N4G GOTY Voting is Open, Win an Amazon Gift Card

YES! You can now vote for your picks across 18 carefully selected categories! Go forth and show The Internets what N4G thinks of their video games:

http://goty.n4g.com/

BONUS: Just by voting you are entered to win one of three Amazon gift cards valued at $50, $25 & $25!

If you are curious about the process, we recently called for nominations: http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...

And I posted a FAQ about the nominations here: http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...

Any more questions? Send them my way or comment below.
_____________________________ _____
We've held these awards at a point where we expect you've played all the games on the list you really care about. That said, there may be spoilers in there.

There is a Spoiler tag at the top of the poll. Take it to heart.

[zerocrossing]

Awesome! Can't wait to see the results :D

[NewMonday]

"Sequel Fail"?!

[FogLight]

Voted! Waiting for the results now :3

[barb_wire]

Already voted too.

[Deadpool616]

I have to warn people about a "Last of Us" spoiler in the "Best In-Game Moment" section. If you haven't finished the game (Like me) then this could ruin a potentially shocking point in the game.

[FogLight]

Also Bioshock Infinite, not The Last of Us only.

[Christopher]

The submissions were much more spoiler-rific. We tried our best to limit the level of spoiler info for the games while still making them recognizable as options for their specific category. One of the TLoU options for submissions had a major spoiler and it required some rewording to hide what happens in general but make sure people understand the situation being referenced.

(we do have a Spoiler tag at the top of the poll)

[Korix]

It still wasn't good enough. I'm about half way through TLOU, and it was a straight up spoiler for me.
You would think people could avoid spoilers these days, or at the very least hide them behind spoiler tags, but I guess that's not the case.
If you can't nominate something without spoiling it, then don't nominate it. TLOU already had 3 other options for the category, so it's hard to understand why you had to put yet another one in there, and one that was a spoiler at that.

[Christopher]

***It still wasn't good enough.***

That's subjective. But, we did our best.

***If you can't nominate something without spoiling it, then don't nominate it.***

Disagree. Otherwise the whole points of the subject loses its purpose.

*** TLOU already had 3 other options for the category, so it's hard to understand why you had to put yet another one in there, and one that was a spoiler at that.***

I didn't put it in there. The community did. See the link to the blog Cat posted in the blog here. Every single person there posted the options for the community.

And, note, there is a spoiler tag at the top of the poll. So, people are warned.

[fredrikpedersen]

Too late.

They should have put a warning in there.

Thanks for spoiling TLoU N4G... -_-

[Christopher]

In the very header of the poll:

"Place your votes for the N4G's Game of the Year Awards. (spoilers!)"

Note that last part.

[fredrikpedersen]

Shit. You win.

Guess I am just blind then.

[-Foxtrot]

Voted...

However I don't understand why Aliens Colonel Marines got a worst sequel nomination when it's not technically a sequel to anything. It's Aliens Colonel Marines not a sequel of Aliens CM. I mean I know the game sucked but I just think it should of been in a FOTY (Fail/Flop of the Year) category instead. The last Alien based game was Alien vs Predator and despite being Alien related it's not the same franchise, so it's not really a sequel.

I would of put Dead Space 3 down instead since that is a better fit for the category, it's a sequel and it's also a massive fail for a sequel

[Cat]

That was a quirky one that maybe should've been covered in the FAQ... but yeah, it is very loosely a fit in the category, but the volume of nominations was huge.

[-Foxtrot]

To be fair though, and obviously you know this aswell since it does suck (unless you think it dosen't...that would be a first) but I think people only chose it because it was pretty terrible and is a way to get back at Gearbox by getting it an award for something bad.

If you get what I mean.

I was going to do the same to be honest since I was so ticked off at Gearbox but I chose to list an actual sequel fail instead.

[Cat]

What cgoodno said :)

[HammadTheBeast]

Another thing, Last of Us is in some weird categories. I wouldn't count it for Art Style, because, while the graphics were great, the style itself wasn't anything outstanding.

[-Foxtrot]

I know right, some weird choices

Thats more suited to a best graphic category not best art style.

For me Ni No Kuni is something which fits the art style category or Terarway, Zelda Link between Worlds, Super Mario 3D World for example

[Christopher]

Remember, the community voted on these category options. We took the most popular to make the poll. I don't consider TLoU innovative, but lots of people did, for example. For Art Direction, the only ones that didn't make the final list were "one suggestions" whereas all others had at least 2 or more suggestions for said category.

So, while it might result in "more sensible" options in some areas if we just decided what people should vote on, N4G is about the community. Flaws and all.

[miyamoto]

It might not be very obvious but if you really look into the details of how Naughty Dog's character design and graphics engine has really improved you will notice a fantastic evolution of ND's art direction.

For me Tess and Ellie's character designs trumps any game character out there today. They are master pieces along with Joel. ND has struck the fine line between Western and Japanese character design in the TLOU. Uncharted 3's character designs were already great ( except for Elena) and was nearing perfection but TLOU perfects the art.

Tearaway is obviously a winner in freshness, originality and creativity

[-Foxtrot]

@cgoono

Surely though despite the community choosing you and other mods would sort through them if they are best suited enough for the categories. Communities are not always reliable...as I've said the Aliens one was probably just done to get one over Gearbox out of anger towards them, at the end of the day it's not a sequel to anything, it's more suited to "Worse new IP" or "Fail of the Year". That could be seen as my opinion but really it's kind of true, it's not a sequel at the end of the day

It should be about balance, you guys are part of the site aswell so you should use your own judgment to help make things more...suited for the categories.

[Cat]

The nominations and awards are intended to be a reflection of the community of N4G, and we are happy that the nominations as they are are the best reflection of what was put forward by the community.

Hope everyone enjoys voting!

