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Game of the Year 2009 poll [ - RESULTS - ]
mcc
glitchRegistered User, ClubPA regular
glitchRegistered User, ClubPA regular
CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE PRETTY COLOR-CODED FULL RESULTS
Every year since 2004 I’ve been hosting this Game of the Year poll here and on some other forums I read. There are a lot of GOTY polls out there, but this one I think is kind of special. Most polls, you’re given a list of four or five options and you’re asked to pick the one you liked best. This poll, people are given a list of a couple of hundred options, consisting of every new game released in the previous year– and asked to rate their top ten or twenty.
This does a few interesting things. First off, we get to see all the information about what people’s second, third etc choices are. Second off, because the second, third etc choices count, people are more likely to vote for the game they want to win, rather than the game they think is likely to win– they’re less likely to engage in “strategic voting”. Finally, because we have all this information, we’re actually able to provide somewhat reasonable rankings for something like the top hundred or so games of last year.
The full results– showing the exact number of voters who ranked each game first, second, third place etc– can be found here. In the meantime, the final results were:
The numbers in parentheses are the final scores each game got under the poll’s ranking system. Thanks if you voted, and some more elaborate analysis of the results (plus an explanation of the scores) can be found below.
NOTEWORTHY WINNERS
GOTY 2009:
Best game of 2009 which somehow nobody considered to be their #1 pick: #30, Punch-Out!!
Worst game of 2009 that at least one person considered their #1 pick: #248, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (Only one person voted for this at all)
Worst game of 2009: #284, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Only one person voted for this; it was their #20 pick)
There were 17 games on the nominations list no one voted for at all. Also, FIFA 10– which was left off the nominations list by complete accident– probably deserves some kind of special “moral victory” award for the sheer number of people who were upset about its absence.
ALTERNATE SCORING METHODS
The rankings listed above are based on what was originally intended to be an approximation of Condorcet voting, but which I’m told is actually closer to the Borda count. In my Borda-ish voting method, each vote cast for a game gives that game a certain number of points. If someone ranks a game #1, that game gets 20 points. If they rank it #2, the game gets 19 points. If they rank it #3 the game gets 18 points… and so on. I have a script that checks a couple of alternate ways of ranking the same data, though.
For example, if we rank games only by the number of first post votes they got, we get a wildly different list, with the most obvious difference being Batman and Dragon Age swapping places:
First Past the Post
Most years when I look at the first-past-the-post list a “cult” game usually emerges that received very few overall votes, but where an overwhelming percentage of those votes were #1 votes; this year there was no obvious leader in the “cult” category, although the jump in ranking for Demon’s Souls seems pretty significant, and Murasama (which jumps from #37 to #17) and Machinarium and Little King’s Story (which jump from #40 and #48 to a five-way tie for 19th place) seem worth mentioning.
I also did two more ways of sorting the rankings: an “approval” vote, where nothing is counted except the number of votes a game received (i.e. a first-place and a twentieth-place ranking count the same– all the matters is if the game was on someone’s list); and an instant runoff vote. Your eyes are probably starting to glaze over at this point, so I bolded the places where these two votes differ from the normal rankings:
Approval
FINALLY: PER-FORUM BREAKDOWNS
Since a couple years ago when I started posting the results to this poll on my blog, I’ve tried to actually run some extra results, in each case counting only those voters who– as far as one could tell from looking at the logs– had come to the poll from one particular forum or other.
I'm not gonna list all five of these breakdowns here, but here is the forum-specific breakdown for Penny Arcade if it interests you. Unsurprisingly, they look little different from the total scores, since PA forumers made up most of the voters in the poll period.
Penny Arcade Forums (767 voters)
Every year since 2004 I’ve been hosting this Game of the Year poll here and on some other forums I read. There are a lot of GOTY polls out there, but this one I think is kind of special. Most polls, you’re given a list of four or five options and you’re asked to pick the one you liked best. This poll, people are given a list of a couple of hundred options, consisting of every new game released in the previous year– and asked to rate their top ten or twenty.
This does a few interesting things. First off, we get to see all the information about what people’s second, third etc choices are. Second off, because the second, third etc choices count, people are more likely to vote for the game they want to win, rather than the game they think is likely to win– they’re less likely to engage in “strategic voting”. Finally, because we have all this information, we’re actually able to provide somewhat reasonable rankings for something like the top hundred or so games of last year.
