There were many great forerunners for Best Original Game Mechanic, but only a select few survived the gamut of trials. While we enjoyed mutating Chimera in Resistance 3 or skillfully punishing the inmates of Bulletstorm, both were eliminated in the preliminaries. The color-change mechanics of Outland were also debated but failed to cut the mustard. There was some slight interjection about Radiant Historia's time-travel system before it was swiftly shot down. Ironically, the theme of time and space played into the final five candidates.

In both Achron and Zeit Squared, time manipulation is a key component of gameplay. Traversing through the past, present, and future makes players radically think about strategies. Time travel in Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is reserved for changing storyline choices and embarking on a whole new line of history. On the space side, Red Faction: Armageddon's magnet gun allows gravitational pull-and-push manipulation of any structure or enemy in the environment. And what about throwing around more than just objects? Driver: San Francisco lets you toss around your very soul, allowing on-the-fly warping between vehicles.

These five nominees bring great new innovations to gameplay, but the true winner is the one that whets our appetite and makes us stand up to exclaim: "Neat! I'd cram more of that down my gullet."