X-Play Game Of The Year 2010 Nominees Announced

208 Comments

Posted December 8, 2010 - By Stephen Johnson

We've spent the last 12 months playing every major game released, and today, we're ready to reveal the nominees for 2010's Game of the Year. These are the best video games of 2010 and we're giving out 21 awards for great games this year, including Best Shooter, Most Original Game, Best RPG, Best Sports Game, Best Multiplayer and of course the coveted Game of the Year!

The winners will be revealed in a special one-hour X-Play special to be broadcast on G4 on Tuesday, December 14 at 6PM, so make sure to mark your calendar.

Without further ado, click the link for the nominees...

Game of the Year
1. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
2. Disney Epic Mickey
3. Mass Effect II
4. NBA 2K11
5. Red Dead Redemption
6. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Most Original Game
1. Deadly Premonition
2. Heavy Rain
3. Limbo
4. Minecraft
5. Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

Best Gameplay Innovation
1. Heavy Rain
2. Kinect
3. Mass Effect Saves
4. Rock Band Network
5. Rock Band Pro Mode

Best Multiplayer Game
1. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Halo: Reach
4. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
5. Super Street Fighter IV

Best Action/Adventure Game
1. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
2. Bayonetta
3. Disney Epic Mickey
4. God of War III
5. Red Dead Redemption

Best Shooter
1. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
2. Bioshock 2
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops
4. Halo: Reach
5. Medal of Honor

Best Fighting
1. BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
2. Super Street Fighter IV
3. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars

Best Art Direction
1. Bayonetta
2. Disney Epic Mickey
3. God of War III
4. Limbo
5. Red Dead Redemption

Best Animation
1. Bayonetta
2. Disney Epic Mickey
3. God of War III
4. NBA 2K11
5. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2

Best Writing
1. Alan Wake
2. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
3. Fallout: New Vegas
4. Mass Effect 2
5. Red Dead Redemption

Best Soundtrack
1. Disney Epic Mickey
2. Halo: Reach
3. Mass Effect 2
4. Nier
5. Red Dead Redemption

Best Sound Design
1. Alan Wake
2. Battlefield: Bad Company 2
3. Limbo
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty

Best Downloadable Game
1. Costume Quest
2. DeathSpank
3. Limbo
4. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
5. Super Meat Boy

Best DLC
1. Bioshock 2: Minerva’s Den
2. Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
3. Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing
4. Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker
5. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Best Multiplayer Co-Op
1. Dead Rising 2
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops
3. Halo: Reach
4. Red Dead Redemption
5. Rock Band 3

Best Strategy
1. Civilization V
2. RUSE
3. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
4. Supreme Commander 2
5. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Chaos Rising

Best Music/Rhythm
1. Dance Central
2. Def Jam Rapstar
3. DJ Hero 2
4. Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
5. Rock Band 3

Best Sports Game
1. FIFA Soccer 11
2. Madden NFL 11
3. MLB: The Show 10
4. NBA 2K11
5. NHL 11

Best RPG
1. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
2. Fallout: New Vegas
3. Final Fantasy XIII
4. Mass Effect 2
5. Nier

Best Racing Game
1. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
2. Gran Turismo 5
3. Split/Second
4. Blur
5. ModNation Racers

Best Handheld Game
1. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
2. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
3. Persona 3 Portable
4. Picross 3D
5. Ys Seven

Feel free to make predictions in our comment section, let us know if your favorite got passed over, or otherwise second-guess our choices!

Tags: G4, Nintendo DS, PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, TV, Videogames, Wii, Xbox 360

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cryo13305

pleased black ops isnt up for best game!

Posted: March 1, 2011 8:30 AM | Reply | Report

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cryo13305

pleased black ops isnt up for best game.

Posted: March 1, 2011 8:29 AM | Reply | Report

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hostile17

What is wrong with XPlay? No category for best MMORPG. Although I remember a recent episode of the MMO Report declared Catclysm the best.