The full results– showing the exact number of voters who ranked each game first, second, third place etc– can be found here. In the meantime, the final results were:
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (7772) *** GAME OF THE YEAR ***
- Dragon Age: Origins (7019)
- Borderlands (5579)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (4458)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (4295)
- Assassin’s Creed II (4205)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (3858)
- Torchlight (3792)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (3386)
- Resident Evil 5 (2941)
- Street Fighter IV (2576)
- Shadow Complex (2460)
- Demon’s Souls (2342)
- Halo 3: ODST (2104)
- Brütal Legend (2008)
- The Beatles: Rock Band (1991)
- Infamous (1844)
- Plants vs. Zombies (1773)
- Scribblenauts (1752)
- Prototype (1720)
The numbers in parentheses are the final scores each game got under the poll’s ranking system. Thanks if you voted, and some more elaborate analysis of the results (plus an explanation of the scores) can be found below.
NOTEWORTHY WINNERS
GOTY 2009:
-
#1, Batman: Arkham Asylum
-
#7, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
-
#8, Torchlight
-
#9, New Super Mario Bros. Wii
-
#12, Shadow Complex
-
#19, Scribblenauts
-
#46, Dissidia: Final Fantasy
-
#56, Canabalt
-
#2, Dragon Age: Origins
-
#3, Borderlands
-
#12, Shadow Complex
-
#18, Plants vs Zombies
Best game of 2009 which somehow nobody considered to be their #1 pick: #30, Punch-Out!!
Worst game of 2009 that at least one person considered their #1 pick: #248, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade (Only one person voted for this at all)
Worst game of 2009: #284, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Only one person voted for this; it was their #20 pick)
There were 17 games on the nominations list no one voted for at all. Also, FIFA 10– which was left off the nominations list by complete accident– probably deserves some kind of special “moral victory” award for the sheer number of people who were upset about its absence.
ALTERNATE SCORING METHODS
The rankings listed above are based on what was originally intended to be an approximation of Condorcet voting, but which I’m told is actually closer to the Borda count. In my Borda-ish voting method, each vote cast for a game gives that game a certain number of points. If someone ranks a game #1, that game gets 20 points. If they rank it #2, the game gets 19 points. If they rank it #3 the game gets 18 points… and so on. I have a script that checks a couple of alternate ways of ranking the same data, though.
For example, if we rank games only by the number of first post votes they got, we get a wildly different list, with the most obvious difference being Batman and Dragon Age swapping places:
First Past the Post
- Dragon Age: Origins (134)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (119)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (111)
- Borderlands (58)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (45)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (45)
- Assassin’s Creed II (41)
- Demon’s Souls (41)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (32)
- Street Fighter IV (25)
- Brütal Legend (14)
- The Beatles: Rock Band (13)
- Shadow Complex (12)
- Torchlight (12)
- Resident Evil 5 (11)
- Halo 3: ODST (10)
- Muramasa: The Demon Blade (9)
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (8)
- Red Faction: Guerrilla (7)
- Forza Motorsport 3 (7)
- Infamous (7)
- Little King’s Story (7)
- Machinarium (7)
Most years when I look at the first-past-the-post list a “cult” game usually emerges that received very few overall votes, but where an overwhelming percentage of those votes were #1 votes; this year there was no obvious leader in the “cult” category, although the jump in ranking for Demon’s Souls seems pretty significant, and Murasama (which jumps from #37 to #17) and Machinarium and Little King’s Story (which jump from #40 and #48 to a five-way tie for 19th place) seem worth mentioning.
I also did two more ways of sorting the rankings: an “approval” vote, where nothing is counted except the number of votes a game received (i.e. a first-place and a twentieth-place ranking count the same– all the matters is if the game was on someone’s list); and an instant runoff vote. Your eyes are probably starting to glaze over at this point, so I bolded the places where these two votes differ from the normal rankings:
Approval
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (438)
- Dragon Age: Origins (395)
- Borderlands (347)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (281)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (265)
- Torchlight (255)
- Assassin’s Creed II (247)
- Resident Evil 5 (215)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (213)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (210)
- Shadow Complex (175)
- Street Fighter IV (172)
- Brütal Legend (148)
- Halo 3: ODST (146)
- Demon’s Souls (143)
- Scribblenauts (141)
- The Beatles: Rock Band (133)
- Prototype (131)
- Plants vs. Zombies (130)
- Infamous (126)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (438)
- Dragon Age: Origins (395)
- Borderlands (347)
- Left 4 Dead 2 (265)
- Torchlight (255)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (210)
- Assassin’s Creed II (247)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (281)
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii (213)
- Resident Evil 5 (215)
- Street Fighter IV (172)
- Shadow Complex (175)
- Demon’s Souls (143)
- Brütal Legend (148)
- Halo 3: ODST (146)
- Scribblenauts (141)
- Infamous (126)
- The Beatles: Rock Band (133)
- Prototype (131)
- Plants vs. Zombies (130)
FINALLY: PER-FORUM BREAKDOWNS
Since a couple years ago when I started posting the results to this poll on my blog, I’ve tried to actually run some extra results, in each case counting only those voters who– as far as one could tell from looking at the logs– had come to the poll from one particular forum or other.
