2005 Inside Pulse Gaming Awards Nominees

Hello all. As another year comes winding down, it means that behind the scenes here at Inside Pulse is a lot of shouting, bullying, politicking, bribing, and heated discussions. No, it’s not Activision or Bioware calling us demanding we grade their games only on a score from good to excellent and threatening to take away review copies unless we comply. It’s merely the nominating and debating over what games get to be on the ballot for the 2005 Inside Pulse Gaming Awards. This year we the staff is giving away a whopping 35 awards for the best (and worst) that gaming had to offer its consumer base this year. As well, you the readers get to vote as well in what will be our “Reader’s Choice” section. We’ll get to see what you ,the general public, enjoy compared to the elitist Pokemon addicted, Cthulhu worshipping, NFL Blitz hating, low score giving out bastards that make up what we fondly refer to as “The Kliq.”

Below is a list of the awards and 4 nominees for each, followed by a ballot. If you wish to participate in the reader’s choice vote, you have three options.

1. Email alexanderlucard@gmail.com (This will save my normal email account) with a cut and paste of the ballot. Remember if you don’t like any of the nominees, you can write in your own choice. Hey, two years ago it worked and KOTOR won the reader’s choice RPG of the year even though no one on the staff really enjoyed it. So it can work!

2. Go to my blog and vote in the ballots there. For this, you will need a Livejournal account though.

3. Go to the Inside Pulse Games Forum, and vote and discuss the nominees there.

Simple, right? The deadline is January 1st, 2006, so get voting! Now, on with the awards.

1. System of The Year

Nominees
Microsoft Xbox
Nintendo DS
Nintendo Game Cube
Sony Playstation 2

Previous Winners (per the IP staff)
2003: Nintendo Game Cube
2004: Nintendo Game Boy Advance

2. PS2 Game of the Year

Nominees
Digital Devil Saga 1
God of War
Guitar Hero
The Warriors

Previous Winners
2003: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2004: Katamari Damacy

3. Xbox Game of the Year

Nominees
Indigo Prophecy
Psychonauts
Stubbs the Zombie In: Rebel Without a Pulse
The Warriors

Previous Winners
2003: Panzer Dragoon Orta
2004: Halo 2

4. Game Cube Game of the Year

Nominees
Donkey Konga: Jungle Beat
Mario Superstar Baseball
Pokemon XD
Resident Evil 4

Previous Winners
2003: Pokemon Channel
2004: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

5. Game Boy Advance Game of the Year

Nominees
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Gunstar Super Heroes
Pokemon Emerald
Sigma Star Saga

Previous Winners
2003: Wario Ware, Inc.: Mega Microgame$
2004: Shining Force: The Resurrection of Dark Dragon

6. Nintendo DS Game of the Year

Nominees
Mario Kart DS
Meteos
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Trauma Center

Previous Winners
2004: Feel the Magic: XX/XY

7. PSP Game of the Year

Nominees
Lumines
Popcropolis
Romance of the Three Kingdoms V
Tokobot

NEW AWARD THIS YEAR!

8. Xbox 360 Game of the Year

Nominees
Call of Duty 2
Kameo: Elements of Power
Perfect Dark Zero
Project Gotham Racing 3

NEW AWARD THIS YEAR

9. Best Sports Game

Nominees
Amped 3
Mario Superstar Baseball
Smackdown vs Raw 2006
SSX On Tour

Previous Winners
2003: ESPN NFL Football 2k4
2004: ESPN NFL Football 2k5

10.Best Fighting Game

Nominees
Fight Night Round 2
Samurai Shodown V
Soul Calibur III
Tekken V

Previous Winners
2003: Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution
2004:Guilty Gear X2 #RELOAD

11. Best Driving Game

Nominees
Burnout Revenge
Forza Motorsport
Mario Kart DS
Project Gotham Racing 3

Previous Winners
2003: Mario Kart Double Dash
2004: Burnout 3: Takedown

12. Best Action RPG

Nominees
Guild Wars
Jade Empire
Magna Carta
X-Men Legends 2

Previous Winners
2003: Overall RPG award was only handed out to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2004: Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II

13. Best Turn Based RPG

Nominees
Digital Devil Saga 1
Digital Devil Saga 2
Pokemon XD
RPG Maker 3

Previous Winners
2003: Overall RPG award was only handed out to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2004: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

14. Best Tactical RPG

Nominees
Advanced Wars DS
Fire Emblem: The Scared Stones
Makai Kingdom
Stella Deus

Previous Winners
2003: Overall RPG award was only handed out to Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2004: Shining Force: The Resurrection of Dark Dragon

15. Best First Person Shooter

Nominees
Battlefield 2
Call of Duty 2
Half Life 2
Perfect Dark Zero

Previous Winners
2003: We only gave out an overall shooter award which went to Ikargua
2004: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

16. Best Traditional Shooter

Nominees
Gunstar Super Heroes
Heroes of the Pacific
Metal Slug 4/5
Sigma Star Saga

Previous Winners
2003: We only gave out an overall shooter award which went to Ikargua
2004: Gradius V

