Video Game of the Year
The five nominees...
Special Achievement Awards
Best Gaming Peripheral
Best Game Based on a TV or
  Film Property

Best Multiplatform Game
Most Innovative Game
Best Voice Acting
Best Classic Game
  Compilation

Best Japanese Import
Biggest News Item
Funniest Game (Purposely)
Funniest Game (Inadvertently)
Best Crossover Since
  Capcom vs. SNK

Best Name for a Game
Best Use of Taxpayers' Dollars
Most Regrettable
  Licensing Deal

Most Deserving of a Remake
Most Disappointing Delay

 

screenshots


Best Use of Taxpayers' Dollars
 
 
At GameSpot, gaming is more important to us than anything else. So if the government is going to spend some of our tax dollars on game development, then you won't hear us complaining. At any rate, we're really not entirely kidding when we present the award for Best Use of Taxpayers' Dollars to:

America's Army: Operations

 
Publisher: US Army
Developer: US Army
Download the game »
 
 
 
America's Army: Operations has no business being as good as it is, considering it's a thinly veiled attempt to get you to enlist in the armed forces and is therefore decidedly creepy at some level. The development of this freely available multiplayer shooter was funded by about 7 million of the American public's dollars. Expensive, perhaps, but America's Army: Operations is also one of this year's best multiplayer shooters. So in all honesty, we're impressed, and in all honesty, we wouldn't mind seeing this trend continue. Hey, we're editors for GameSpot, not The Economist. Sure, there's probably some other good cause that $7 million really could have helped, but the development of great games is something we can definitely get behind.

Other Nominees:

 
Health Care
Homeland Security
Social Security

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