The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Poll for best video games of 2010! (VOTING IS CLOSED)

Hey all; it's end of the year and here we go again!

For 2009's Coint and Plick we had thirty + voters; this time I'd love to aim for 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.

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

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 this year I need you to 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 the top 50 games of '10 in the final results, presuming I 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. I'll list the top ten biggest disappointments.

Please note your ILX username on the ballot 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. I may ask for additional people to write brief comments once the ball gets rolling; 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 me know. Games that received votes in the 2009 poll will have their numbers rolled onto the 2010 poll, so no need to vote for them twice.

DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS JANUARY 25th; I'll try to have the final results posted by February 1st.

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 each vote 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 2009, 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, 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.

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 Fallout New Vegas) as all counting toward one nomination... unless there's a clear difference due to systems that affects gameplay (i.e. Madden for Wii vs Madden for 360). In a case like Mafia II 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 '09.

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 Cataclysm, any of the Borderlands modules and any classic NES games released as Wiiware are legit picks. 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 Plants vs. Zombies on 360i, even though I liked PvZ a lot, because I didn't play it on the 360. Similarly, if you played an emulation of Sam and Max: Beyond Time this year on your PC, don't vote for the Wii DLC version. If you played a ton of World of Warcraft but not this year, don't vote for it. If you played Borderlands for the first time this year, don't vote for the game unless you're voting solely for the new content. If you got Planescape for the PC from GOG, it's not a 2010 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 games released in '10 follows; your ballot will not be limited to these games but they're certainly the front runners and a good place to start your list from. Make sense? Then VOTE!

