Well, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record was way better than Dead Rising 2 and also better than the first game since the brought back Frank West and added a fun sand box mode. 

Ahh, they fixed it later. I missed that :/

I played that before Gears of War on my 34" Panasonic Tau CRT HDTV which accepted 1080p over component video. The problem was that half the UI, including the next objective was in the overscan area, thus I couldn't see what I was supposed to do next lol. Hence buying a full 1080p tv later.

Twilight Princess, no questions asked.

Twilight Princess, Gears of War, Final Fantasy XII and NSMB are my top games in the poll.

My vote goes to TP which used to be my #1 favorite Zelda but now its my #2.

Oblivion!!!

I I could not believe you freaking beautiful it was. I remember chasing a deer with a bow and arrow the first time I played. It was better that real life to me in that moment. Later I would scout oblivion gates to gain jewels. Epic in every way.

I did finish twilight princess eventually but it was no where close in terms of engaging.

I had a lot of fun with Gears of War, so I'll go with that. Even though my 360 destroyed the DVD and was just a horrible console. =P

Oblivion was ok, but it had too many bugs to be enjoyable. I haven't played Twilight Princess, but I will do so once Nintendo brings some kind of Remaster.

This was the year with lot of mixed feelings for me.

Gothic became fully open world with Gothic 3, as well as open ended, and while I appreciated that and found it very fun to play, due to time constraints and pressure from the publisher, it launched way too early (with around year more of work to do according to devs), full of bugs and nowhere near the polish, care and attention to details of previous 2 installments.

Oblivion looked great, and it was fun to play for a while, but it was painfully obvious that Bethesda was slowly, but surely dumbing down TES for mass market (culminating in Skyrim).

Twilight Princess had fantastic dungeons and I really liked world and Midna as companion, but its overworld was still lackluster compared to 2D Zeldas of the past and it was obvious that Aonuma didn't want to change the formula.

There were few pleasant surprises - Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was first person melee game, and although I was hoping for second Arcane's game to be more like their first, Arx Fatalis, Dark Messiah was so fun I was instantly hooked.

Dreamfall: Longest Journey was brave attempt at changing how adventure games look and feel, switching to 3rd person perspective of action-adventures, instead of usual point & click. It was not as good as Longest Journey, but still very good.

I didn't play Okami until few years later on Wii, and really enjoyed it. Not sure I ever seen Zelda connection in that one (unlike in Darksiders), but great game on its own.

Prey and Call of Juarez were FPS games of that year for me. Call of Juarez for its western setting and Prey for its us of portals, variable gravity and ability to detach your spirit from body and roam for a short time with limited ability to interact with environment (thus solving some puzzles) or attack enemy.

Dwarf Fortress also launched in 2006.
"Before playing, the player has to set in motion a process which generates a fantasy world with continents, oceans, and islands, produced via generative geology and hydrogeology, meteorology, and biogeography, and then simulates the evolution of all civilizations down to the lives of their inhabitants in order to yield a coherent world with internally consistent lore and history. The main game mode, Dwarf Fortress mode, is a colony management game that starts with selecting a suitable site from the generated world, establishing a successful colony or fortress, combating threats like goblin invasions, monster sieges, or undead hordes, generating economic wealth and taking care of the dwarves. Each creature, from animal to dwarf, is modeled down to its body parts, bodily fluids, organs, bones, teeth, hair, and tissues (which, depending on the creature, can be made of more unusual fantastic materials such as metal or stone, or even mist, fire, or moss) each of which can be injured or lost. Each creature has a discrete mind and individual personality, including likes and dislikes, and possesses specific trainable or innate skills in various labors and abilities, as well as short and long term memories to facilitate all this, as well as influencing its current emotional state."

It influenced later games like Minecraft and Rimworld, and is still alive and kicking, with 2022 version adding actual graphics instead of text-based graphics.

Rhythm Tengoku was GBA game, first in Rhythm Heaven series. Never played it, but I love Wii's Rhythm Heaven Fever.

Tomb Raider Legend was first TR game from Crystal Dynamics, starting second-era TR, what will eventually become trilogy (Legend, Anniversary, Underworld). It changed controls and feel of Core's TR games (to dissatisfaction of many Core's TR fans), but it was still good game and still proper TR (unlike later Reboot).

All in all, Gothic 3, no matter how much flawed, was favourite of mine from that year. But I guess I have to go with WiiSports for its importance in Nintendo's Blue Ocean strategy for Wii.

Um...Twilight Princess HD for WiiU?

Several great games this year, but the game that is in my opinion the best of 2006 isn't even listed, so I'll have to vote other this time.

Okami remains one of the best games of its kind, outdoing most Zelda games in their own game. The visual style is timeless and absolutely corgeous, and the celestial brush was a stroke of genius, turning the gameplay into a wonderful puzzle and the world into an interactive, living thing. 

Final Fantasy XII made an obvious effort to detach itself from the series' past, and for the most part it was a success. It has been a long time since I last played it, and I've heard the Zodiac Age rerelease has even improved the game in a lot of areas, so it's possible in the future my opinion on it could even improve, but as of now it remains beneath the best games in the franchise. 

Ultimately, the choice here was easy. The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC was first released in Japan in 2006, and since it's the only game from this year in my top 10 of all time that makes my pick obvious. It's unlikely to win since very few people have actually played these games, but it still gets my vote. Some of my all-time favourite characters, a great, vast story spanning over ten different games, excellent battle system, and a great soundtrack all make this one of the best games ever.

Funnily enough one of the worst years for me. Not because I didn't play many, but because half of the games in the poll and 'other' list I played based on how acclaimed they were and just did not enjoy them in the slightest: Oblivion, Gears of War, Twilight Princess, Dead Rising, Wii Play, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, and Saints Row. And some were only decent, like Wii Sports, Call of Duty 3, Elite Beat Agents, Virtua Fighter 5, and LocoRoco.

I had the most fun with MotorStorm, assuming the Japanese release date of 2006 counts. Followed very closely by NSMB, and then Daxter.