17. Best Party Game

Nominees
Karaoke Revolution
Mario Party 7
Singstar
Taito Legends

Previous Winners
2003: None Given Out
2004: Mario Party 6

18. Best Rhythm Game
Nominees
Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3
Donkey Konga 2
Guitar Hero
Pump it Up: Exceed

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given Out
2004: Donkey Konga

19. Best Remake/Re-Release

Nominees
Final Fantasy IV
GTA Trilogy
Popocropolis
Taito Legends

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given Out
2004: Pokemon Fire Red/Lead Green

20. Best Platformer

Nominees
God of War
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Psychonauts
Sonic Rush

Previous Winners
2003: Viewtiful Joe
2004: Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal

21. Best Action/Adventure Game

Nominees
Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
King Kong
Mercenaries
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given Out
2004: The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition

22. Best Story

Nominees
Digital Devil Saga 1
Indigo Prophecy
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wraith
The Warriors

Previous Winners
2003: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2004: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

23. Best New Feature/Tech

Nominees
Being able to turn on the Xbox 360 via your controller
Guitar Controller for Guitar Hero
Sega Saturn style controllers for the Xbox and PS2
UMD’s

Previous Winners
2003: Game Cube to GBA connectivity
2004: DS Dual Screen system

24. Most Improved Franchise

Nominees
Megaten
Pokemon
Resident Evil
WWE Smackdown

Previous Winners
2003: Pokemon
2004: Pokemon

25. Most Unique Game

Nominees
Finny the Fish
Nintendogs
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
We Love Katamari

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given
2004 Katamari Damacy

26. Biggest News Story of the Year

Nominees
Hot Coffee
Nintendo’s DS slaughters Sony’s PSP in terms of software and hardware sales
Workings Designs R.I.P
Xbox 360 launch bugs

Previous Winners
2003: Sammy buys Sega
2004: Akklaim goes bankrupt

27. Best Horror Game

Nominees
Fatal Frame 3
Haunting Ground
Obscure
Resident Evil 4

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given
2004: The Suffering

28. Best All Ages Game

Nominees
Finny the Fish
Lego Star Wars
Nintendogs
Pokemon XD

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given
2004: Donkey Konga

29. Gaming Lowlight of the Year

Nominees
Activision, Bioware and other companies exposed for bribing/bullying review sites and mags for higher scores for their games.
Hot Coffee
Jack Thompson’s consistent display of idiocy
Sony kills Star Wars Galaxies

Previous Winners
2003: Nokia’s N-Gage
2004: Electronic Arts rampart and public abuse of its employees

30. Most Overhyped Game of the Year

Nominees
God of War
Jade Empire
Tekken V
The Warriors

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given
2004: Fable

31. Worst Game of the Year

Nominees
Jak X
Romancing SaGa
Shadow the Hedgehog
Wrestlemania XXI

Previous Winners
2003: No Award Given
2004: Fight Club

32. Best Graphics

Nominees
Call of Duty 2
Half Life 2
Project Gotham Racing 3
Resident Evil 4

NEW AWARD

33. Best Sound

Nominees
Digital Devil Saga 1
Guitar Hero
Medal of Honour: European Assualt
We Love Katamari

NEW AWARD

34. Best Gameplay

Nominees
Digital Devil Saga 1
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Oddworld: Stranger’s Wraith
The Warriors

NEW AWARD

35. Game of the Year

Nominees
Digital Devil Saga
Pokemon XD
Resident Evil 4
The Warriors

Previous Winners
2003: Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
2004: Katamari Damacy

And that’s it. Those are the 35 awards we are giving out this year. However there are two awards we did nix this year. “Alt. Sports” was merged with sports in general and “Best Online Game” was killed for various reasons.

RIP: Best Alternative Sports Game

Previous Winners
2003: Tony Hawk Underground
2004: Tony Hawk Underground 2

RIP: Best Online Game

Previous Winners
2003: Dance Dance Revolution: Ultramix
2004: Halo 2

Again, to participate, you can either go to the forums and vote there, go to Lucard’s LJ and vote there, or cut and paste the below ballot and email it to Alexanderlucard@gmail.com or just click on the links within this post scattered around.

Again, voting ends January 1st, 2006. Once we’ve counted the votes and made our final selections, we’ll post the results and commentary for all to see!

1. System of the Year
2. Best PS2 Game
3. Best Xbox Game
4. Best GameCube Game
5. Best GBA game
6. Best DS game
7. Best PSP Game
8. Best 360 game
9. Best Sports game
10.Best Fighting Game
11. Best Driving Game
12. Best Action RPG
13. Best Turn Based RPG
14. Best Tactical RPG
15. Best FPS
16. Best Traditional Shooter
17. Best Party Game
18. Best Rhythm Game
19. Best Remake/Re-Release
20. Best Platformer
21. Best Action/Adventure game
22. Best Story
23. Best New Feature
24. Most Improved Franchise
25. Most Unique Game
26. Biggest News Story
27. Best Horror Game
28. Best All Ages game
29. Gaming Lowlight of the Year
30. Most Overhyped Game of the Year
31. Worst Game of the Year
32. Best Graphics
33. Best Sound
34. Best Gameplay
35. Game of the Year


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