BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Winner: BioShock
Irrational Games (2K Boston/2K Australia) (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

"The choice for music was very much off the beaten track. Games is where innovative orchestral music writing has found a home and it's great to see it surpassing the often mediocre predictable drivel that populates movies." -Matthew Florianz

"BioShock hands down had the best soundtrack of any game in recent history. The old 30s-40s era music just brought you into the world. jayx77" -jayx77

"The only soundtrack i even remember from a game this year." -synapse420

"It actually made me slow down and listen." -bdz1987

Runner-up: Super Mario Galaxy (18% of total)
Nintendo EAD Tokyo (Wii)

"Not only does Super Mario Galaxy have the best music of any Mario game to date, its soundtrack is great enough to compete with some of the best orchestral soundtracks I've ever experienced!" -WARLORD48

"Attention all game studios: Great orchestrated music may not sell as many games as 1080p visuals or celebrities on the cover, but the people you are making these games for appreciate it more than we can say." -wildbil52

"A lot of the tunes in Super Mario Galaxy were familiar from the older games, but they were beautifully redone adding some nice nostalgic value to the game." -Blackscythe125

"One of the standout things about Super Mario Galaxy (even ignoring the utterly impressive and addictive gameplay) was how outstanding the music was. The orchestral score really takes the game's presentation to another level while even including old favorites. One of the biggest surprises of the year for me." -Sevogajre

"Mario Galaxy's orchestrated soundtrack is mesmerizing. Period." -grayscale

Runner-up: Mass Effect (16% of total)
BioWare (Xbox 360)

"A delightfully Blade Runner-inspired soundtrack, I only wish the limited edition came with a proper soundtrack CD and not that embedded on the bonus DVD effort." -amber996

"Mass Effect has this awesome 80's retro scifi, kind of Blade Runner-esque soundtrack that fits perfectly with the mood of the story, and is never overbearing." -rauol duke

PC GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Portal (25% of total)
Valve Software

"A quirky, original game which ended up being the perfect length to fit into the ever-decreasing time I'm allowed to devote to gaming as I get older. Hopefully its success and popularity enables the internal team to do more frequent updates, be it just test levels or a whole extra story, without it having to be held back and bundled with the next episode of Half-Life in another megabox. I'm also expecting the community to step up in a big way and start pumping out the level collections too." -amber996

"I'm picking Portal just because it was so different from anything else that came out on the PC this year. It was fresh and fun, especially with this year being as shooter-heavy as it was." -Blackscythe125

Runner-up: Team Fortress 2 (18% of total)
Valve Software

"This was a no-brainer, Valve delivered. I sense a perpetual addiction to TF2 for years to come." -snagger

"The first game in a number of years to finally get me back to server crawling in order to satisfy that itch of just one... more... win." -Sevogajre

Runner-up: BioShock (15% of total)
Irrational Games (2K Boston/2K Australia)

"The best game on the best platform." -synapse420

"Shocking!" -Zienio

XBOX 360 GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: BioShock (21% of total)
Irrational Games (2K Boston/2K Australia)

"For all of its small shortcomings, BioShock was the only game this year to completely possess my imagination. It got to the point where I was telling people that don't even care about videogames about it. BioShock has made major strides for gaming with regards to storytelling, ambiance, character design, voice acting, and environment. If nothing else, it should be rewarded for its ambition." -Sevogajre

"Atmosphere, Character attachment, gameplay options, backstory discovery, and audio style set this apart from any other game from a storytelling perspective. The gameplay was also excellent, and often left me with 'Oh sh*t!' moments when certain events occured." -galewind

Runner-up: Mass Effect (18% of total)
BioWare

"I've tried many times over the years to get enthralled by a Bioware game, and every time I have failed. Mass Effect has sucked me in in such a big way, so much so that its even brainwashed me into loving the combat which is way more fun than I expected from an RPG game. Not only that but it has inspired me to give KOTOR and Jade Empire another shot, and I know if I can break through the wall on those games I'm in for another treat." -amber996

Runner-up: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (14% of total)
Infinity Ward

"Depth of MP and SP experiences combined put COD4 over Halo 3 in my book." -galewind

"Call of Duty 4 had a solid but short single-player and a multi fun and innovative enough to knock off Halo 3." -mondo

PLAYSTATION 3 GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (21% of total)
Insomniac Games

"I've played through Ratchet & Clank Future twice, with a third game started. Graphically it shows what the PS3 can do: long draw distance, no jaggies...beautiful visuals all around. Insomniac left the gameplay largely unchanged, but added some brilliant new levels (dinosaur hunting!), a few cool Sixaxis features (the glider was great), and a ton of replayability with the classic weapon upgrades. It's just missing co-op." - Sturm08

Runner-up: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (21% of total)
Infinity Ward

"Call of Duty 4 had a moment in the single player campaign that literally made my jaw drop. [Censored for extreme spoilers.] Holy fucking shit that left me breathless. I think I literally shouted out 'Holy shit!' after a few seconds of silence. No other game has ever created that strong a reaction inside me and for that I must give it my top choice." -pyide

"The most intense game I have played...period." -bdz1987

Runner-up: Portal (13% of total)
Valve Software

"Short, sweet, and to the point, but 3.5 of the most well crafted hours of gaming I've ever had." -senseimoron

"Portal did it all. It was an innovative, polished and accessible experience. It satisfied the hardcore and the casual crowd, male and female, young and old." -johngloid

"Innovative gameplay that pulls you though from start to finish with a good story to boot." -ndrew

Keep reading for the conclusion of the platform awards.