I'm not gonna list all five of these breakdowns here, but here is the forum-specific breakdown for Penny Arcade if it interests you. Unsurprisingly, they look little different from the total scores, since PA forumers made up most of the voters in the poll period.
Penny Arcade Forums (767 voters)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Borderlands
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Assassin’s Creed II
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- Torchlight
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- Resident Evil 5
- Street Fighter IV
- Shadow Complex
- Demon’s Souls
- The Beatles: Rock Band
- Halo 3: ODST
- Brütal Legend
- Infamous
- Prototype
- Scribblenauts
- Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
mcc on
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Posts
Yeah, I seriously have no idea. Readers should feel free to assign an indie award based on whatever item on the list is highest while fitting within their personal definition of the word.
Alternately, I did do a forum breakdown for tigsource.com, a dedicated indie games forum, and they voted Machinarium as their #1 game. So maybe that should be considered the true indie game of the year?
I'm a bit surprised to see Scribblenauts get voted as number one DS game. I heard a lot about that having bad controls.
Guess I should have paid attention and voted rather than just bitching after the fact :P
Edit: But man, looking over the list... what a weak year for games, especially compared to 2008. I enjoyed a lot of these games, but I can't say any of them other than Dragon Age really grabbed me by the throat.
I really loved it, but with the amount of hate it got I would have thought it would have been lower.
At least L4D2 has considerably more #1,#2,#3 votes, so I can sleep sound tonight.
not many great ones though
I am disappointed in all of you.
Penny Arcade Forums, you disappoint me.
Electronic composer for hire.
This year I've been so busy I forgot to vote though. D'oh.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Due to how it's computed, there's a bias towards games that more people have played - Scribblenauts, regardless of what you thought of it, was a big DS title played by a lot of people. You'll note that most of its votes are in the lower single digits - with the highest proportion voting it 10. It was a fun game, but not necessarily the best one. But because lots of people had it on their list, it passed up other DS games. You'll note that the next two DS games tend to have a higher individual average for the votes, but less people who played them.
XBL, Steam & Tribes: elmartino333
Hi5. Plus it came out really early in the year, and as the list demonstrates that properly screws you over.
Though the FPTP also is kinda problematic because really is 2 less important than 1? My top 3 were a real toss-up for me.
Sixfortyfive once adapted my poll code to run a Genesis poll on a forum he reads (I think it was GAF?) and he actually came up with a really interesting ranking method where games were ranked based on the proportion of votes they received that were high ranks vs low ranks. He had to do a bunch of tweaks to prevent very very low scoring games from exploiting this (for example in the naive version of this ranking method, Harvest Moon: Animal Parade would be the best game released this year, since 100% of its one vote was a #1 ranking) but it produced some really interesting results. I don't think I have the code for that though...
I don't think people quite liked their second and third favourite games of the year, I'm sure they loved them too.
Also, disappointing year for games really.
Pokémon HGSS: 1205 1613 4041
Transformers 2 movie of the year, m i rite?
Actually no, I'm more disappointed that Scribblenauts made it into the top 20. That game was beyond broken.
*Ahem*
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbox360/modernwarfare2?q=modern%20warfare%202
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Is that what we're doing
Because in terms of competitive multiplayer, MW2 remains unmatched and it's very logical to see why it would rank so highly (on a board full of people, you know, people being the things playing so much MW2 and making it popular)
Please let me know how Transformer 2's competitive multi is
I was talking in terms of raw numbers
'Cause this thing is based on popular vote
Numbers
EDIT: Long story short it's just a retarded fucking standpoint to take. I didn't like Halo 3: ODST but I won't sit here and question why it would be ranked relatively high on the list. Probably because it's insanely popular and got good reviews!