The 2007 Golden Joystick Awards

Since this Friday's AOC Update is about those lucky fucks of Beta Testers and all the fun they're having without me, I will instead focus on the 2007 Golden Joystick Awards announced today!

Welcome to the 25th Annual Golden Joystick Awards - the world's favourite gaming ceremony.

It's amazing to think that its been twenty five years since the Golden Joysticks began and that this year marks the Silver Jubilee of the most prestigious awards in gaming. But while we take charge of running the awards and the show, we're only taking care of them and we never forget it's all down to you, the great gaming public who've voted time and time again to recognise and acclaim the very best of 25 years of interactive entertainment. These truly are the people's awards and for all your efforts over the past quarter of our century our huge huge thanks once again!

Last year, the 24th annual Golden Joysticks attracted a record number of votes with over 540,000 votes cast across 17 categories as gamers from all corners of the globe rushed to let the world know their favourite titles and technology and watch the ceremony itself which was broadcast live from London's swanky Park Lane Hilton for the very first time.

But now, during this Golden Joysticks Silver Jubilee year we'd like the to push the envelope even further and once again we're relying on you, the great gaming public to decide who's truly deserving of gaming's greatest accolade - the illustrious Golden Joystick.

Check out our Awards History link on the left to see who's won some of the coveted awards from Joysticks past and keep a close eye as we'll be updating it throughout the voting period with ongoing excerpts from the Joysticks archive, featuring great gaming historical classics as well as of the dodgiest haircuts from gaming's history.

But all that's a mere appetiser for the main event - because you've already voted in your tens of thousands to whittle down the long list nominations from a whole year of great gaming in categories as diverse as Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo games of the Year, the Innovation Joystick, the One to Watch and the most coveted award of all, the Golden Joystick Ultimate Game of the Year.

The short lists are now live, where the absolute crème de la crème prepare to do battle for the ultimate accolade, and the 10-15 elite games in each category await your ultimate decision on the very best from this year's gaming. So hit that Vote Now! link you can see on your left and decide the fate of many worthy contenders.

The Golden Joysticks are the only gaming awards that truly matter and it's you, the gamers, who make them so!

Anyhoo, some thoughts:

No surprise, Epic's "Gears of Wars" rocked a number of categories including 2007's "Game of the Year." It really is a fun game and who can refuse the sexiness that is the COLEEEEEEEEEEEE TRAIN.

But...for the #1 PC Game...LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE!? WTF!? This is like that one year where some fucktards voted "Dungeons and Dragons Online" as the best new MMO. (That was a sad year.) FUCK YOU NO SHOE WEARING FUCKIN' HOBBITS!! I DON'T CARE THAT YOUR FEET ARE EXTRA TOUGH!! *sigh*

Well, at least I'll have the Crysis Demo to pla....

Ahhh FUCK.