Gamespot 2009 Game of the Year

Gamespot have once again shown their ability to recognise great games in giving out their 2009 "Game of the Year" awards by... WAIT a minute... WHAT?

Shame, Gamespot, oh the shame. 2009 Game of the Year goes to "Demons' Souls." Even worse, it was awarded "Role Playing Game of the Year" as well. Let's count the things wrong with this decision.

1) Near impossible difficulty
2) Gameplay similar to Ninja Gaiden
3) 1 miniscule roleplaying element (1 decision right at the end of the game that can be made regardless of previous gameplay)
4) "Online" play that encourages people to grief (or alternatively, provide near-useless "advice")
5) PS3 exclusive
6) Not published in Australia

Given the number of excellent games published this year, giving "Game of the Year" to Demons' Souls is ridiculous. However, giving it "Role Playing Game of the Year" is disrespectful to the genre. For starters, it's not a roleplaying game. It's a action/fighting game. Apparently, Gamespot believe the only requirement for being a roleplaying game is to have character levels and be in a fantasy setting. Too bad that second requirement is there, otherwise they could have given the award to Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer aspect.

Gamespot should be ashamed of themselves. Not just for this, but for many other awards they disgracefully dished out to undeserving titles. I won't be referring to Gamespot's "expert" opinion any time soon, as they're obviously way off base when it comes to identifying good games.