2010 FIFA World Cup: South Africa (PS3/360)
3D Dot Game Heroes (PS3)
9 Innings 2011 (iPhone)
A Shadows Tale / Lost In Shadow (Wii)
Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth (DS)
Achievement Unlocked 2 (Flash)
Alan Wake (360)
Alien Swarm (PC)
Alpha Protocol (PS3/360/PC)
Altitude (PC)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (PC/Mac)
Angry Birds/Angry Birds Halloween/Angry Birds Xmas(iPhone/Android)
Aralon (iPhone)
Art Style: Light Trax (Wii)
Assassins Creed Brotherhood (PC/PS3/360)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PC/360/PS3)
Bayonetta (PS3/360)
Bejeweled 3 (PC/Mac)
Bioshock 2(360/PS3/PC)
bit.trip.runner (Wii)
Blur (360/PS3/PC)
Call Of Duty: Black Ops (PS3/360/PC)
Carcassonne (iPhone)
Castle Crashers (PS3)
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (PS3/360)
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (Wii)
Cave Story (DSiWare)
Chaos Rings (iPhone)
Chime (360/PC)
Civilization 5 (PC/Mac)
Costume Quest (PS3/360)
Crackdown 2 (260)
Cut the Rope (iPhone)
Dance Central (360)
Dantes Inferno (360/PS3/PC)
Dark Void Zero (DSiWare)
Darksiders (360/PS3)
Dead Nation (PS3)
Dead Rising 2 / DR2: Case Zero (360)
Dead Space: Ignition (Wii)
Dead to Rights: Retribution (360/PS3/PC)
Deadly Premonition (360)
Deathspank (360/PS3/PC)
Dizzypad (iPhone)
DJ Hero 2 (PS3/360)
Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu (360)
Donkey Kong Country 4 (Wii)
Dragon Quest IX (DS)
Dungeons and Dragons Online (PC, ongoing)
Enslaved (PS3/360)
Epic Citadel (iPhone)
Epic Mickey (Wii)
Espgaluda II (360)
Etrian Odyssey III (DS)
Fable III (360)
Fallout: New Vegas (PC/Mac/360/PS3)
FIFA 11 (360/PS3/PC)
Final Fantasy XIII (360/PS3)
Football Manager 2011 (PC/Mac)
Fruit Ninja (iPhone)
Galaxy On Fire 2 (iPhone)
Game Dev Story (iPhone/Android)
God of War III (PS3)
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS)
Goldeneye (Wii)
Gran Turismo 5 (PS3)
GunGirl 2 (PC)
Guwange (360)
Halo Reach (360)
Heavy Rain (PS3)
Hook Worlds (iPhone)
Infinity Blade (iPhone)
Ivy The Kiwi? (DS/Wii)
Joe Danger (PS3)
Just Cause 2 (360/PS3)
Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi (360)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP)
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii)
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (PC/PS3/360)
Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (360/PS3/PC/Wii)
Limbo (360)
Little Big Planet (PSP)
Lost Planet 2 (360/PS3/PC)
Madden 2011 (PS3/Wii/360)
Mafia II (360/PS3/PC)
Majin and The Foresaken Kingdom (PS3/360)
Mass Effect 2 (360)
Mega Man 10 (PS3/360/Wii)
Metal Gear Solid - Peace Walker (PSP)
Metro 2033 (PS3/360/PC)
Metroid: Other M (Wii)
Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (DS)
Minecraft (PC)
Mirror's Edge (iPhone)
MLB 10: The Show (PS3/PSP)
ModNation Racers (PS3)
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition (PS3/360)
Monster Hunter Tri (Wii)
Mr. AahH! (iOS)
Naughty Bear (360/PS3)
NBA Jam (Wii)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (PS3/360/PC)
NHL 2011 (PS3/360/Wii/PC)
Nier (PS3/360)
No More Heroes 2 (Wii)
Pac Man Championship Edition DX (PS3/360)
Persona 3 (PSP)
PES 2011 (360/PS3/PC)
Picross 3D (DS)
Pix'n Love Rush (iPhone)
Plants Vs. Zombies (iPhone)
Pokemon Heart Gold/Silver (DS)
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS)
Puzzle Agent (PC)
Puzzle Quest 2 (PC/DS/360)
Puzzle Quest HD (iPhone)
Qrank (iPhone)
Ragdoll Blaster 2 (iPhone)
Rage HD (iPhone)
Real Racing 2 (iPhone)
Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale (PC)
Red Dead Redemption / Red Dead Redemption: Undead Rising (PS3/360)
Red Steel 2 (Wii)
Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition (PS3/360)
Resonance of Fate (PS3)
Robot Unicorn Attack (Flash)
Rock Band 3 (PS3/Wii/360)
Saboteur (360/PS3/PC)
Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space (Wii)
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse (PC/Mac/PS3/iPhone)
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (PS3/360)
Shantae: Risky's Revenge (DS)
Shatter (PC/PS3)
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey (DS)
Sid Meier's Pirates! (Wii)
Sigma (iPhone)
SimCity DX HD (iPhone)
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (Wii)
Singularity (PS3/360)
Sleep Is Death (PC/Mac)
Slingo Supreme (iPhone)
Sly Cooper Collection (PS3)
Snoopy Flying Ace (360)
Solomon's Keep (iPhone)
Sonic Colors (Wii)
Space Funeral (PC)
space Invaders Infinity Gene (iPhone)
Space Miner (iPhone)
Specter Spelunker Shrinks (Flash)
Spelunker HD (PS3)
Spider: Secret of Bryce Manor (iPhone)
Splinter Cell: Conviction (360)
Split/Second (360/PS3/PC)
Starcraft 2 (PC/Mac)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii)
Super Meat Boy (PC/360)
Super QuickHook (iPhone)
Super Scribblenauts (DS)
Super Street Fighter 4 (PS3/360)
Sushi Cat (Flash)
Taberinos (Flash)
Texting of the Bread (iPhone)
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom (360/PC)
The Tower (iPhone)
Tilt To Live (iPhone)
Tom Clancys H.A.W.X. 2 (360/PS3/PC)
Trainyard (iPhone)
Trauma Team (Wii)
Ufouria (Wii)
Valkyria Chronicles II (PSP)
Vanquish (PS3)
Victorian BMX (Flash)
VVVVVV (PC)
World of Goo (iPhone)
World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm (PC)
Yakuza 3 (PS3)
Ys 7 (PSP)
Zen Bound 2 (iPhone)

First ballot almost immediately! Get yours in when you can!

Voted!

Voted!

Hot-Cha!

Last minute add of Super Mario Crossover?

That list made me sad. Of all those games I've played 5, and the only one I've played more than maybe 4 hours on is Game Dev Story. 2010 has not been a year of gaming for me. I've got some catching up to do, so I may not vote at all this year.

