ramblings

Best of Categories, Which Ones Should We Keep, Lose?

8:00AM Brian Crecente | Every year I vote on a number of different game of the year, best of E3, best of whatever awards and every year I run into the same problem: The categories never really work for me. Often it ends up feeling like you’re trying to squeeze a round peg into a square hole and hope for the best. Thing is, I don’t really have a solution. Take for instance today’s news of the Game Critics’ Best of E3 finalists. Check out those categories. Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game Best Online Multiplayer Game Best Action Game Best Action/Adventure Game Heck this year there were even a few that didn’t get enough votes to make the cut. Best Simulation Game, for instance, didn’t get enough nominations to make the finalists list, but what would you include in there. Spore? Why not. HAWX, Sure, I suppose. Left 4 Dead? Maybe. That’s the problem, a lot of these categories are very easy to redefine and justify. What if you were making a Best of list for gaming, which categories would you include? Me? I think you need to include one category for each console, because often gamers only own one or two and they want to know which game is best on “their” system. But what about those collection of genres? I find them baffling, but it certainly looks like a lot of people use them. Maybe they just need new names. So what are you waiting for? Get to it. More »