Posted: January 17, 2011 1:18 PM | Reply | Report

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zelos33333

Epic Mickey was the ideal title for that game... minus the EPIC PART. It was your standard platformer with nothing but crap we have already seen from the better written Mario games, and on that thought, the sorry sequel to Galaxy shouldn't exist on any of this.

Sure, games like Reach, God of War and Black Ops are also hollow shells of themselves, but God of War and Reach at least deserve credit for bringing at least some new stuff to the table. And for the Wii, I quite frankly think Donkey Kong Country Returns had enough new innovation in its works to BLOW AWAY any other game on Wii this year. But is that contending for GOTY representing Wii? No. Epic Mickey is. A game with 73 on Metacritic. And clearly a game that only Xplay enjoyed too much.

Posted: January 3, 2011 9:26 AM | Reply | Report

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kings_legacy

Where castlevania lord of shadow?? Pretty epic game that got overlooked. It had an amazing soundtrack yet not acknoledgement??

Posted: December 15, 2010 7:42 PM | Reply | Report

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Hydrafiend

NBA 2k11 and Epic Mickey for GOTY? Do you guys really consider these games as serious candidates? What about GOW III lol? I would also nominate FF XIII-yes I know some people did not like it, but I personally loved the way they innovated the JRPG combat system, I think this was a great game. But jeez guys, you would be better off to put Halo: Reach and the annual COD installment in there.

But ultimately it comes down to RDR, ME 2 and SC II. I love SC 2, but I would have to go with RDR simply because its nice to see a relatively new IP be awesome in a sea of sequels.

Posted: December 15, 2010 5:17 PM | Reply | Report

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Hydrafiend

NBA 2k11 and Epic Mickey for GOTY? Do you guys really consider these games as serious candidates? What about GOW III lol? I would also nominate FF XIII-yes I know some people did not like it, but I personally loved the way they innovated the JRPG combat system, I think this was a great game. But jeez guys, you would be better off to put Halo: Reach and the annual COD installment in there.

But ultimately it comes down to RDR, ME 2 and SC II. I love SC 2, but I would have to go with RDR simply because its nice to see a relatively new IP be awesome in a sea of sequels.

Posted: December 15, 2010 5:15 PM | Reply | Report

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Ashley_Si

Where the hell is best platformer, there like 6 or so great ones this year, and why the hell are there no Nintendo games on the list, well picross 3d, but franchise games.

Posted: December 15, 2010 12:18 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

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xaver530

i dont care if halo: reach dosnt win best co-op it didnt really anadd any chalange or give you somthing special but i loved the story it was the best ever time a spartan died i was like "wow that did not just happen but my favorit thing bout the story was the ending, BEST ENDING EVER, when i played it i had this wired felling but it was frekin AWSOME! but it better win best shooter, i liked cod: black ops but it was almost the same thing as mw2 3 shots from a gun and ur dead, cuz it has a great new feel to it and graphics are outstanding and the game modes, my favorit is invasion, are very original and fun to play. also i would love for halo: reach to win game of the year but the fact that nether halo: reach or cod: black ops were nominees for game of the year means that g4 has really bad tast in games.

Posted: December 14, 2010 10:21 PM | Reply | Report

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PKSparkxx

Besides Epic Mickey, Nintendo has NO games on ANY list. Interesting...the biased opinion of G4/Xplay shines ones again.

Posted: December 14, 2010 11:33 AM | Reply | Report

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mbbrunson

DJ Hero 2 better win the best music game and end the monopoly of guitar hero/rock band games

Posted: December 14, 2010 10:07 AM | Reply | Report

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GreenLytnin

Seriously? FIFA 11 and Madden 11? Those aren't even the best games of their respective sports MADE BY THAT COMPANY. World Cup: South Africa and NCAA 11 were better games. Oh well, no one ever accused X-play of being sports experts...

Posted: December 14, 2010 7:07 AM | Reply | Report

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Seperfy

Please get your game together G4. Have you even played Black Ops?? You must be on the payroll for that joke of a publisher Treyarch. Bad Company 2 rocked face in FPS. It promoted teamwork, did not have, ahem, quickscope bs, and removed prone. Much better changes than Black Ops with bugged out gameplay and that horrible server browser.

