Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 22, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
This year’s winners were selected in nine categories the previous evening. A total of 29 GC exhibitors entered 122 hardware and software titles for the awards, compared with 85 in 2006.
The winners were:
Best PC Game:
SPORE – Electronic Arts
Will Wright lets players create their own species in Spore and sends it on a journey through five billion years of evolution. He combines elements of casual games, strategy, role-playing and trading simulations into a single game, opening a galaxy in which players themselves design every living thing. Spore is both complex and accessible, and was expected to influence video-game development for years.
Best Xbox 360 Game:
MIRROR’S EDGE – Electronic Arts
Mirror’s Edge sends its heroine Faith into a modern surveillance state filled with contrasting colors and dizzying architecture. The action-adventure’s particular achievement is making players feel exceptionally close to their avatar. Acrobatic jumps, brutal hand-to-hand combat and the character’s increasing exhaustion become almost physically tangible.
Best PSP Game:
RESISTANCE: RETRIBUTION – Sony Computer Entertainment Germany
Resistance: Retribution demonstrated that portable shooters could be fun. With outstanding graphics, the game gives neither the small console nor the player a moment’s rest until Europe has been liberated from an alien invasion fleet. The package also includes multiplayer for up to eight players.
Best PS3 Game:
LITTLEBIGPLANET – Sony Computer Entertainment Germany
Sony revived the classic side-scrolling platformer genre while introducing a social and creative element to the console world: the player community becomes a developer community. LittleBigPlanet impressed with its tactile-looking scenery and nearly unlimited possibilities for entertaining level creation.
Best Wii Game:
SKATE IT – Electronic Arts
The Wii Fit Balance Board can do much more than aerobics and yoga. By shifting weight and using the Nunchuk skillfully, players perform impressive tricks on virtual wheels. Racing through half-pipes and over ramps creates an authentic skating sensation. Skate It translates the sport in an original way and benefits from the Nintendo console’s distinctive features.
Best NDS Game:
SONIC CHRONICLES: THE DARK BROTHERHOOD – SEGA
What initially looks like a colorful platform game reveals itself after only a few minutes as an atmospheric role-playing game. Its engaging story, humorous dialogue and tactical combat system also entertain older Sonic fans. BioWare gave the DS an epic adventure centered on the blue hedgehog.
Best Mobile Game:
PES 2009 – Konami
Smoothly animated miniature footballers, passing and crosses work even on a small mobile-phone display. With one-button controls, more complex moves are possible depending on the phone and after some practice. PES 2009 for mobile phones even supports multiplayer matches over Bluetooth and is much more than a brief diversion.
Best Online Game:
WARHAMMER ONLINE: AGE OF RECKONING – GOA, developed by Mythic Entertainment
The creators of the enduring online role-playing classic Dark Age of Camelot returned impressively with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. GOA challenged World of Warcraft with spectacular graphics, innovative modes, accessible controls and a vast, coherent fantasy world.
Best Hardware:
PLAYTV – Sony Computer Entertainment Germany
PlayTV enables television programs received through DVB-T to be recorded, played and time-shifted, turning a games console into a hard-disk recorder for the first time. Particularly impressive was the remote function, which transferred recorded programs or live television to the PlayStation Portable.
Best PS2 Game:
No award was presented in this category because too few products were entered.
The annual Best of GC awards recognize outstanding product achievements in the computer and video-game industry. Until August 1, 2008, GC exhibitors could submit nominations for hardware accessories and the categories Best Game for PC, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, NDS, Mobile and Online. All GC exhibitors whose products were playable in the public area and had not been released before the exhibition were eligible.
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