something about the WiiU sucking or something...

Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale

The title is to long and unweildy to be considered for GOTY. Those physical playstation trophies cost a lot to get engraved.

Hitman: Absolution

I heard it was misogynistic and homophobic and linear to some effect. To be honest I haven't played many of the games on the list...

Far Cry 3

PC version is better! Suck it! Ash is a loser!

Journey

Doesn't count becuase it came from thatgamecompany

The Walking Dead

Is a visual novel and doesn't count and also please for the love of god don't spoil that game I haven't played it have mercy!

Awesomenauts

Eh...yeah OK it's a contender I guess

All those games aren't GOTY material as each has at least one flaw that will be used to judge them till total damnation is upon them. Wouldn't it be simpler to do away with GOTY this year then to muck about the life and death choice of it? Wouldn't it be easier to just take GOTY less seriously and simply see it as what it is? An excuse to think critically about the year's releases and see the good and the bad of games this year?

No? Too new wave for you? Enjoy Batman vs Superman then.

So what was negative about this year's releases and what was positive?

Second, much more minor, question: can you see a moba or rougelike being a popular GOTY for even this site?

Can't tell if serious.

No game, ever, has not had problems. Live with it.

@FinalDasa said:

Can't tell if serious.

No game, ever, has not had problems. Live with it.

He isn't. his point is just really silly

Journey, Game of the Year, Fuck you!

Your reasoning leaves a shit-ton to be desired.

This is like an incredibly lazy version of Zero Punctuation.

This was hilarious! And no, I don't see a moba style game being popular on this site. You have a better chance of a game like that catching fire with the GamesRadar community.

I think most fans of Giant Bomb are aware that here at least, a large part of the enjoyment from the GoTYs is us and the staff exploring the strengths and weaknesses of various games, and generally doing a whole "Year in review" type process. I've definitely never heard anyone say we shouldn't enjoy the GoTYs in that fashion because it was too "new" an idea. GoTY also isn't about finding a perfect game; I think a lot of your assessments of the games that have come out are reductionist and overly cynical, but nobody has ever said that GoTY was about finding the game with zero flaws, the end result is just deciding on the best game that was released this year, and even if you think it was a bit of a bum year, there are always games that stand out above others in terms of quality.

trials evolution deserves goty, not only is it's gameplay the best, most polished and fun for this year, but it could go down in history as one of the greats

i really dont understand why this thread was created in any form what so ever. ssx cant be a GOTY since its a sports game?

farcry3 cant be since its was better on pc?

walking dead cant cuz you dont want them to spoil it but you apparently still feel the self intitelment to demand listening to it without spoilers.

dismission journey all due to a game developer.

as i said i have no idea why you even wrote this then

@ThePhantomStranger: Are you just a fascist by nature or do you inadvertently love people to read your stupidity? Saying no game is a contender for Game of The Year is like eating a chimichanga without cheese, dull, empty, and unsatisfying. Sure there maybe a flaw with the chimichanga that doesn't make it taste as great as the last one, but that doesn't mean we can discount it because it gave you an upset stomach. Duder you got to raise beyond the beef, way beyond those beans, and experience the whole hearten goodness without concerning yourself with petty inconveniences.

@ThePhantomStranger said:

The Walking Dead

Is a visual novel and doesn't count and also please for the love of god don't spoil that game I haven't played it have mercy!

Then you don't know if it is a Visual novel do you?

It's got my vote for GotY

I HATE VIDEO GAMES AND THEY ALL SUCK AND I'M ALSO TOO COOL TO LIKE THINGS.

A lot of poorly explained opinions. But maybe it's supposed to be funny, the hell do I know.

A point though. Blizzard, along with most MMO developers, mostly knows how high the pressure is going to be on week one. Remember, if you know MMO launches usually goes bad, Blizzard knows. The cost of having enough server power for 6+ mil concurrent players is astronomical. Especially since that number will be cut in half in a few days, and after a week maybe down to 1 mil.

They will deal with people raging rather than to make that useless investment. It doesn't make it better for you, the player, but that's the truth of running a profitable business

@ThePhantomStranger: You're farcically talking about "GOTY" as though it means "Perfect Game", and hopefully that's your real point. No videogame ever made is perfect, and that reflects the imperfection of those who created them. GOTY is a judgment of relative quality against other offerings, not a statement of perfection.

As far as what was negative and what was positive about this year's top titles, we might as well just refer to the many much more in-depth reviews of the games already out there. The truth is, numerous games this year "deserve" Game of the Year, and it will probably rely more on personal preference than objective reviewing to determine what will sit at the top of the list.

I will give you a 3/10 for effort.