[Christopher]

***Surely though despite the community choosing you and other mods would sort through them if they are best suited enough for the categories.***

Nope. In the end, every game has "art direction" and if people thought this best... then that's fine.

***Communities are not always reliable...as I've said the Aliens one was probably just done to get one over Gearbox out of anger towards them, at the end of the day it's not a sequel to anything, it's more suited to "Worse new IP" or "Fail of the Year".***

I disagree with you here. While it's not of the same name, it's the IP of Aliens that has had multiple games before it. It wouldn't work as a new IP. Perhaps as a reboot, but those are still considered sequels.

[-Foxtrot]

@Cat

"The nominations and awards are intended to be a reflection of the community of N4G, and we are happy that the nominations as they are are the best reflection of what was put forward by the community."

So if, hypothetically people on here grouped together for whatever reason, a laugh maybe and decided to list a game for a category which is totally not suited to it like for example "Best Shooter - Skyrim" then it would be fine because the community pushed it despite being wrong.

At the end of the day if it's in the wrong category then it's something which needs looked at, maybe that's where you should think "Hey maybe with this we can make a new category where it's best suited, like as I've said people choosing Aliens CM is because it was a fail in general, not a sequel fail.

@cgoodno

"I disagree with you here. While it's not of the same name, it's the IP of Aliens that has had multiple games before it. It wouldn't work as a new IP. Perhaps as a reboot, but those are still considered sequels."

Well I'm going to have to respecfully disagree with you.

Aliens is a franchise but these games are not linked thus they are not sequels, they are just new "Alien" games overall.

Like if Alien Insolation does well then we'll see Alien Isolation 2 <SUBTITLE HERE> and so on

Take Aliens versus Predator for example released in 1999 for the PC, the next game after that was Alien Resurrection in 2000 for the PS1 then Aliens: Thanatos Encounter for the Gameboy Colour...these were not sequels to Aliens versus Predator

HOWEVER

In 2001 they released a SEQUEL to Aliens versus Predator...Aliens versus Predator 2

If we look at the games released recently over the years we have...

Aliens vs. Predator (PS3, Xbox 360)
Predators (iPhone/iPad)
Aliens Infestation (Nintendo DS)
Aliens: Colonial Marines (PS3, Xbox 360)
and coming up this year Alien: Isolation (PS4, Xbox One)

So really at the end of the day it's not a sequel, they are part of the Alien (and Predator) franchise as a whole but not a direct sequel to the games which is what a sequel mostly is...a continuation of the last game series. Since Colonel Marines has nothing to do with Aliens vs Predator (2010) the game before Aliens CM then it's not a sequel, it's a new game series.

It's like the Star Wars games, I wouldn't count Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005) a sequel to the previous game which was Battlefront (2004)

[HammadTheBeast]

I made this comment, but I think we're going too deep here.

It's the (first?) time N4G has had a poll for GOTY, I'm sure theirs bound to be problems. Overall it works well and the team did well, aside from a couple outliers.

[rodiabloalmeida]

Voted!

[theEx1Le]

Voted. Very few options it has to be said. My own fault really, didn't even notice the nomination blog post.

[iamnsuperman]

I am having issues. It wont load at all (chrome). I want to vote

[Cat]

Have you tried again/on another browser? I am able to access the poll in Chrome and Safari without problems. Will it just not load?

[iamnsuperman]

It's weird my laptop browser won't load but my tablet loads fine. Pffff technology hey

[Cat]

Very strange, but I'm glad you were able to vote!

[_QQ_]

Well i guess it was user picked. Anyway i voted for most catagories.

[Sarobi]

Neat

[miyamoto]

It was very hardifficult to choose between TLOU, Ni No Kuni and Tearaway because they all are such awesome games.

[AceBlazer13]

Looking at the nominees it seems clear who's gonna win, i'm all for it winning alot of awards, but it seems really one sided.

[celsowm]

Already voted too.

[MrBeatdown]

Hadn't played TLOU yet.

Might want to make that spoiler warning a little more visible.

[HonestDragon]

Voting now. Let the people of N4G speak and we shall see what comes out on top.

[thorstein]

How do you know who voted
????

[Cat]

Answered in PM but I'll answer here for other curious folks:

Your votes are tied to your account, and DF, Dusty and I are able to see poll results, voters, and so on.

[SynGamer]

Voted. Page took awhile to load both before AND after voting...

[Shani]

Voted. Can't wait to see the results and winner.

[M-M]

If you haven't played TLOU the spoiler really isn't a spoiler. You don't know how it came to it or what happens after :P.

[Christopher]

Yeah, the act mntioned isn't really the spoiler, it's the before and after that are.

[Stringerbell]

Just got my vote in, anxious to see the results!

[Moncole]

Looking at the list you can probably tell what going to win everythibg.

[Stringerbell]

I suppose so. But you never know, Ni No Kuni or Remember Me may pull an upset =p

[Cat]

There are currently 9 (half the categories) that very close.

[HappyWithOneBubble]

I voted

[Ezz2013]

Done voting on all

[aDDicteD]

finished voting ^_^
I'm glad to see all that I nominated were featured on the actual voting list including nba live 14, cant wait to see the results.

[Moncole]

Why isn't the list have more options? There are only three Nintendo games from the whole list and no MS games and GTA V, Ni No Kuni, Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us are all over the list. I am not saying these are bad game I am just wondering why most of the games on the list are the same but in different catagories. There are many great games this year and the list should be more different with a bunch of games. And best in game moment should have been limited to one game instead of three nominees from Bioshock and Last of Us and one nominee for AC4.

[Ezz2013]

what "MS games" that should be on the list ?!

[Moncole]

Forza 5 for replayability.

[black0o]

remember me! got nominated :O