The Fifth Annual Coint and Plick Poll for Best Video Games of 2011! - DUE JANUARY 31

Hey all, here we go again! Thanks to polyphonic for helping support the poll last year and thanks to ZS for helping support it this year!

For 2010's Coint and Plick we had almost forty voters; this time I'd love to aim for at least fifty! I'd like to request that folks who even just played one or a very few games this year put in a ballot with us; if you're only voting for one or two games, that's just fine. We like casual gamers too and we'll happily take lurkers or off site readers! Everybody is welcome.

Coint and Plick is not another irrational THIS IS THE BEST GAME list. It's a broad survey of the year in games among a thin slice of gamers that's intended to provide a guide for future curiosity seekers and would-be game historians.

Some history:

The First Annual Coint and Plick: The ILG Best Game of 2007 Poll
The Second Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2008
The Second Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2008 - Part 2: The Top Forty!
The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part One: #77 through #93
The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Two: #52 through #75
The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Three: #21 through #51
Concluding The Third Annual Coint and Plick Poll: ILG’s Best Video Games of 2009 - Part Four: #1 through #20
The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Video Games Poll - Part One: #106 - AKA the 26 games that got one vote and five points
The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Video Games Poll - Part Two: #80 - 105
The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Video Games Poll - Part Three: #53 - 79
The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Video Games Poll - Part Four: #21 - 52
The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Video Games Poll - Part Five: #1 - 20

Please submit your ballot via email to me at forksclovetofu at gmail dot com in Pazz and Jop style vote/point format: You'll have 100 points to divide among your Top 10 games released in 2010, with each entry receiving no more than 30 points and no less than 5 points (seriously, for my sanity, you MUST keep it to a MINIMUM of five points please).

If you'd rather not rank individually, just assign 10 points per game. I'll list at least the top 50 games of '11 in the final results, presuming we get enough entries.

Additionally, please include the single game released this year that was your biggest disappointment. This can mean it didn't live up to your expectations, flat out sucked, didn't quite get it right... whatever "biggest disappointment" means to you. We'll list the disappointments before we get to our top ten of the poll.

Please note your ILX username on the ballot (if you have one) and the system you personally played each game on. PLEASE WRITE A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHY YOU'RE CASTING YOUR VOTES AS YOU ARE; I'll include many of the best comments with the winners. If you'd like to volunteer to write a longer essay/appreciation/critical beatdown of a specific game or games, regardless of where they place on the poll, just let us know. Games that received votes in the 2010 poll will have their numbers rolled onto the 2011 poll, so no need to vote for them twice.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS JANUARY 31st.
ZS and I will try to start the final results posting by February 5th.

Pointless obsessive rules:

1) One entry per person.

2) If you don't assign points to your picks, I'll assess each vote at ten points per game. If you do assign points but they add up as either more or less than a hundred, I'll assess each vote at ten points per game. If you assign over 30 or under 5 points to any individual game, I'll assess all the games on your ballot at ten points per game. If you list more than ten games, I'll just take the top ten on your list. If you include a game that clearly didn't come out in 2011, it won't be counted. Ask on this thread if you want to check to see if your pick is valid. If you're listing an obscure import-only title, flash game, in-browser, garage-made, social network or phone game, please include a URL for the game's fan/homepage so I can figure out what you're raving about. The more info the better.

3) Though I'd like you to note what system you've played a game on, I'll be considering votes for a game that's been released on different systems (i.e. PS3/360/PC Skyrim) as all counting toward one nomination... unless there's a clear difference due to systems that affects gameplay (i.e. Aquaria for PC vs Aquaria for iOS). In a case like DiRT 3 PC vs console, I'll likely not be splitting hairs, but if you want to make the point that you ONLY like the PC version in your ballot, I'll take that into account.

4) Flash games, art games, MMORPGs, videogame versions of card and party games, online fantasy sports, social network games and cellphone games are all entirely valid choices as long as they were versions released and played in '11.

I will also accept any game that has been re-released this year in a new format/console, any game that is in a continuous state of change (basically MMORPGs) or downloadable content for a game made prior to 2010. That means World of Warcraft, Fallout New Vegas DLC and Scribblenauts for iOS are all fair game. Any classic NES/PS2/SNES/Genesis/etc games released as downloadable games are legit picks if you downloaded them onto a current system and played them there. Here's the catch though: I do ask that you keep in the spirit of the thing and only vote for reissues/new content/ongoing games if you played them THIS YEAR and (when applicable) only on the new system in question... in other words, I won't vote for Limbo on PS3, even though I liked Limbo a lot, because I played it on the 360. Similarly, if you played Dead Space this year on your PC, don't vote for the iOS version. If you played a ton of World of Warcraft but not this year, don't vote for it. If you played Fallout: New Vegas for the first time this year, don't vote for the game unless you're voting solely for the new content. If you got XCOM for the PC from GOG, it's not a 2011 game. And so on.

Things that shouldn't be nominated: board games, card games, puzzles, table RPGs, etc. Good rule of thumb is that if it has a screen, it's valid.

A list of some of the best known and loved games released in 2011 follows; your ballot will not be limited to these games but they're certainly the front runners to placeand a good place to start your list.

Make sense? Then VOTE!

