Persona 4 was released in December of 2008 and won't likely qualify for the 2009 User Game of the Year awards. 
 
Just kinda putting that out there.

Came out in 2009 in Europe. 
 
Haaa international game websites.

cool story bro.
it will probably get the 2009 game of 2008 award

Logic.

Logical.

 When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible,
logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
clinical, intellectual, cynical.    

"  When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical. And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily, joyfully, playfully watching me. But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical. And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable, clinical, intellectual, cynical.     "

yeah, it came out here in Sweden 2009.
but then again games such as mw2,uncharted2 and dragon age might be goty anyway...

can I put the endurance run?

It was my 2008 game of the year.

Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game.

" Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game. "

This does bring up an interesting question about GOTY contenders released in late December generally after GOTY has already been decided. This normally isn't a problem as December rarely ever has anything noteworthy, but there are still some exceptions. Final Final X came out the day after Christmas. Most people probably didn't even get the chance to finish it before the end of the year let alone have time to ponder whether it was their favorite game of the year or not. And then there's something like Heavy Rain which comes December 31 this year. I would hate to see a game like that lose any potential awards next year due to it technically being a 2009 game.

" @CL60 said:

" Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game. "

or a 2009, if you're a japanese gamer... basically what you say is that we should follow the American released, and websites should (if they are americans) but users?  "

Thank you for stating the obvious.

It's semantics over demographic issues. Different games come out in different territories at different times and I really see no reason to not let the users do as they please. The content of Giant Bomb is not one strictly dictated by Americans, last time I recalled. If Persona 4, Final Fantasy XIII, My Weight Loss Coach, or any other game came out in your territory or you imported a copy of it ahead of time, I honestly see nothing wrong with treating it as a release from this year. Hell, I added Fragile Dreams for the Wii to my personal GOTY 2009 list because I acquired a copy in Japan and evaluated it as such. The US version comes out next year, but I see no reason to not give the game consideration if I have the means of playing it now and examine it purely as a copy from its originating region. The GOTY stuff just a list for what ultimately boils down to frivolous titles of self-esteem. I seriously doubt regional discrepancies in release dates are gonna throw off the weighting so dramatically that we'll have games committing coups on the final statistics.

Personally, I don't give a shit when a game comes out. If I didn't play it until a certain year, and I want to make it my game of the year for the year I played it, then that's my prerogative.
 
I played Persona 4 in 2009, therefore it is a game I played in 2009, making it eligible to be my GOTY for 2009. Same thing with if I played a SNES game for the first time this year. If I liked it enough I'd make it my GOTY.
 
I don't see why it matters when a game comes out when it's your own, personal GOTY.

" Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game. "

Wait, isn't there a "2008 GOTY for 2009" or a similar award? This could be in the running for that.

" @quezen said:

" @CL60 said:

" Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game. "

or a 2009, if you're a japanese gamer... basically what you say is that we should follow the American released, and websites should (if they are americans) but users?  "

Because this isn't a Japanese site. A game coming out in 2010 for EU and NA shouldn't be GOTY 2009 on a website that isn't Japanese. Same should go for Persona 4 and the different times it came out in different places. "

Ah, another case of the Mirror's Edge paradox. Feel free to argue 20 pages about it.

It came out in 2009 in my region so for me to exclude it just because it was released in 08 in some other region is just plain wierd. There´s no rule saying you should go by the original release date when making lists. Also going by the american release date when the userbase is international is just dumb. 
Everyone´s list is personal so let everyone put games from their region on it. If that isnt the most logical solution I think I might need to take my leave. The door is over there right?

out in 09 for me therefore it is a 09 release.

" @CL60 said:

" @quezen said:

" @CL60 said:

" Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game. "

or a 2009, if you're a japanese gamer... basically what you say is that we should follow the American released, and websites should (if they are americans) but users?  "

Because this isn't a Japanese site. A game coming out in 2010 for EU and NA shouldn't be GOTY 2009 on a website that isn't Japanese. Same should go for Persona 4 and the different times it came out in different places. "

I have to agree with CL60 here. This is an American-based website so we'll go by American release dates. The same would apply to other American-based websites. "

" Logical. "

" America is the only place where release dates really matter. (rolls eyes) "

"  When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical. And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily, joyfully, playfully watching me. But then they send me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical. And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable, clinical, intellectual, cynical.     "

Im still putting it in my list, the game came out this year in the UK, so thats final.

I'm in America so I didn't have it in my Top 10, but since you guys pointed out it came out this year in Europe I'm going to make it my #1.

I cant help the fact that most of the games I bought and played through this year were from last year....or at least all the way back to 1996.

This is my GOTY 2010. I know that makes no sense. I love this game, and I've loved it since I got it last December.

I'm American and played and beat the game in 2008.  I am still putting it in my 2009 GOTY list at #1.
 
Like others have said, there is a 2008 GOTY for 2009 award (or has been in the past), so if nothing else my vote will contribute to that.

It makes sense, but why hate on those people or try to rain on their parade? It's like telling kids to stop pretending to be a superhero by dressing like one. You sir, are a party pooper.

Frankly, users can put whatever games they want on their GOTY 2009 lists.  There aren't any technical barriers, so it's really the staff's responsibility if they don't want to see a 2008 game (or earlier) possibly take 2009 honors.

2009's 2008 Game of the Year.

Well, Ryan put Fallout 3 in his personal top ten of the year, so yeah.  Can we just drop the argument against 2008 games right now?

ye I am betting 200 space bucks on that jeff puts it on his list somewhere, like top 5.

You can't do that! Da Da dadada.

Well Ryan had Fallout 3 (and that came out in 2008) in his Top 10 list for the year so I don't see why people can't put Persona 4, especially because some people were only able to play it this year.

Well Persona 4 came out this year in Europe. Then again, I live in America so technically it came out last year. I can't really put it in my list either. Dammit!

Whatever. 

" @quezen said:

" @CL60 said:

" Who cares if it came out in 2009 in some places? It was originally released in 2008. Just like Final Fantasy 13 is a 2010 game. "

or a 2009, if you're a japanese gamer... basically what you say is that we should follow the American released, and websites should (if they are americans) but users?  "

Because this isn't a Japanese site. A game coming out in 2010 for EU and NA shouldn't be GOTY 2009 on a website that isn't Japanese. Same should go for Persona 4 and the different times it came out in different places. "