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.

wot if i vote for less than ten games?

THEN MAKE SURE THE POINTS ADD UP TO A HUNDRED jeez

and if you've played two or three games, I'd still like your vote. a gamer is a gamer is a gamer

I have maybe 4 or 5 games I'd like to vote for but even my #1 game is a "this was fun and charming but not ground-breaking" vote and as such I don't want to be giving all 5 games giant votes, otherwise I'll have some explaining to do if they end up high up the chart on my single vote and everyone else is all "...really?"

(ok ok, "if your #1 game is not that great then you didn't play enough games this year", but at the same time I've been catching up on older games this year and liked it more than any of those too)

you are hereby given permission to award less than the full 100 points if you feel like you don't have 100 points to award. Let's make it a minimum of 50 points total for a ballot and any ballots under 100 points will not be able to vote for a "favorite game of the year" by dint of the highest points awarded.

And SM crossover (and any other late additions nominated on this page)are all legit as long as they adhere to the aforementioned rules.

THEN MAKE SURE THE POINTS ADD UP TO A HUNDRED jeez

i mean i only asked 'cause i thought that ^ would be kinda weird? by virtue of being a casual gamer i get to er game the ballot?

or what spacecadet said.

okay, then as I said: just make it clear in your ballot that you're only putting in fifty points for four games cuz that's all you want to do and as long as you're explicit I can figure it out.
But don't put up 8 games, have the tally come in at 95 points and expect that I can make the presumption you just don't feel like pegging in those last 5 without you saying something.

no challops this time u joekrs

this is yr. weekly reminder! PLEASE VOTE and stuff

Do I have to email it? Can I just post it?

up to you.

1. Final Fantasy XIV (100 points)

Oh shit, I should've voted for that as biggest disappointment of the year.

yah, i'll be disregarding that

Fine I'll email it to you

lovely. please use first class stamp

I basically have the week off so expect my ballot w/ comments soonish

yowza. that's eight ballots in; keep em coming.

got sooooo many new games in the last week; wish we could poll in June! I'll vote near the end of the deadline.

there's nothing in the list i've played more than a demo of, or installed and poked around in briefly and gone 'huh', but i will probably vote nonetheless

is keeping up with the state of games more necessary re: being a 'gamer' than keeping up with current popular music is with popular music? or books with lit.?

I think people are more understanding about falling behind re video games in gamer community than music in pop music community, particularly because some games are so incredibly long. Only exception really is multiplayer games where you can kinda miss the community when they move from game to game, and even that isn't so bad.

gaming communities (with the exception of lunatic fringe) seem much more understanding about not playing all the best things that any system has to offer. The commitment is so great; even a short game is twelve hours of your life. I've never played a halo game and i've also never gotten a hard time because of it.

this is one of the reasons i kinda prefer the company of gamers: there's much more resistance to pretense

cosign^ I think some of that is because a game is either fun or not. if someone is like, "oh my, what an exquisite experience," you can be like, "dull yawn."

ah crap i forgot to nom Soosiz for iPhone.

so uh HEY GUYS I NOM SOOSIZ (iPhone) VOTE FOR IT

contemplating voting in this even tho i played like 7 games all year

most of which werent nominated

Vote!

sent my ballot, got my hate on. good times.

I have about 10 disappointment-games this year, gonna be tough to whittle it down to one. This is the year I got to sick death with "indie" "retro-inspired" side-scrollers. I've got venom for all of them.

sick TO death.

Ballots in from:
Jeff
Mordy
EZ Snappin
TamTam
abanana
n/a
Cap’n Lorax
Jordan
RSpiralli
jjjusten
If you ain't on that list, get crackin!

contemplating voting in this even tho i played like 7 games all year

― Hyrule's (Lamp), Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:51 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

most of which werent nominated

― Hyrule's (Lamp), Wednesday, December 29, 2010 12:52 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

i voted and i played even less - and something doesnt need to be nom'd for you to vote for it - c'mon son!

lotta general diversity as it stands: 45 different games from 10 different voters as of now.

I plan to do some some last-minute research.

