No its a well respected shooter. Its not generic at all.

It probably will be, whether or not there are more deserving games released this year. I'm sure it will still be a very good game, I just hope Infinity Ward are up to the task of delivering a game comparable to the first. (talking SP here, I'm not big into online multi)

It's also, as some have mentioned, a pretty safe bet to not anger fanboys by picking an exclusive from a different system.

(assuming that it's MW1 quality)

Modern Warfare 2 will win because it deserves to win. It's as simple as that. If we start talking about it winning because of it's name, then we might as well throw out the credibility of all gaming websites and call it a day (some people have already).

If we start claiming this, than I can claim that Fall out 3 took out heaps last year because of the name and the developer, ditto Super Mario Galaxy in 2007. (I know we're discussing shooter of the year, but my point still stands).

As for the other contenders:

Killzone 2 is a good shooter with questionable (depends on the person) gameplay, slapped silly with amazing graphics and ran over a few million times by the hype train. It'll be a contender, but I sincerely hope it doesn't win (it doesn't deserve it. It doesn't have the epic single player that BIoshock 2 will undoubtedly have and it doesn't have the longevity in the MP that Modern Warfare 2 will have).

Bioshock 2. We'll see how the multiplayer elements go, but I think it'll be the best single player shooter experience this year.

Halo ODST. Dark horse in my opinion. Doubt it'll have as big of an impact as main series Halo game does (critically and commercially).

So unless some random outsider comes in and ruins the show, I think MW2 or Bioshock for spots 1 and 2, Killzone 2 a solid 3rd and ODST a distant 4th.

But either way, the game that wins will win because the people running the awards believes it deserves to. The Call of duty title doesn't have anything to do with it (W@W and CoD3 anyone?).

If anything it's because IW made it, but then again, that'll be the same reason it'll turn out to be GoTY contender/winner worthy.

Bioshock 2 should be cause it'll be the only one with good single player.

Not by default, that implies that there was no worthy competition at all. ODST and Killzone 2 are at least on the level to stand up to Modern Warfare 2, but both have flaws that will drag them down when compared to MW2

i bet modern warfare will,even if it is a critical flop it will still sell like crazy,loadsa people will just buy it cos its cod

Yes. Modern Warfare 2 will win by default. Easily.

It's wrong that it works that way, but so many people adore Modern Warfare that it is an auto-win this year. Modern Warfare 1 sold 14-15 million on just three platforms.

Modern Warfare 2 will sell almost 20 million split on all platforms lifetime. Killzone 2 with it's 2 million has no chance against that.

are you including pc?

Yeah, I tried to. Although it's hard to estimate. But I dont think CoD: MW sold more than a couple of mill on PC.

Your reasons suck.

Killzone 2 or Modern Warfare 2 will win shooter of the year, not because of name... but for quality.