UK gamers go wild as Golden Joystick Awards break voting record!

[wraggster]

More gamers than ever before are having their say in this year’s Golden Joystick Awards – but there’s still time to make your mark on the industry’s most prestigious awards ceremony.

The Golden Joystick Awards are officially the world’s oldest and most respected gaming awards show and have taken place since 1982, when Sony was famous for the Walkman and the Commodore 64 was a mere infant! This year, the awards are announced at a glitzy award ceremony on Friday, 27th October at the Park Lane Hilton, London and for the first time, will be streamed live at www.computerandvideogames.com.

Smashing organisers’ expectations – almost 400,000 votes have already been received across 17 award categories, almost doubling last year’s total. With voting open until Friday, 12th October – there are still no clear winners, with potential receivers of the time-honoured Golden Joysticks changing on an hourly basis.

For the first time in living memory, a handheld game could potentially scoop “Ultimate Game of the Year” with New Super Mario Brothers leading the charge. Axe-fans are backing Red Octane’s Guitar Heroes to win the “Innovation Award”, whilst Halo 3 is out in front in the “One to Watch” category, surprisingly beating both the Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3.

In the hotly-contested “Retailer of the Year” award, as five-way scrap has broken out, with Amazon.co.uk, Gameplay.com and Play.com battling it out with high street giants Game and GameStation, for gamers hearts, minds and wallets. In the “Publisher of the Year” category, EA Games, Rockstar and Ubisoft are currently neck and neck for the winning position, with both Nintendo and Microsoft Game Studios recording a massive surge in recent weeks.

John Houlihan is Editor of computerandvideogames.com:

“The record number of votes, especially in a difficult year between major console launches is great news for the Joysticks and the games industry as a whole. It just shows gamers are extremely passionate people and thousands are taking the opportunity to have their say and select the worthy winners of gaming's ultimate accolade, a Golden Joystick Award."

Have your say now at www.goldenjoystick.co.uk!

Golden Joystick Awards 2006 - Current Top Five Rankings

Ultimate Game of the Year

New Super Mario Brothers
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Call of Duty 2
Half Life 2
Pro Evolution Soccer 5

One to Watch

Halo 3
Nintendo Wii
Sony PlayStation 3
Spore
Crysis

Innovation Award in association with T3 Magazine

Guitar Hero
Xbox Live Marketplace
Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect
Prof Kawashima’s Brain Training
Nintendo DS Lite

Retailer of the Year in association with Vivendi Games

Game
Amazon.co.uk
Play.com
GameStation
Gameplay.com

Publisher of the Year in association with Sonopress

Ubisoft
RockStar
EA Games
Nintendo
Microsoft Game Studios

[LazerTag]

The Golden Joystick Awards are officially the world’s oldest and most respected gaming awards show and have taken place since 1982

Funny I've been using/playing/hacking computers since my old sinclair 1000 and Magnovox CP/M system and have never heard of these awards.

Sure it's not just a UK or Europe thing?

[Junior]

Gothic 3 is missing entirely, I would have expected it in the "One to watch" catergory at the very least. That's quite lame.

[hiplikebadass]

these awards look like complete and total bull to me. seem more like a paid thing where they disregard votes and post whatever makes them money.