Genre we Want to See More Of
And the winner is… Obscure Board Games
Last year Carcassone and Catan gave us a taste of what hardcore tabletop gamers have known about for years. This year Ticket to Ride and Lost Cities continued that tradition. It’s kinda like crack, but with dice.

Franchise That Was Beaten To Death With It’s Own Shoes
And the winner is… Guitar Hero
Don’t own the game? How about the caribeener? Or the belt buckle? Or the car wax? When Harmonix left it took any credibility the franchise had with it. Now we have three major Guitar Hero releases coming out in the same year. Three. Die, alright?

Game We Most Wish We’d Played
And the winner is… Boom Blox
Spielberg meets with Miyamoto, bounces some ideas off him, and comes out the other end with Boom Blox. How in the hell have we not been playing this? Runner up goes to Army of Two. Great idea, great demo, and we completely missed the boat.

Best Title for Gamers on a Budget
And the winner is… Trials 2: SE
Our review described it as “the ultimate combination of Excitebike and N+.” It couldn’t have been more apt. Trials 2 takes everything fun about physics games and adds a dash of Evel Knievel. For only $10 on Steam this could be the sleeper hit of the year.

Best Game That Makes You Look Like a Jackass
And the winner is… SingStar
Singing alone in your living room is one thing, but thanks to advancements in humilation technology Singstar can record clips of your ineptitude for the whole world to enjoy. Bonus points if you’re dressed like a stormtrooper while doing it.

The Mick Foley Award for Testicular Fortitude
And the winner is… Denis Dyack
Early reviews of his long-awaited Too Human might not be glowing, but that hasn’t stopped Denis from taking on the haters. He’s called out the forumites over at NeoGAF and has even gone so far as to question the whole forum structure. Bravo, sir!

The ClearBlue Home Pregnancy Test Award for Most Delayed Period of Release
And the winner is… Sony
Don’t get us wrong — we’re all for a project cooking as long as is needed. But I’ll be damned if I wouldn’t kill a hobo to get just a taste of any number of Sony projects. LittleBigPlanet, Home, Wipeout HD. We’re chomping at the bit here, people.

That’s it for this half year, kiddies! I hope everyone enjoyed our trip down short-term memory lane.

Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm - nominated by Ryan
Alaskan crab fishing is a hell of a job - death and destruction await you at every turn. How hasn’t this been turned into a video game before now? Alaskan Storm takes a uber-detailed simulation style approach to the dangerous game of crabbing. Despite being a TV license it provides one of the best simulations on the market this year.

Space Invaders Extreme - nominated by Kevin/Dan
Take the basic Space Invaders gameplay, add a thumping soundtrack, amazing rumble support, color and column matching gameplay, boss fight, bonus stages…
I think my head just exploded. The single best title on the DS and PSP this half year. Oh yeah, and it’s only $20.

PixelJunk Monsters - nominated by Jim
Tower defense is one of those weird sub-genres that you love, hate, or have never heard of. It couldn’t have asked for a better coming-out party than PixelJunk Monsters. Great maps and towers shine with support from charming visuals and a kick ass soundtrack. The fact that it’s only $10 doesn’t hurt, either.

Still Alive DS - nominated by Jim
It’s a homebrew game based on a flash game based on a retail game. Ok — so it’s niche. Still, if you’re looking for an excuse to pick up a DS homebrew card you’ve just found it. Still Alive DS combines 50’s style visuals (think Vault Boy), the humor of the original, and brilliant stylus-based physics action — all free of charge.

And finally… All the little awards that we couldn’t live without!

Yet Another White Plastic Peripheral Award
And the winner is… Mario Kart Wii Steering Wheel
Nunchuk? Of course! Classic Controller? Got one. Zapper? Ughh. Yes. So when it came time to pick up Mario Kart, did I really need a steering wheel? Turns out I needed two. Wii peripherals have been both hit and miss - this one was definitely a hit.

The Nintendo Award For Manufactured Shortages
And the winner is…Wii Fit
It’s been nearly three years and some people are still having problems finding a Wii console. Guitar Hero had it’s share of “hard to find” areas on the Wii too. But WiiFit? Supposedly we were sent a smaller amount because of the US dollar. Go figure.

Epic FAIL Award
And the winner is… Super Smash Bros. Brawl online play
They may have introduced other changes, but nothing could stop online from being SSBB’s most anticipated feature. Too bad failed connections could make a single match take an hour to get underway. Kinda reminiscent of the DOA4 lag debacle.

Epic SUCCESS Award
And the winner is… Mario Kart Wii online play
While everyone else embraced the online age, Nintendo was drug into it kicking and screaming. After the disaster that was SSBB no one expected Mario Kart Wii’s online to work, so when it did we couldn’t have been happier. Let’s see if they can repeat it.

Eat Shit and Die Award for Rampant Fanboyism
And the winner is… Our SSBB Review
Some people are just assholes — those people are called Nintendo fans. Don’t believe me? Check out the comments on our SSBB review. Had we given it a numerical score it would have been a high 7. Sorry we had an opinion, we’ll try not to next time.

Don’t Forget Where You Came From Award
And the winner is… Mega Man 9
The Mega Man franchise has had it’s ups and downs in recent years, and that’s putting it nicely. That’s why it was such a delightful surprise when Capcom announced it was doing a WiiWare title in the classic NES style. Jump and shoot time, bitches!

