Golden Joystick Awards 2008 voting now open
Advance Wars, Lego Star Wars, Modern Warfare or God of War? Or something else?
Future Publishing has announced that shortlist voting for the 26th Golden Joystick Awards is now open.
More than 100,000 votes during a 30-day period of longlist voting has enabled the organisers to whittle down the nominees for each of the 15 categories.
Of most interest to pocket gamers will be the Handheld Game of the Year (although, bizarrely, DS games get another chance in the Nintendo Game of the Year category) and Mobile Game of the Year.
Handheld sees predictable PSP entries such as God of War and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (even if the game is only out in Europe this Friday), although it's encouraging to see Patapon also in the running.
The DS's seven nominees, meanwhile, are The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Advance Wars: Dark Conflict, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, surprise (but pleasing) entry The World Ends With You and the relatively shocking inclusion of Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles.
On mobile, you get to select your favourite from the rather fine selection of Bejeweled 2, Bomberman, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Devil May Cry: Dante's Awakening, FIFA 08, currently US-only Guitar Hero III Mobile, Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Dash!, The Witcher: Crimson Trail and Worms 2008: A Space Oddity.
Oh, and Metal Gear Solid Mobile, which is amazing considering barely anyone outside Japan (and the US) has played it – at least legally, given that it's not out in Europe.
In other categories, it's worth mentioning PSP-supporting Rockstar Leeds is in the running for UK Developer of the Year (even if the competition is strong), as is Traveller's Tales (admittedly for its console output, too).
You have until Monday October 20th to register your vote at www.goldenjoystick.com.
