It’s December, folks, and that means our annual Game of the Year awards are on their way. With that in mind, let’s go over our past award winners, dating back to our very first GOTY, way back in 2005.
First off, we don’t have links to the 2005-2010 awards pages anymore, as they were lost online in a format change that we did during 2012, but we do have them stored locally so we can share them with you. Our awards format varies from year to year, so I’ll share the interesting and relevant differences from each year.
2005
Let’s start at the beginning, in 2005. Back then we were just starting out, had a mostly token staff, and still covered anime (of all things). We gave awards to the best game we reviewed on each console that year, with F-Zero GX winning on Gamecube, Tekken 5 winning on PlayStation 2, Fable winning on Xbox and Star Wars Battlefront 2 winning on PC. We gave our Game of the Year to our highest scoring overall game, which was Tekken 5 for PS2.
2006
In 2006 we handed out awards for Top Graphics (The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion won), Top Sounds (New Super Mario Bros for Nintendo DS won), and we counted down our top 5 to get to our eventual game of the year. Medieval 2: Total War took 2nd place in every category and came up short in the final tally to our Game of the Year, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
2007
We switched to genre awards in 2007. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 won Best Shooter, Super Mario Galaxy won Best Action game, NCAA Football 08 for Xbox 360 won Best Sports Game, and our 2007 Game of the Year was Super Mario Galaxy.
2008
This was a big year for awards on AAGH as we mixed the 2005 and 2007 models, giving out awards for top genres and best on each platform we covered that year. Super Smash Bros. Brawl was our top Wii Game, Best Multiplayer Game and Best Action Game. Grand Theft Auto 4 won Best Xbox 360 Game and Best Soundtrack. Fallout 3 won Best PC Game, Best Graphics and Best RPG. Sins of a Solar Empire won Best Strategy Game. Madden NFL 09 on Xbox 360 won Best Sports Game. Super Smash Bros. Brawl also took home the Game of the Year award.
2009
This was a short award list, especially after the previous year. We only gave our four total awards: Best Multiplayer Game (Borderlands on Xbox 360), Best Single Player Game (Dragon Age: Origins), Worst Game of the Year (MLB 2K9 on PC), and Game of the Year (Dragon Age: Origins)
2010
We went back to platform-based awards in 2010, making that the most used format of our early years. Our Best Xbox 360 Game was NCAA Football 11, our Best PC Game was Civilization V, our Best Wii Game was Super Mario Galaxy 2, which was also our Game of the Year.
2011
This is the first year where I can link directly to the actual awards article. This year we just counted down the top 5 games of the year, with Portal 2 winning. This was also the only year where we had a community-voted game of the year, and the winner there was Minecraft.
2012
Showing a trend, we again went with a countdown of the top 5 games. This year there was no community vote (not a popular decision, as it turned out). For the 2nd time, we gave out a booby prize to our least favorite game of the year, and for the 2nd time, a PC port of an MLB 2K game took it home, this time MLB 2K12. The overall Game of the Year was Mass Effect 3.
2013
We went back to genre awards this year, with Pikmin 3 winning Best Strategy Game, Bioshock Infinite winning Best Action Game, Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag winning Best Adventure Game, and also Game of the Year.
2014
We went with a mix of award selections in 2014. Our Best Multiplayer Game was Super Smash Bros. Wii U, Best Graphics went to Mario Kart 8 and Best Audio went to Super Smash Bros. Wii U. This was our third straight year with a Disappointment of the Year, this time going to The Elder Scrolls Online, which – to its credit – has turned things around since then (we called its going free-to-play in our original review). Our Game of the Year in 2014 was Dragon Age Inquisition.
2015
Last year we handed out awards for Best Controls (Rocket League), Best Visual Direction (Yoshi’s Woolly World), and Best Audio Direction (Super Mario Maker). Our Game of the Year, for the first time, was a game without a written review on AAGH, The Witcher 3.
So, that’s 11 years’ worth of All Around Gaming Hub’s Game of the Year awards. Who will win the big prize this year? Stay tuned to find out, and leave your votes in the comments below.