I have stopped watching your TV show because it sounds like you just read this off of a card. A card filled out by the biggest checks and the worst game publishers.

I'll take the flames but ALL of the COD games, with the exception of the first one and MW1, SUCK. After playing both BC2 and Black Ops I can't imagine how Black Ops could even make this list.

"Let's lobby G4". Thats how!

Remember kids... Check the tire pressure in your car and don't run with the crowd. Black Ops may be popular but that doesn't make it a good game.

Posted: December 13, 2010 11:29 PM | Reply | Report

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thatgamerguy360

why is God of war 3 not in the the game of the year. if GOW3 was on the xbox they would know how great the game is and why isnt BBC2 in the best Multiplayer category. I know and my friends know that CODBO is know different from MW2 they dont listen to there fans and only carry about the money. my point is i dont know why BO is in the GOTY category.

Posted: December 13, 2010 10:08 PM | Reply | Report

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exort

Where is the great failure of the year?
FF14

Posted: December 13, 2010 3:55 PM | Reply | Report

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exort

G4TV is probably the most honest website these days. If they think a game is better they just put it up there regerdless the amount of backlash. I don't think other website even dare to do something like this. Seriously? Epic Mickey, and NBA 2K 11 for game of the year? and not Halo, RDR, GoW? They do have some guts.

Posted: December 13, 2010 1:11 PM | Reply | Report

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ARBO2k9

What on earth are y'all thinking?!! Why in the world would y'all nominate 'Epic Mickey' and not 'Super Mario Galaxy 2?' Galaxy 2 is far superior, and it doesn't have camera problems (hint Epic Mickey) Also where is 'God of War 3?' clearly that game was called "near perfect" (Adam) and why is 'Assassin's Creed' nominated? it only got four stars and it's just like the other AC games. This is the worst Game of the Year list I have ever seen.

Posted: December 13, 2010 11:33 AM | Reply | Report

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Aceassn716

FIght Night Round 4 is The Best Fighting game of the year not button mashing no skill anyone can pickup and play! SSF4 isn't bad however Fight Night innovates G4 said it themselves and it's not even mentioned? Hypocrites! 12 grueling rounds is always better than 3 rounds of letting a meter build up(How Bloody Roar of YOU) Shooter:HALO Reach hey wack ops fan boys zombies? I got L4D2 for that. Wheres your file share ability to share and make your own gametypes/maps/videos/pics? Not to mention better graphics sound abilites everyday challenges... CHILD PLEASE! Make a category for most overrated GOTY Wack Ops

Posted: December 13, 2010 10:36 AM | Reply | Report

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TheRighteousFascist

Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption (my personal pick is Heavy Rain)

Most Original Game: Deadly Premonition

Best Gameplay Innovation: Mass Effect Saves

Best Multiplayer Game: Halo: Reach

Best Action/Adventure Game: God of War III

Best Shooter: Halo: Reach

Best Fighting: Super Street Fighter IV

Best Art Direction: Bayonetta

Best Animation: God of War III

Best Writing: Red Dead Redemption (my personal pick is Deadly Premonition)

Best Soundtrack: Red Dead Redemption (my personal pick is Final Fantasy XIII)

Best Sound Design: Limbo

Best Downloadable Game: Limbo

Best DLC: Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare

Best Multiplayer Co-Op: Red Dead Redemption

Best RPG: Final Fantasy XIII

Best Racing Game: Blur

I left out a few of them that didn't apply to me, but those are my picks based on your nominations.

Posted: December 13, 2010 7:10 AM | Reply | Report

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mario54671

Where the HELL is Super Mario Galaxy 2??? How on earth could you put Epic Mickey, SUCH a mediocre game, and somehow forget Mario Galaxy!? Mario Galaxy 2 is a superior game on all levels...you guys deserve no respect...at all. You're disconnected with reality.

Posted: December 12, 2010 7:42 PM | Reply | Report

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