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Games Convention unveils their Best Of collection
Well, Games Convention is over again for another year - perhaps the last to be held in Leipzig! Don't get too upset just yet, we'll be sorting through the information we've received for a little while yet.

First off the blocks, however, is the sixth-annual "Best of GC" awards, handed out to the most innovative new products on show at Games Convention. This year, there were nine categories - chosen from 29 exhibitors who entered 122 hardware items and software titles - nearly a 50% increase on 2006, which saw a mere 85 submissions.

The envelope please...



In the category Best PC Game:

SPORE - Electronic Arts
In Spore, Will Wright lets players create their own species and send them off on a journey through five billion years of evolutionary history. In the process, he succeeds in combining elements from casual, strategy, role-play and action simulations into a single game - and opens the door to a games galaxy in which all living elements are designed by the players themselves. Spore is at the same time both complex and comprehensible and will have an inspirational effect on video game development for many years to come.


In the category Best Xbox 360 Game:

MIRROR'S EDGE - Electronic Arts
Mirror's Edge sends its title heroine "Faith" off into a modern police state full of contrasting colours and vertiginous architecture. The special achievement of the action adventure is to cloak the player particularly closely in the skin of his or her avatar. Acrobatic leaps, fierce close combat and the character's increasing exhaustion are almost physically perceptible.


In the category Best PSP Game:

RESISTANCE: RETRIBUTION - Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland
This makes it official at last: shooters for out and about can be fun. With outstanding visuals, in Resistance: Retribution neither the small console nor the gamer can take a breather till Europe has been liberated from an extraterrestrial fleet of invaders. It also includes a multiplayer setting for up to eight players.


In the category Best PS3 Game:

LITTLE BIG PLANET - Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland
Sony brings new life to an old genre, the laterally scrolling platformer. It also adds both a social and a creative element to the console world: the gamer community becomes the developer community. Little Big Planet comes with a convincingly vivid backdrop and almost unlimited possibilities with entertaining level structure.


In the category Best Wii Game:

SKATE IT - Electronic Arts
The Wii Fit Balance Board can do much more than just aerobics and yoga: by shifting weight and skilful use of the Nunchuk, the player carries out the most amazing tricks in (four) virtual roles. A genuine skater feel is created on the run through half-pipes and over ramps. Skate it gives an authentic and original recreation of the trend sport and benefits from the special features of the Nintendo console.


In the category Best NDS Game:

SONIC CHRONICLES: Die Dunkle Bruderschaft - SEGA
What looks at first like a colourful jump'n'run, turns out after only a few minutes to be an atmospheric RPG. Thanks to the exciting story, the amusing dialogue and the tactical fight system, older Sonic fans will also find this very entertaining. BioWare has given the DS an epic adventure all about the blue hedgehog.


In the category BEST MOBILE Game:

PES 2009 - Konami
Smoothly animated mini-players, a passing game and runs into the centre - it's all possible, even on a small mobile phone screen. Depending on the type of phone and with a certain amount of practice, the one-button control makes even complex game moves possible. PES 2009 for mobile phones even allows for multiplayer games by Bluetooth and is much more than just a stopgap to pass the time.


In the category Best Online Game:

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning - GOA GOA
(developed by Mythic Entertainment)
The creators of the online RPG legend Dark Age of Camelot, still so successful today, are back with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. GOA squares up to the alpha male World of Warcraft with spectacular visuals, innovative play modi, neat control and an enormous, appealing fantasy world.


In the category Best Hardware:

PlayTV - Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland
The PlayTV enables users to record, play back and pause for playback of TV programmes received in DVB-T format. This is the first time that a game console serves as a hard drive recorder. The remote function is particularly impressive, making it possible to watch recorded TV shows or live TV programmes on the Playstation Portable (PSP).


In the category Best PS2 Game:
As there were too few entrants, no award was made in this category.

The Best of GC award is given to the year's most outstanding product achievement, from all over the computer and video game industry. Exhibitors had until August 1st 2008 to submit their entries in the categories of Best Game PC, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, PS3, Wii, DS, mobile and online, or in the hardware accessory category. To be eligible, the company had to be exhibiting at this year's Games Convention, and the game must be playable in the public area - and could not have been published before the fair.

While there weren't too many surprises, it's always nice to see the Wii award being handed to a non-typical title - no cartoon characters in sight, instead Skate It seems to be shaping up as quite a nice little serious skateboarding title! If this trend continues, it seems the Wii might be taking steps to shake off its casual branding, and emerging as a viable platform for hardcore gamers, as well as fans of Mario.
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