World of Goo definitely belongs on the short list, I agree. I am just sort of wishfully hoping that they admit they were dead wrong on Mario Kart Wii.

Now this creates a very interesting debate....should downloadable games be considered for GOTY awards?

Let's look at the 360.

It has "Braid" a very charming, quirky and addictive puzzle title with a great engine and ingenious gameplay. Like WoG, it received a lot of great reviews praising its innovation and concept. The 360's killer app this year was Gears of War 2. Despite advancing the story it played the same as before. But it still received solid reviews from fans and the media.

Using IGN Wii's logic should "Braid" win GOTY because despite being good Gears of War 2 didn't evolve enough from the first one save for story and some multiplayer enhancements?

These awards are mainly popularity contests discussed among the hardcore in order to prove that their games are worth playing. Its sorta like ranking the hottest girls in school; sooner or later you realize you were stupid for even believing it.

The REAL game of the year, in my opinion, is Wii Fit. True, it isn't a game. But not since Wii Sports has a Wii game attracted so many new gamers into the foray, despite facing shortages and a hefty 90 dollar price tag. It has impacted positively since it inspired people to get up and get fit while having fun doing it. Its GOTY material because it was one of the few games to have had such mainstream success in the last few years and people will remember it more than any other game.

Another nominee is Wii Music. I know the game isn't liked by everyone but I am talking about impact, not quality. Wii Music got a lot of people talking about the state of gaming, Nintendo's stance and how simplicity could deliver depth. Again, a very discussed title that will also be remembered for the ruckus it caused.

I recently got WoG as a gift and I CAN see why some would consider it GOTY material. The game is deceitfully simple but with a lot of depth in its design. The fact that all of this was designed by two guys proved that developers can create great things despite things like money, time and other development hell issues. It deserves the nod for that alone.

I think the issue here is that IGN is using the game to take a jab at Nintendo for a beef they have with them, and that's why the win isn't as sweet as it should be. Like I mentioned earlier, since "Braid" is pretty much the WoG of the 360 it should also get the award since GoW2 also failed to innovate.

Again, its the logic behind the award that annoys people rather than the game itself. WoG deserves the away, but it shouldn't be used as a weapon against Nintendo. In fact, thanks should be given to Nintendo for giving 2D Boy the chance to shine exclusively on their system and helped proved that WiiWare can be home to great releases that would have died at retail.

Because it is less impressive than a full disc game. The difference of content is obvious.  Brawl is an enormous game who offers all we wanted. I have not played World of Goo and I don't plan to play it, but he can't offer what SSBB can offer. If we add that SSBB is the funniest game on Wii and the best multi player game available on this console, I can't see how goo could steal the title of best Wii game of the year.
That also reduces the Wii library to Wiiware, who is in his major part worthless , more as a little bonus, if we are honest.

But don't you see, they don't even know how awful they are.  They hate the Wii so much that they've lost all perspective on it, but they don't even realize it.  That's why they don't pick a joke title -- it's not a joke to them.  They ARE the joke. 

But WiiWare doesn't have the same knee-jerk reaction for them.  It's probably because Wii/360/PS3 is a totally different thing to them than WiiWare/XBLA/PSN.  So all the regular games for Wii are lessened in their minds, making the best WiiWare title (World of Goo) their natural pick for best Wii title.

  I don't know...I kind of sold my Wii almost as a result of Mario Kart Wii and SSBM.  I have played at least 4 prior generations of Mario Kart and 2 prior gens of Smash Bros and on one hand I guess the phrase goes "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but on the other hand...at least do SOMETHING to it.

   Mario Kart was identical more or less (except for the Wii Wheel) to not just Mario Kart 64 but even the SNES version more or less.  There were a handful of new items and motorcycles but really...it was the exact same game (it even used a lot of the same levels, sure they act like its a "fan service" but only making 16 new levels is just flat out lazy).

   Smash Bros also was barely different from the N64 version other then the god awful single player which I couldn't bring myself to finish.  As a stand alone game the single player game in Smash Bros would be rated a 2.5.  The multiplayer was the same endless roll dodge cheese fest it was when people first figured out how you could be invulnerable by rolling back and forth back in the N64 days.  At first I thought that was an exploit that would be fixed to make fights more fun but now it seems its a "feature" albeit one that drives me insane.

   So yes Goo or something else (probably from Wii Ware) deserved game of the year.  Remaking the same game a 5th or 3rd time with minimal changes does not.  

   I mean metroid was "classic" too but they managed to update it with prime.  Zelda was "classic" but they managed to update it on the N64 with orciana (prob spelled it wrong)...I mean neither has sales problems and when Nintendo can get away with not doing any work they ALWAYS take the easy way out as long as they make money(I mean the black and white gameboy lasted into the 90's....) so I doubt that is going to change.  It is sad that there is more innovation in a 10 year old game like Diddy Kong Racing then the current Mario Kart though.

  I loved Nintendo games, played them for two decades happily, I just want something NEW not something I played back in 1992 or 1997.  Sure its a risk, but Metroid Prime and the 3D Zelda games sold just fine didn't they?

Lucas-Rio, it's foolish to presume you know so much about titles you admit that you haven't played or (I bet) bothered to really research.

But other posters have raised an interesting question: Should WiiWare, XBLA, and PSN be considered entirely different platforms from regular Wii, 360, and PS3 games?

"Mario Kart was identical more or less (except for the Wii Wheel) to not just Mario Kart 64 but even the SNES version more or less."

No. No, the SNES game is not even close to the N64 game, let alone the Wii game. You can't just say "more or less" to excuse yourself from having to say "only totally different". I might as well say that Super Mario World was more or less the same as Super Mario Bros. 1.

I have not said that I knew "so much" about this game. I have said that I have not played this game and I am not interested by it nor by another WiiWare game.

I was just saying why he could not be game of the year above SSBB, and the fact that he is a Wiiware is certainly a big part of the reasons.

That is not a good argument as you haven't played Goo so cannot make any form of rational decision. Brawl is a good game; nay, an excellent game, but Goo is quirky, clever, fun and unique. To dismiss it without having even given it a chance is childish. Far too many people are showing signs of this kind of lunacy. I understand that Brawl is enormous and that is a good thing for people that are in love with the game and I did enjoy it a lot, having never played a Smash game, but this doesn't make it better than a small game like Goo. Both games are good value, but Goo needs that support more than Brawl - 50,000 (plus whatever else it has done over the last few weeks) as opposed to 7.5 million or so. Highlighting this game is a good thing, even if the conspiracists are correct and this was nont IGN's intention. People that are complaining that it is IGN's way of digging at Nintendo may have a point, but they may also be exhibiting slightly crazed, paranoid tendencies of those too deeply into conspiracy theories.

"Because it is less impressive than a full disc game."

I'm not going to dispute that SSBB has way more content -- that game is a massive monument to fanservice as well as an awesome game.  But are you so sure that World of Goo is less impressive than a great regular Wii game like Boom Blox? 

Or by "full-disc" do you mean a game that takes all the storage space of the disc like SSBB?  That would be a strange way to measure a game (although MGS4 fans might agree with you ).