Spike TV's VGA Ballot

Stephen Totilo over on MTV Multiplayer is on the panel for SpikeTV's Video Game Awards show and has asked for opinions on the ballot. Well, Stephen, here you go.

Game of the Year

• Gears of War 2
• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• LittleBigPlanet
• Fallout 3

Going into the year, I would have said hands down, Fallout 3 would be game of the year. It did manage to live up to my expectations and that in itself is impressive, but LBP is so fresh, so new, so all-encompassing that it's hard to not imagine it as a sign of gaming to come. What's old is new again, as a side-scrolling platformer has become the most ingenious release of the year.

Studio of the Year

• Media Molecule
• Rockstar North
• Harmonix
• Bethesda Game Studios

Bethesda came forward with their A game and Harmonix really (finally) put some effort into their newest release, but Media Molecule comes out way ahead with LittleBigPlanet. Meanwhile, Rockstar managed to make a solid product, yet simultaneously made the least enduring Grand Theft Auto yet. Where's that DLC, Rockstar?

Best Shooter

• Far Cry 2
• Resistance 2
• Gears of War 2
• Left 4 Dead

Gotta love Left 4 Dead, but Gears 2 is such a supremely polished and satisfying shooter that it's not going to be unseated this year.

Best RPG

• Fable II
• Fallout 3
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• The World Ends With You

TWEWY had some great ideas but was so obnoxiously repetitive and grindy that I couldn't even finish it. Fable II is an improvement over Fable but ultimately more of the same. Fallout is a must-play for just about anybody into current-gen gaming.

Best Fighting Game

• SoulCalibur IV
• Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit

SCIV is easily the best game in the series since the original. Smash Bros. is getting less and less appealing with each iteration.

Best Individual Sports Game

• Shaun White Snowboarding
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
• Wii Fit
• Skate It

Fun AND good for you? No contest.

Best Handheld Game

• God of War: Chains of Olympus
• Professor Layton and the Curious Village
• Patapon
• Castlevania Order of Eccelsia

REALLY tough call, I am obsessed with Castlevania and this is easily one of the better ones, not to mention, VERY hard. Still, Patapon wins for being so original and all-out fun. And cheap!

Best Graphics

• Gears of War 2
• Fallout 3
• LittleBigPlanet
• Metal Gear Solid 4

It's not even a contest. If there's one word to describe Gears, it's "polished."

Best Game Based on a Movie or a TV Show

• Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
• Quantum of Solace
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Naruto: The Broken Bond

Notable for being one of the few Star Wars games that isn't total crap. Meanwhile Lego Indy is maybe the worst game of the franchise.

Best Music Game

• Rock Band 2
• Guitar Hero World Tour
• Wii Music
• SingStar

With the inclusion of entire band play and incredible depth and play mechanics, GH:WT destroys Rock Band 2. Wii Music is garbage and SingStar is a toy.

Best Driving Game

• Burnout Paradise
• Pure
• Midnight Club: Los Angeles
• Mario Kart Wii

The Burnout games are fantastic anyway, and this is maybe the best of them all. Easy choice, and Mario Kart has been worthless for a while now anyway.

Best Action Adventure Game

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Dead Space
• Mirror’s Edge
• Metal Gear Solid 4

Okay, so its replay value is near nil, but the single player mode of GTA IV is a hell of a ride. Now if they'd just give us that DLC they promised.

Best Team Sports Game

• NHL 09
• Madden NFL 09
• NBA 2K9
• FIFA Soccer 09

I've only played NHL and Madden and Madden is the more polished of the two. No surprise given its status and popularity.

Best Soundtrack

• LittleBigPlanet
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Rock Band 2
• Guitar Hero World Tour

GH:WT is definitely a better game, but Rock Band has better songs (and WAY more of them).

Best Xbox 360 Game

• Fable II
• Gears of War 2
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Fallout 3

Fallout is probably a better game but it's supposedly better on PC. Gears is uniquely 360 and near flawless for what it is.

Best Wii Game

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl
• Boom Blox
• Wii Fit
• No More Heroes

Too fun to deny.

Best PS3 Game

• Metal Gear Solid 4
• Resistance 2
• LittleBigPlanet
• Grant Theft Auto IV

No contest here, really.

Best PC Game

• Spore
• Crysis Warhead
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
• Left 4 Dead

Spore is broken and honestly kind of stupid. However, it does some incredible things and its historical significance alone moves it to the top.

Best Original Score

• Fallout 3
• Spore
• Metal Gear Solid 4
• LittleBigPlanet

You have to hear it to believe it.

Best Multiplayer Game

• Gears of War 2
• Left 4 Dead
• Resistance 2
• Call of Duty: World at War

Co-op at its greatest.

Best Performance by a Human Male

• Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic in GTA IV
• David Hayter as Old Snake in MGS 4
• Stephen Fry as The Narrator in LBP
• Jason Zumwalt as Roman Bellic in GTA IV

Hayter is the only truly iconic one on the list. Metal Gear...

Best Performance by a Human Female

• Nathalie Cox as Juno Eclipse in The Force Unleashed
• Debi Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh in MGS 4
• Paula Tiso as Silvia Christel in No More Heroes
• Keeley Hawes as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider Underworld

Yuck.