1000 Heroz
2012 IGF Pirate Kart
A Game About Game Literacy
AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome
Age of Empires Online
Alice: Madness Returns
Amazing Breaker
Angry Birds Rio
Anno 2070
Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Another World 20th Anniversary
Aquaria
AR Games 3DS
Arkham City
Assassins Creed: Revelations
Async Corp
At Tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
Avalon: The Black Fortress HD
Back to the Future
Bastion
Battlefield 3
BattleHeart
Bejeweled Blitz
Binding of Isaac
Breath of Death VII
Bring Me Sandwiches
Brink
Bug Heroes
Bug Princess iOS
Bulletstorm
Bumpy Roads
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Cardboard Box Assembler
Casey's Contraptions
Catherine
Cave Story 3D
Cave Story+
Child of Eden
Civilization V (Patched)
Contre Jour
Crysis 2
Cthulu Saves the World
Dance Central 2
Dark Meadow
Dark Nebula 2
Dark Souls
Darkspore
Dawn of War II: Retribution
DC Universe Online
de Blob 2
Dead Island
Dead or Alive: Dimensions
Dead Space 2
Dead Space iOS
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Dice Soccer
DiRT 3
Disgaea 4
Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy
Don't Take It Personally Babe, It Just Ain't Your Story
Dragon Age II
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2
Driver: San Francisco
Dungeon Defenders
Dungeon Raid
Dungeons of Dredmor
Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon
Edge Extended
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Elder Sign: Omens
Elephant Quest
EPOCH.
Escape from Puppy Death Factory
F1 2011
Fable III
Faceraiders
Fallout New Vegas - Old World Blues
FIFA Soccer 12
Fight Night Champion
Fight Night Champion iOS
Fisher Diver
Fluidity
Football Manager 2012
Forget Me Not
Fortune Street
Forza Motorsport 4
From Dust
Frozen Synapse
Gears of War 3
Gesundheit!
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Glitch
Glowfish
Goat Up
Grand Prix Story
Grand Theft Auto 3
Great Little War Game
Groove Coaster
Gunstringer
Hydrophobia Prophecy
iBlast Moki 2
ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection HD
ilomilo
inFamous: Festival of Blood
inFamous 2
Infinity Blade II
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
jAggy Race
Jamestown
Jetpack Joyride
Just Dance 3
Killzone 3
King Cashing
King of Dragon Pass
King of Fighters iOS
King of Fighters XIII
L.A. Noire
Last Rocket
Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean
Lego Star Wars III: Clone Wars
Limbo
LittleBigPlanet 2
Lost in Shadow
LostWinds
Machinarium
Madden 2012
Mage Gauntlet
Magicka
Mario Kart 7
Marvel vs Capcom 3
Mass Effect 2: The Arrival
Might & Magic Clash of Heroes HD
Mighty Fin
Minecraft
Minotaur Rescue
Monsters Ate My Condo
Mortal Kombat
Mos Speedrun
MotorStorm: Apocalypse
Ms. 'Splosion Man
NBA 2K12
NBA JAM iOS
NBA Jam: On Fire Edition
NCAA 2012
NHL 2012
Okamiden
One and One Story
Orcs Must Die!
Outland
Patapon 3
Perfect Cell
Pinball FX2 (Tables released in 2011)
Pocket Academy
Pocket Half Pipe
Pocket RPG
Pokemon Black / White
Poker Pals
Portal 2
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012
Professor Layton and the Last Specter
Pushmo/PullBlox
Puzzle Agent 2
Quarrel
Radballs
Radiant Historia
Rage
Rayman Origins
Rebuild
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X
Resistance 3
Rick Santorum
Rift
Rise of Nightmares
Rocksmith
Runespell: Overture
Saints Row the Third
Sanctum
Scribblenauts Remix
Sequence
Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster
Shadowgun
Shadows of the Damned
Shift 2: Unleashed
Shinobi 3D
Sid Meier's Pirates!
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
Sliding Hero
Snow Fight
Socom 4
Sonic CD
SpaceChem
SpellTower
SPY Mouse
Stacking
Street Fighter IV Volt
StreetPass Quest 1/2 aka Find Mii 3DS
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP
Super Mario 3D Land
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Tales From Space: About A Blob
Temple Run
Terraria
Tetris Battle
Ticket to Ride
Tiger Woods 2012
Time Ducks
Tiny Heroes
Tiny Tower
Tiny Wings
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Top Spin 4
Total War: Shogun 2
Touchgrind BMX
Trenched
Trine 2
Tropico 4
Two Worlds II
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Velocispider
Vetica
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Warhammer 40K Dawn of War II- Retribution
We Are Alone
W.E.L.D.E.R.
Whale Trail
Where Is My Heart?
Where's My Water?
Wind Up Knight
Windosill
Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
Wizardry iOS
Wizorb
Wonderputt
Wooords
WWE 2012
WWE All-Stars
Xenoblade
X-Men Destiny
Yakuza 4
You Don't Know Jack
Zen Pinball (Tables released in 2011)
Zombieville USA 2

so how do i vote?

Please submit your ballot via email to me at forksclovetofu at gmail dot com in Pazz and Jop style vote/point format: You'll have 100 points to divide among your Top 10 games released in 2010, with each entry receiving no more than 30 points and no less than 5 points (seriously, for my sanity, you MUST keep it to a MINIMUM of five points please).

can i give something less than 5 points if i want?

Roberto Spiralli this is serious business, let's stop fucking around.

AYO

should we start nominating?

Based on what I liked that I played this year my ballot will have two games on it.

I'd need a couple of weeks before I'd be ready to start on this. Picked a few things up for Christmas which I've not got stuck into yet.

Based on what I liked that I played this year my ballot will have two games on it.

gotta think on if i'm up for this honestly.

i'd be willing to take it on this year if you're not up to it, forks. but fair warning, i would probably do a lean and mean version - only a top 50 or so (rather than including every game that gets a vote) with the goal of finishing the countdown over the course of a week.

give me a day or two? juggling some depressive nonsense, need to clear the head.

if this is any consideration, this is my favorite ilx poll of every year. so somebody do it for my sake!

i'll give it a shot. let me organize. ZS, drop me a line.

2012 Coint and Plick Nominations