If you don't like videogames, then maby pick up a book. I think that this year had a great lineup of games. More importantly there was a lot of creativity in the downloadable scene with games like Journey and The Walking Dead, which are both in my top three games of this year with Halo 4.

Jesus this is stupid. Do you even know what GOTY means?

Provocative title and content?

Little to no actual reasoning and thought, and really just reduction out the arse?

I'm calling this as a troll. Or a trawl for hits. In either case, this has minimal actual discussion value through its framing. I think the idea of "Hey, maybe we don't need a GOTY" is interesting, but not like this.

........what....i......back to bed

@ThePhantomStranger said:

Hitman: Absolution

I heard it was misogynistic and homophobic and linear to some effect. To be honest I haven't played many of the games on the list...

I don't know why I kept reading, but I stopped there.

you know OP I thought your point wasn't a great point, and I thought it was pretty obvious, but it obviously went over a lot of people's heads here (probably because your thread title was misleading but OH WELL):

guys he is arguing that he'd rather just hear discussions of games against other games without making one of them better than the rest.

which is a dumb point, because there's no real difference between the two and may invite more in depth discussion, but dang, it's like people don't read the entire post before saying NURP.

You're a funny guy, original poster.

@Gamer_152: Your post has more care and thought than this thread deserves.

I guess that means Hotline Miami is the GOTY! Congrats!

Screw everybody else. I enjoyed your post despite not totally agreeing with the message. 8/10

@FinalDasa said:

Can't tell if serious.

No game, ever, has not had problems. Live with it.

Are you sure? There has to be some right?

@Nottle said:

@FinalDasa said:

Can't tell if serious.

No game, ever, has not had problems. Live with it.

Are you sure? There has to be some right?

Pong?

2kool4skool

Also, The Walking Dead gets my vote.

Relax people, OP is obviously being sarcastic. I got a good laugh reading what he posted. Not sure why some of you guys are taking what he said way too seriously.

Super Hexagon is no GOTY either. Seriously a game that you play for 5 seconds and then it's game over? And those graphics.. *shudders* A 7 year old can make better graphics. The music is good I guess, but who cares about good music when you're busy puking your face off from nausea.

P.S. I love Super Hexagon.

He/She's obviously joking guys/gals/bombadiers/duders/duderettes/etc.

Also, GOTY is obviously FUNKY BARN.

This post reads like the dumb rants of a 14-year old whose social interactions begin and end with 4chan.

The Walking Dead as a game is actually pretty poor, the interaction that is there falls short of many other adventure games, for that reason I don't know how suitable it is for "game" of the year.

Enjoyed it a lot don't me wrong, but uhh...it's not a better game than many other releases that came out this year.

You heard the man, people! GOTY is not happening this year. Someone go inform IGN, GameTrailers and Gamespot while I try getting the VGAs pulled.

Whatever. I'm going back to being happy about videogames.

@BeachThunder said:

@Nottle said:

@FinalDasa said:

Can't tell if serious.

No game, ever, has not had problems. Live with it.

Are you sure? There has to be some right?

Pong?

Tetris.

@ThePhantomStranger: Your reason for FarCry 3 not being GOTY is because it's better on PC?. WHAT!.

Dammit, I knew I should've stayed in bed.

This train of thought is tedious. I prefer enjoying video games and reasonable discussion.

You're trying WAY too hard.

Dont know why, but this post was pretty funny to me, made me laugh more than I expected.

Unlike you I have played most of the games on the list and I have the same feeling that none of these games deserve a goty, except XCOM. Maybe it´s because last year was so great? Maybe.

Looking at that list, it looks like you've ruled out everything... BUT MAX PAYNE. Max Payne 3 GOTY 2012 I totally agree.

Whenever I find a funny post on the forums it's always greeted by a bunch of forum regulars telling the OP to stop trolling or how they're wrong about some insignificant detail. I guess there's so much chaff it's hard to see the wheat.

This is clearly a joke and I liked it.

You left off Fez. And The Darkness II. And Rhythm Heaven Fever. And Hotline: Miami. And Spec Ops: The Line.

These five games are all significantly fantastic. And I defy you to find flaws in Rhythm Heaven Fever or Hotline: Miami; not even technical shizz.

Dark Souls:PtDE

I'm not going to take this thread seriously.

Especially not if it comes from the guy who narced Jesus. Weak, duder.

LOLOLOLOL this thread has the best title

So you're just a constant bummer huh?

@ThePhantomStranger said:

Journey

Doesn't count becuase it came from thatgamecompany

That is a good, well-articulated point. Also, no.

I know the OP isn't serious but there are some people on this site who genuinely don't like any games and say stuff like this in their every post.