Awesome choice. Love Naughty Dog since every new game they make is better than the previous ones.

This make me all the more excited that I'll be starting Uncharted 2 within the next week, looking forward to it.

" PUT UP ANOTHER QUICKLOOK! "

I have not played Batman, but if someone could tell me... Does that game have a moment that sums it all up?  Like just a crazy moment that is so great that it is the first thing that pops in your head when you think of it.  Or is it just a solid all-around amazing game?

Uhh... 
 
Nah.  Sorry, GB, I'm calling fail on this one.

Good choice Uncharted 2 stands in my mind as the best 2009 had to offer

" @Warfare said:

" LOL the kid Jeff mentioned 2:56:00 into the Giant Bombcast GOTY Edition  is Lard.  "

Lard must be proud of him/herself. "

I don't care about who won but the design of this GOTY awards I thought was a little bit inferior that last year's specially designed pages and layouts, hope for something better next year, instead or a regular article

Gamey game is gamey. RAAAAAAAAGE! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU
 
I don't own a PS3 and I don't plan to, so I'll never get to experience this game unless a friend of mine gets it. Too bad. Maybe in five years someone will program a good PS3 emulator.

" @FrankCanada97 said:

" @Warfare said:

" LOL the kid Jeff mentioned 2:56:00 into the Giant Bombcast GOTY Edition  is Lard.  "

Lard must be proud of him/herself. "

Probably.  I doubt Lard has the capacity to feel shame. "

" I have not played Batman, but if someone could tell me... Does that game have a moment that sums it all up?  Like just a crazy moment that is so great that it is the first thing that pops in your head when you think of it.  Or is it just a solid all-around amazing game? "

finished it for the first time today and hoooleeeee sheeit, i can't agree more.

" I have not played Batman, but if someone could tell me... Does that game have a moment that sums it all up?  Like just a crazy moment that is so great that it is the first thing that pops in your head when you think of it.  Or is it just a solid all-around amazing game? "

Uncharted 2 is the most fun I have had in a videogame since . . . Uncharted 1. Great pick in a year of great contenders.

When I first got it, I remember I sat there going, "What makes this game so good?" And for the life of me I couldnt figure out what it was. But instead of looking for its features I looked at it as a whole. At its core its a fun game to play and can be playable and competitive without any kind of cover gimmicks, perk gimmicks, etc. The closest thing it has is the climbing feature, but in all reality it's so well done that its part of the game. It's just a game that was incredibly well done.

Great job Giantbomb. It was a hard year to choose. Both Batman and Uncharted 2 were fantastic. There were so many great games this year it was shocking. You guys did great I ve checked around and I believe gametrailers has done the worst with there game of the year awards. MW2 wone everything. I loved MW2 but when they make a 3 seprate videos PC, PS3, and 360  best game was MW2 and then MW2 wins GOTY award and they say it was so hard for them to choose btw UC2 and MW2 Im a little confuzled.

what?! what?! who could've predicted this?! :)

 soaked in a grimy Bioshock-ish aesthetic. "

You know what, I can completely agree with this. Not that I didn't love Batman because damn that game was good. But, giving due credit where credit is deserved the most memorable game of 2009 was hands down Uncharted 2. Great year Bombsquad, here's to many more

" We can most all agree that Batman, Uncharted and MW2 are the definitive games of the year this year. "

" Don't plan on ever playing Uncharted, Batman or MW.

" @ez123 said:

" Don't plan on ever playing Uncharted, Batman or MW.

What the HELL is wrong with you? "

LOOOOVE this game 
 
i woulda been happy with batman too, but this is great. 
 
i think this is defintely the best game naughty dog has ever produced (although i still love me some crash and jak)

You should have given it to toy commander on the dreamcast that was a choice game

Damn it, now I have to buy a PS3...

" @TheBeastinBeast said:

" @ez123 said:

" Don't plan on ever playing Uncharted, Batman or MW.

What the HELL is wrong with you? "

:(  Nothing.  I don't have a PS3.  I'm big on Batman but the gameplay I've seen/the demo wasn't fun, and Modern Warfare... do not want.  Plus this year is going to be huge throughout so I don't plan on revisiting last year. "

Just finished the GOTY podcast last night.  Man that was quite a discussion.  Good for Uncharted 2 and Batman AA. 

Haters gonna hate but this is absolutely the best game experience of 2009.

