ADVENTURE GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Sam & Max 105: Reality 2.0 (26% of total)
Telltale Games (PC)

"A triumphant return of a hilarious adventure IP in an era that most thought would not accept the new adventures of the Freelance Police." -skankcore

Runner-up: Sam & Max 201: Ice Station Santa (17% of total)
Telltale Games (PC)

"The Sam & Max episodes aren't as awesome as the original game, but they're not too far from it." -Link.

Runner-up: Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
Capcom (Wii)

MUSICAL GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Rock Band (51% of total)
Harmonix Music Systems (PS3, Xbox 360, PS3)

"No contest in favor of Rock Band. Yeah, maybe the guitar parts are harder in Guitar Hero III (although not nearly as well done IMO) and yeah the game is expensive. But this may be the best party video game ever made. This game completely knocked the Wii out of my holiday get-togethers, that is how strong its allure is. If you count the Band World Tour, the incredibly strong set list and consistently scheduled downloadable new songs that are cheaper than its competition, you get the best rhythm game ever made." -Sevogajre

"It's very hard for me to play guitar hero now with its very forgiving timing and drumless gameplay. Rock Band forces you to get better." -wildbil52

"I'm not giving up the microphone, I'll shank you!" -Evil Bread

Runner-up: Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (34% of total)
Neversoft Entertainment (PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

"So much fun for hard rock/heavy metal fans." -Zienio

Runner-up: Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s (6% of total)
Harmonix Music Systems (PS2)

DRIVING GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Forza Motorsport 2 (32% of total)
Turn 10 Studios (Xbox 360)

"This is the game that finally got me into Sim racing. It's full of features to ease you into the more difficult racing model, not to mention all the cars (that handle differently) and gorgeous visuals. Extra points for the brilliant online features (auction, tournaments, gifting cars)." -Sturm08

"I feel Forza 2 is up there with the Gran Turismo series. It has great graphics, tons of cars, and is a lot of fun to play." -Blackscythe125

"Forza is all you need." -Evil Bread

Runner-up: DiRT (16% of total)
Codemasters (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

"Gotta love PC realism." -silentistheshadow

Runner-up: Project Gotham Racing 4
Bizarre Creations (Xbox 360)

FLIGHT/NAVAL SIMULATION OR COMBAT GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation (41% of total)
Namco (Xbox 360)

"Ace Combat 6 is the series brought to the current generation. I can't say there's any other experience like it right now." -Link.

"Retarded story as usual, but goddamn if the action isn't amazing. Stepping it up into HD is unworldly. Love this genre when done like AC6 does it." -mankeroo

Runner-up: IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 (20% of total)
1C: Maddox Games (PC)

Runner-up: Flight Simulator X: Acceleration (19% of total)

SPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR

Winner: Skate (41% of total)
EA Black Box (PS3, Xbox 360)

"Skate's control system breathed a natural, perri-air type wind [what -ed.] into a genre dominated by ridiculous button presses and insane, unrealistic trick lengths. Nailing even a small trick in skate is more satisfying than in any of the Tony Hawk games." -MurrayTheSkull

"Skate was very fun, and a great departure from the stale Tony Hawk series." -GrimmyD

"Skate reinvented the 'extreme sports' video game more than any of the other games reinvented their sports gameplay mechanics. It's analogous to Galaxy in its reinvention of its genre." -grayscale

"Skate is the game I've been waiting for since Thrasher: Skate and Destroy came out in 1999." -Evil Bread

"Most innovative game in ages - and it's from EA!" -_WB_

"skate rules" -Stevegaynor

Runner-up: NHL 08 (17% of total)
EA Canada (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS2)

"The best hockey game in years. I still get excited when I score a great goal because I had to score it myself. It wasn't the standard one timer." -wildbil52

Runner-up: The BIGS (10% of total)
Blue Castle Games (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP)

"I hate baseball, but I love The BIGS." -Sexpansion Pack

"The most fun I've had playing a sports game since NBA Jam, great multiplayer." -randomNull

Thanks, folks! See you next year immediately, please keep reading our website!

[Editor's notes: Shacker's Choice voting was open for several days before our editorial Game of the Year winners were posted, and Portal took the immediate winning slot; thus, we are confident that readers were not unduly influenced by our own selection. In fact, we were surprised to find that many reader selections were similar to our own, days before our picks were published. Also, in the case of a small number of categories, results were significantly altered in the last day or two of voting by external campaigns encouraging non-Shackers to vote for particular titles; these artificial votes were extremely easily identified, and have been discounted.]