Yeah I am definitely going to send in a ballot but I've got several games I want to complete (or at least make decent progress through) before I decide whether to include or not.

still quite a few games i gotta play in the next few weeks

yeah I just got my fightstick and it is throwing my ballot for a loop

sent in my ballot

sorry it was such a mess forx

was yours the wordy fun one that didn't say who it was from? I like!

haha yah sorry i totally didnt include my ilx name

looking forward to this

xp number one vote for

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2d/Tokimeki_Memorial_Girl%27s_Side_-_2nd_Kiss_Coverart.png

?

actually, that would work better if i posted the one that actually came out this year viola

http://image4.play-asia.com/640/9s/pa.176231.1.jpg

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kheDXUBcL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

voted finally

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/True_Love_title.png

would vote but i have only really played fallout3 this year. split/second is fun, but haven't gotten very far on it or played long enough to judge its staying power. just cause 2 was fun at first but got boring very quickly. and that's my lot.

bamcquern, i need you to email me with point summary/game list to take part.

Salsa Shark, you're all set.

So excited for this countdown to start

117 games
35 ballots
a wild top ten that could be easily rearranged with one or two votes
any more votes forthcoming?

Folks on this thread who've suggested they'd vote but have not yet:
spacecadet
thomp
Matt D

I am polishing it off on my lunch break :)

nom nom nom

sent mine just now

oops. how many hours do i have again

just get it to me before i wake up tomorrow. It's 1pm in NYC now.

So two more ballots and we hit 40?

You have my ballot

And my axe!

sorry forks, I appreciate that you made it easier for a casual gamer like me to vote when I whined, but when I looked back at the list I'd played even fewer games than I thought (which is not to say that I was thinking of things which weren't nominated, just played fewer 2010 games than I realised)

going back through the list now in case I missed anything though

who is "lightning wrangler extraordinaire"?
with LWE we're at 37.

oh, it's matt, sorry. Gottit.

Sorry about that! I hadn't realized the webmail would only post my display name and not my account

only 3 more ballots needed...?

We're at 38 total. Final call: I need to see it when I wake up tomorrow.

39. Last call. Anyone?

Surely we can get ONE more??

I would have voted for stand on top of the guy because it is the only game I ever win at.

calling it closed and am going to tabulate placement. back with more info shortly.

agh, sorry. got dragged to someone's burns night celebration last night, didn't make it home thinking 'i should sit down and think about videogames now'

do it now!!! one more ballot needed

just a heads-up forks but you may be hearing from my cousin Blames Blobo soonish

relax, i may just do a full poll regardless.

god bless you you crazy crazy man

you could just roll out the low tiers w/just peeps comments and a link to the site - i love the comprehensive forksing every year, but you could save the hardcore work for the top 50/40/20 whatever

cosign. i just like them all listed so that if something gets put up that slipped under my radar, people can sing its praises (or not) and vice versa if something i voted for got no other votes

I'm not very good at doing things partially.
i think what i may do is just three a day every day with a one day top ten and an opening day ten blurb kickoff.
thoughts?

down with whatever dude, its your poll!

when does the rollout begin? *wipes drool on sleeve*

Feb 1

That's my birthday! Best birthday present.

Well no I will probably get some better presents but this will be good too!

do what ya gotta do man

Peacocks, stand on top of the guy but be bigger is 2011. Wouldn't you vote for the dwarf building Christmas game or the dinosaur random wiggle bone fight game (or is that 2011 too?)?

i would like to note that bamcquern's ballot was one of the most interesting things I've gotten in the mail so far this year. I knew NONE of the games.

The Evil-Santa-Christmas-dwarf-raid-present-kitty-savior game is reeeallly fun. I'd vote for that. Dinosaur Dance-Off is cool but not as engaging since they make the dinosaurs dance for you and they never dance as vigorously as I want them to. The best part of that game is getting to name your dinosaur. There's always new stuff to do with the evil santa game. There's a thing you can do with the cat where you make all the bricks come off your building and destroy everything. It's kind of like an air raid but more damaging because the bricks fly at all angles.

I wish I knew what you guys were talking about.

That's what reading bam's ballot was like!

hoo boy i gotta lotta writing to do

The Fourth Annual Coint and Plick Video Games Poll - Part One: #106 - AKA the 25 games that got one vote and five points