AWE BATMAN should of won

Even though I really liked Uncharted 2, I'm not really pleased with this choice.
 
I mean Uncharted 2 had amazing presentation, but people seem so strangely oblivious to the mediocre shooting and wonky controls that plagued the first game as well. In this one they get it a bit better but honestly its a competent shooter at best. In the podcast you guys would not stop talking about the games presentation and "OMG WTF" moments, but never mentioned the core gameplay which is a testament to the games strengths, but also displays its overlooked weaknesses.

" Even though I really liked Uncharted 2, I'm not really pleased with this choice.  I mean Uncharted 2 had amazing presentation, but people seem so strangely oblivious to the mediocre shooting and wonky controls that plagued the first game as well. In this one they get it a bit better but honestly its a competent shooter at best. In the podcast you guys would not stop talking about the games presentation and "OMG WTF" moments, but never mentioned the core gameplay which is a testament to the games strengths, but also displays its overlooked weaknesses. "

 I would've gone Batman on this one.  Uncharted 2 was really good, like... REALLY good, but it felt too much like just Michael Bay popcorn entertainment.  Nathan Drake really isn't that great of a character.  They pass him off as this flawed, down to earth guy, when really he's just as close to hollywood perfection as you can get.
 
Batman is fresh, it has a BADASS character, the scarecrow sections TOTALLY mess with you, it progresses smartly, it's super atmospheric....
 
Batman was just better.

I'm amused at how obvious it is when people disagree just to disagree...
 
"What? Uncharted 2 sucked! Batman should have won!"
"Whatever, Nathan Drake was a stupid character."
"Uncharted 2 was a terribly broken, and flawed game! How did it win!?"
 
Those types of comments are just pure nonsense. Even the people saying "Uncharted 2 was great, but Batman was better. Giantbomb failed on this one" are completely wrong. You know why? Because Game of the Year choices, regardless of the website, are THAT websites OPINION. You can't tell them that they "failed" because they expressed their opinion on their gaming website which is 100% about them expressing their opinion on a daily basis.
 
Basically the same thing happened last year. Giant Bomb picked GTA4, and then all kinds of people came out of the woodwork to say how much GTA4 sucked, and how the Giant Bomb staff were idiots for choosing it. Hopefully the staff here realizes that people like that are just attention whoring, and trying to be different just so they can make little comments like "At least I'm not a mindless drone" in an attempt to feel better then everyone else...
 
Ignore them guys! Uncharted 2 was a fine choice!

Batman was great, but once I finished it I decided a repeat playthrough could wait until I finished some other games. 
 
With Uncharted 2, I restarted on a harder difficulty the moment the credits ended and played for another two hours.   
 
Both are fantastic games, but there's something about Uncharted 2 that defies expectations just a tad more than Batman.

I probably would have given it to Batman, mostly because it was the year's biggest surprise, while everyone knew Uncharted 2 was going to be a good game before its release. Still, a good choice.

" I'm amused at how obvious it is when people disagree just to disagree...
 
"What? Uncharted 2 sucked! Batman should have won!"
"Whatever, Nathan Drake was a stupid character."
"Uncharted 2 was a terribly broken, and flawed game! How did it win!?"
 
Those types of comments are just pure nonsense. Even the people saying "Uncharted 2 was great, but Batman was better. Giantbomb failed on this one" are completely wrong. You know why? Because Game of the Year choices, regardless of the website, are THAT websites OPINION. You can't tell them that they "failed" because they expressed their opinion on their gaming website which is 100% about them expressing their opinion on a daily basis.  Basically the same thing happened last year. Giant Bomb picked GTA4, and then all kinds of people came out of the woodwork to say how much GTA4 sucked, and how the Giant Bomb staff were idiots for choosing it. Hopefully the staff here realizes that people like that are just attention whoring, and trying to be different just so they can make little comments like "At least I'm not a mindless drone" in an attempt to feel better then everyone else...  Ignore them guys! Uncharted 2 was a fine choice! "

I really appreciate Vinny's effort to push for Batman. One thing I've noticed that may have factored into this decision is that Brad and Ryan seem to extremely underrate Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. I would argue some of the shooting mechanics in that game are actually more solid than in Among Thieves.  The cover system does get pretty wonky (good word) at times, and you really notice it on the upper difficulties. Meanwhile I didn't experience any "jankiness" at all throughout Arkham Asylum.
 