We Can Be Greedy With Our DLC Too! Award
And the winner is… Final Fantasy: My Life as a King
Thought only Microsoft and Sony consoles know how to roll out the greedy DLC? Final Fantasy: MLAAK has only been out two months and has already had more than half a dozen pieces of content. Ching ching bling bling, Square-Enix.

Up next? Find out what games everyone should be playing!

Metal Gear Online - nominated by Ryan
Metal Gear has always been about a lone man sneaking around quietly trying to reach his goals. How in the hell were they going to turn that into a multiplayer experience? By focusing on cityscapes, weapons and upgradable skills, MGO became the loud bang to Snake’s quiet whisper. Bonus points for the “everyone get Snake!” game mode.

N+ - nominated by Kevin
A Live Arcade title with minimalist visuals and a PC freeware background? Almost sounds snobbish — but then you play it. N+ is quite possibly the most challenging and exhilarating physics-centric game on the market. And the custom user maps? Don’t get me started on how top notch those are.

Wipeout Pulse - nominated by Dan
Wipeout fans are a hardcore bunch. Not many of them thought it could get better than the series first outing on the PSP, Wipeout Pure — it turns out they were wrong. Pulse took everything that was great about Pure and added in more tracks, more gameplay modes, and customizable skins that could be designed and shared via PC.

Space Invaders Extreme - nominated by Jim
Really? Space Invaders AGAIN? After years of mediocre rehashes it was hard to not be skeptical about this one. But having imported the Japanese version, Dan kept assuring us this time was different. He was right. Extreme does for Space Invaders what Championship Edition did for Pac-Man. It’s frantic, fast-paced and fantastic.

Up next we discuss all things Nintendo!

Grand Theft Auto IV - nominated by Kevin
Repetitive mission-based game play? Check. Ethnic stereotypes and crudeness? Check. While most people found GTA IV to be a breath of fresh air, a select group felt it was just going through the standard GTA motions. While there’s a lot new in the series, it just didn’t shine bright enough for some to take away from the sameness.

Ninja Gaiden 2 - nominated by Ryan
As is often the case, Chris Kohler summed it up perfectly. His review Ninja Gaiden II Gets Combat Right, Everything Else Wrong hits the nail right on the head. The first Ninja Gaiden revolutionized the way people thought about hardcore combat, but with the sequel I think we were all expecting something more. Expectations not met, Itagaki.

Pirates of the Burning Sea - nominated by Dan
An MMO with pirates? In theory this is a title that couldn’t fail - it should only have been made better by a ninja-themed expansion. And yet a focus on economy and privateering took all the wind out of our sails. Besides — being the only one online really takes the M’s out of playing an MMO.

Iron Man - nominated by Jim
Getting our hopes up about a movie license? What were we thinking? But there was enough hype and positive talk surrounding the pre-release of this one that we couldn’t help but get excited. Besides — it was Sega! Ok, ok, we’re sorry. We’ll never get excited about a movie license again, we promise.

Up next? The Games That Most Surprised Us!

Grand Theft Auto IV - nominated by Ryan
The biggest selling title of the first half of 2008, Grand Theft Auto IV continued the series tradition of mission-based madness while giving a much needed overhaul to everything from driving and combat to visuals and physics. Toss in an elaborate storyline and the series first multiplayer and you’ve got a recipe for instant success.

Burnout Paradise - nominated by Kevin
Wanna go fast? It doesn’t get much faster than on the mean streets of Paradise City. Burnout Paradise removed the series tried-and-true menu system and replaced it with a slick open-world design — a design that seemlessly tossed your friends into the multiplayer mix without ever setting a foot out of your car.

God of War: Chains of Olympus - nominated by Dan
Chains of Olympus did what most people thought was impossible: it took the PS2’s premiere franchise and put it on the PSP without any loss in visuals or gameplay. Some would even argue that Chains is superior to the PS2 versions that preceded it. The changes to the dodging system were enough to make this an A+ in our books.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - nominated by Jim
Our site may be divided on Metal Gear, but those of us that like it like it a lot. MGS4 did more than than the monumental task of wrapping up a phone books worth of loose ends. It introduced game mechanics, shifted towards more action, and gave us the sublime Metal Gear Online. It kind of breaks your heart that **SPOILER REMOVED**.

Boom Blox - nominated by Christina
When Spielberg consulted game developers on his first project, he consulted the best. Born from an inspired meeting with legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto, Spielberg’s Boom Blox takes the simple mechanic of throwing a ball and turns it into a brilliantly fun and simple puzzler that everyone can enjoy.

Up next? Our Biggest Disappointments!

Traditionally gaming journalists have always attempted to handle their best of lists on an annual basis. It makes sense conventionally — every other industry takes a long hard look back at the end of the year, so why shouldn’t we? But that’s just it — we’re not every other industry. Things move a lot faster in the gaming world. It could easily be argued that there are two distinct seasons of game releases every year — the season starting post-christmas, building into spring and simmering down into a lull by summer, and the season with slow lead into fall that explodes into a October/November orgy of gaming goodness.

And so with that in mind, I’d like to welcome you to the first every BBPS Halfie Awards! Every day over the next week we’ll be awarding games with the coveted Bele award for Half Year goodness. At the same time, we’d love to hear what you thought of the half year that’s gone by. Agree? Disagree? Just want to tell us we hate Nintendo? Tell us in the comments!

Now let’s join our show, already in progress…