While I think its story was excellent, I personally think you should never give out a GOTY award based primarily on story. Why? Because there are always going to be a significant number of people who don't care about the stories in a game, and will skip past every cutscene to get to the gameplay. I don't think we…

@Guitaratomik: I don't think I've played a single game in the last five years that follows that formula. This list was very true back in the 16-bit era, now it just seems dated.

@ca$h is Mr. Happy: I didn't say western games were just annual sequels. What I said was that annual sequels are a real problem. Japan tends to release lots of sequels too, but the west is the biggest offender.

@ca$h is Mr. Happy: I'd say both industries are pretty stagnant creatively. Or have you not noticed the annual sequel syndrome that plagues western gaming? I mean, look at Modern Warfare 2. The entire industry stopped dead in its tracks last year to sing the praises of a game that was little more than an above-average…

@SirBrau: Actually, I can think of a few jrpg's with funny moments like those. Ever play the Shadow Hearts games? They're practically built on random gags and humorous asides like those.

You can easily find a western game that is victim to every one of IGN's complaints. All they're doing is playing favorites.

I used to love The Simpsons Arcade game as a kid. Sure, it was just a standard Konami beat-em'-up, but it was helped by the fact that Konami made great Beat-em-ups, and also by some of the most creative animations and staging of any game of its time. There's so much crazy stuff going on in the background and so many…

I love Mass Effect as much as the next guy, but Commander Shepard "iconic?" Please. Iconic implies that the average person (ie, not a gamer) could recognize him instantly. In reality, even many gamers would be hard-pressed to pick him out of a lineup with five other generic fuzzy-haired space marines.

So Kirby found an oddly-shaped TV that was showing the opening credits to Doctor Who.

Instant Death Spikes: The Game

I wish MY yearbook photo said "Total War Guy" under it.

@Kaioshin_Sama: Burton also gets way too much credit for Nightmare. While he came up with the original idea, most of the characters, as well as the story, setting, songs, etc, are mainly the creation of Henry Selick (who also directed the movie.)

Poor Alice. Upstaged by the Mad Hatter (who's SUPPOSED to only appear in one sequence...what do you want to bet he'll follow her around for the entire movie?) just because he's played by someone with more name recognition.

@WhiteMåge is in fact a boy, damnit: It did take place in the same world as the earlier FF Tactics (and the later FFXII), so it's justified.

Can't wait till this comes out in the US. In my opinion it's the single best dungeon-crawl game ever made.

Mrs. Woods may own them, but it seems that Tiger has been leasing them out to about half the ditsy blonds on the east coast...

@Twilight Sea: Remember the second movie. He was LITERALLY a prophesied savior in that one. Clearly, Ash is The Chosen One.

Neat, but I'd rather have seen a sequel in which Batman goes someplace new than just sending him back to Arkham. I want to patrol the streets of Gotham City!

Looks like someone's got his priorities straight. Congrats on your son, and on a great article.

@(Starman) Starman: Well, the plot involves Celebi, the time-traveling Pokemon, and the word is that the plot will involve Ash and friends having to prevent history from being changed somehow.