Monster Hunter Tri so far has been completely overlooked for any year end awards.  I've been trying to figure out why that may be, seeing as how it's the most played Wii game by those who have it (via Nintendo Channel stats) and is argueably one of the most "hardcore" games this year on any system, which the gaming press seems to favor.  At first I thought maybe it was released too early in the year, but honestly Mario Galaxy 2 was realeased pretty early as well, and everybody remembers that.  My only guess is that either:

1) Not enough people actually played it

or

2) Those that played it for review purposes didn't get past the beginning due to the time constraints of having to review so many games and just took an "overview" approach to how the game works.

Most games you can put in and play for 7 hours and are done with, yet 10 hours into MHTri only gets you past the tutorial quests, if that far.  I don't know if a person can truly review the game without putting in 100 hours at minimum.  It seems universally loved by everyone that has the game, and the only detractors I've come across are those who either played the demo only, or didn't get past the very beginning.

Is it a lack of exposure, or something else?  I can't figure it out.  I'm anxiously awaiting VGC's awards, as they usually seem to have it right the majority of the time when it comes to year-end awards, and I'm sure MHT will be represented.

Personally, I didn't enjoyed MHT that much, although I can see how it can have so many fans. Unfortunately, I agree that being released so early will hurt it in most awards. That is because most magazines and sites appear to be more interested in pleasing their readers than making justice to the developers. I also think that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will face the same problem. If released in November, it would likely be a GOTY in many publications, but now that it is old news, it will be a nominee at best.

Vanquish.

On closer inspection, I realize you weren't asking a question. But I stand by my answer.

Platinum (and Clover), always suffered like this.  It's a shame.  Godhand is so perfect, as are most of their games.

Donkey Kong was pretty much ignored too.

Practically it's a Japanese game on a last-gen platform.

I had never before played a Monster Hunter before, but from my  experience anyone who loved Demon's Souls should at least like MHTri.

In my  opinion, my goty conteders are Mass Effect 2, RDR, Galaxy 2 and Donkey Kong Country Returns. It has been a hell of a year, specially if you consider that I would leave out great games as MHTri, Heavy Rain, FF XIII, GoW3, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Golden Eye, Black Ops, Gran Turismo 5 and many others that I know are great but I couldn't get to play.

Did Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker win anything? That game was my GOTY.

For now... Gran Turismo 5 is the IGOTY.

The game deserve (it's really good) at least the GOTY Racing award.

I would say MH3, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Golden Sun DD, Dragon Quest IX and Bayonetta are all being ignored when it comes to GOTY.