Overall, Uncharted 2 is still a big improvement, but it isn't like Naughty Dog turned crap into gold or anything. Both Uncharted 2 and Batman are great, and it mostly comes down to nitpicks. I'll take Gargoyles and you can have the blue guys.

I'd say that Jeff's comments about the Gargoyles in Batman pretty much nails it.

Uncharted 2 definitely earned the win, not to say Batman didn't deserve it. Both are definitely in my top 5 games of the year. I'm just super glad Modern Warfare 2 didn't get in. It's hilarious how over at GT, they picked MW2 for every platform specific GOTY and overall GOTY. Giantbomb definitely knows how to do these awards, separating it as exclusives and one specific multiplatform GOTY.

Wow finally made it through the podcast. This category sounded like it was pulling teeth for the guys and I felt the same way. I feel for ya Vinnie! Two amazing ass games in Uncharted 2 and Batman: AA. Definitely a great time to be a gamer!

So after completing Batman AA, I can safely report that there was really no need for any discussion about which game deserved the GOTY title (though I still found it entertaining, so thank you Giant Bomb), Uncharted 2 is miles better.

doesnt this entire process run contrary to the entire philosophy of not verging opinions so as to not settle for the most commonly liked game rather than the BEST game?

" So after completing Batman AA, I can safely report that there was really no need for any discussion about which game deserved the GOTY title (though I still found it entertaining, so thank you Giant Bomb), Uncharted 2 is miles better. "

" I'm amused at how obvious it is when people disagree just to disagree...
 
"What? Uncharted 2 sucked! Batman should have won!"
"Whatever, Nathan Drake was a stupid character."
"Uncharted 2 was a terribly broken, and flawed game! How did it win!?"
 
Those types of comments are just pure nonsense. Even the people saying "Uncharted 2 was great, but Batman was better. Giantbomb failed on this one" are completely wrong. You know why? Because Game of the Year choices, regardless of the website, are THAT websites OPINION. You can't tell them that they "failed" because they expressed their opinion on their gaming website which is 100% about them expressing their opinion on a daily basis.  Basically the same thing happened last year. Giant Bomb picked GTA4, and then all kinds of people came out of the woodwork to say how much GTA4 sucked, and how the Giant Bomb staff were idiots for choosing it. Hopefully the staff here realizes that people like that are just attention whoring, and trying to be different just so they can make little comments like "At least I'm not a mindless drone" in an attempt to feel better then everyone else...  Ignore them guys! Uncharted 2 was a fine choice! "

" doesnt this entire process run contrary to the entire philosophy of not verging opinions so as to not settle for the most commonly liked game rather than the BEST game? "

" I'm amused at how obvious it is when people disagree just to disagree...
 
"What? Uncharted 2 sucked! Batman should have won!"
"Whatever, Nathan Drake was a stupid character."
"Uncharted 2 was a terribly broken, and flawed game! How did it win!?"
 
Those types of comments are just pure nonsense. Even the people saying "Uncharted 2 was great, but Batman was better. Giantbomb failed on this one" are completely wrong. You know why? Because Game of the Year choices, regardless of the website, are THAT websites OPINION. You can't tell them that they "failed" because they expressed their opinion on their gaming website which is 100% about them expressing their opinion on a daily basis.  Basically the same thing happened last year. Giant Bomb picked GTA4, and then all kinds of people came out of the woodwork to say how much GTA4 sucked, and how the Giant Bomb staff were idiots for choosing it. Hopefully the staff here realizes that people like that are just attention whoring, and trying to be different just so they can make little comments like "At least I'm not a mindless drone" in an attempt to feel better then everyone else...  Ignore them guys! Uncharted 2 was a fine choice! "

" doesnt this entire process run contrary to the entire philosophy of not verging opinions so as to not settle for the most commonly liked game rather than the BEST game? "

I agree with Giantbomb's winner and runner up 100%. Great job guys!

Graphics and Storyline is really great. Though player is very much restricted in their interaction with surroundings e.g. climbing wall and rocks etc. In that respect Tomb-Rider is still ahead of it.

This is my personal pick for GOTY as well. I really don't have anything negative to say about this game. If you take out all the gameplay elements it would be an incredible action film and I think that says a lot about the story telling power of this game.  
 
Other games should look to this one as a guideline for character animation and action.  Playing through one incredible action sequence after another made me wonder, why do we even have quick time events when UC2 shows that you can have it all?