The GNamer Forum Annual Awards 2015

=GNamer Community (one vote)



=Nontendo (one vote)



"In a year where I've found myself forced to turn more and more to other gaming formats for my jollies, I've been so glad to be able to do so with most of the same smashing crew I've been chatting Nintendo with for years. Dark Souls, Metal Gear and so much more has been made even more a joy by sharing it with y'all."

=Off Topic (one vote)

General Gaming Discussions (a mere eight votes)



"With the new Nontendo board taking over the discussion that I don't care about, I have no qualms about declaring GG my Board of the Year.  It's where the best and most interesting gaming discussions happen, and it hosted my Topic of the Year."

"There's always a lot of great topics that pop up in here from who's that Pokemon to Kirby's Rumour buffet."

"Who's That Pokemon has smashed it on its own, not to mention all the other good chats."

"General Gaming's always one of my first visits here - the topics are generally top notch. The music threads and the forum games we've had throughout the year are real treats, and I do think our general topics make for a more interesting conversation over our usual game-oriented topics."

Never in doubt, General Gaming Discussions walks it for another year - in fact, the margin of victory was greater than it's ever been. Personally, I was pleased to see the creation of Nontendo get some credit (side note: I still don't like the name) and GNamer Community, too, which has seen a bit of an upswing in posts in 2015. Finally, a little note to the other boards on the GNamer Forum - pull your fingers out, eh? Make this award a bit more of a contest next year!

=Life Is Strange (six points, three seconds)



"Max's story really showed what interactivity can do for one's emotional connection. I laughed, I cried, I cared like no other game ever made me. The fact that this is one of the best time travel stories I ever encountered, games or otherwise, speaks boatloads."

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (six points, two firsts)



"I may have said this a few times, but I didn't think I'd like this game. I thought 2 was awful both in terms of story and gameplay, but I remember going to pick it up when I had nothing interesting to play and falling in love. A solid week of amazing gameplay in a beautiful world with a fantastic story."

Fallout 4 (seven points, one first, one second, two thirds)



"A game we didn't even know was coming at the start of the year but after a quick announcement to release turnaround it blew me away. Everything I loved about Fallout in a big, actually playable package."

"So, Fallout 4. It's more Fallout, but with better shooting and prettier graphics. It still suffers from god-awful technical issues at points and they've really dumbed down the dialogue, but at its core it's still that same post-apocalyptic RPG blast. I'm still playing it. That's a testament to the fact that it's a good game."

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (twelve points, four firsts)



"Moment for moment, no game before or since has gameplay like MGSV. Approaching an installation in Afghansitan, scoping it out with binoculars, coming up with a plan all of your own and then launching it is exhilirating. When it all goes tits up, the options for improvising on the fly are limitless. Tie that in with great characters, phenomenal aesthetics and that classic Kojima playful humour to get an undeniable masterpiece. The betrayal some fans felt about the cut content only serves to show how good what we did get was."

"Kojima's magnum opus may have had a shaky second half, likely due to Konami mucking it up, but this is still the best slice of stealth action going just now."

(three points, one first)

Don Bradman Cricket '14: "Because it's got Don Fucking Bradman in it.  He is, quite literally, the Don.  Also, a bunch of other cricketers who have funny names, like Root and Broad."

FIFA '16

Prune: "Literally the best puzzle game about growing trees that you will never play."

Rainbow Six Siege: "No other FPS game comes close to this in my opinion, I've already logged over 50 hours on it & it's still super tense now as it was when I first started."

(no firsts, just a three point total)

Batman Arkham Knight: "Can everyone please stop bashing the Batmobile now? It's fantastic, as is this game. An amazing ride from start til the end of NG+."

"Oooh, the PC version didn't work. Play it on console then, nerd. "Oooh, the same game as Arkham City." No it isn't, and being an expansion of one of the best games ever made wouldn't be a bad thing anyway. "Oooh, the batmobile!" Yeah? Rad tank sections? A quintessential part of Batman? What isn't amazing about that? Batman was balls-to-the walls brilliant from start to finish."

Rocket League: "It's rocket powered cars playing football, it's so good that I felt bad getting it for free on PS+ that I had no issue buying all the dlc that became available."

Tales From The Borderlands: "A real surprise for me this year. This managed to flesh out a pretty underwhelming world, injecting a ton of life into the Borderlands universe. Your choices really felt like they meant something, and I actually grew to really like the characters. Good stuff."

(two points, one second, each)

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions: "Packed with content and some good twists on the by-now-surely-classic shooter - shame the iOS format was not well-suited to the kind of precision you need to excel at it."

PES 2016: "A PES game hasn't gripped me like this since ISS pro evo 2 on the playstation, I'm still regularly playing this and I don't see me jumping to the 2017 version right away like I'd normally do."

Zombi: "Because it's a Wii U game really."

(one point, one third, each)

Evoland: "A neat idea hampered by giving up all the goods two-thirds of the way through."

Overlord: Fellowship Of Evil: "Because Jim Sterling hates it and he's a filthy SJW. #GamerGateFTW"

The Kojima colossus didn't quite have things all its own way but was a clear leader from the first three or four votes and never looked back. Hopefully the lad can come up with something quite special now that he's free from Konami's evil clutches. Things I enjoyed from this result include a), the fact that (joint) third is Witcher 3, then Fallout 4, then MGS 5; I didn't have to use a shrug gif (although I thought I would have to and have found a brilliant one that I may not be able to use); and someone used the word 'rad' - it's not even the 90's anymore!

=Podcasts (two votes)



"Podcasts have been a highlight, great fun to take part in and listen to."

=Secret Santa (two votes)



"I took part in this for the first time and it was fun not only sending gifts but seeing what everyone had received."

=The Wii U 3rd Anniversary Vote (two votes)



"What a cracker this was! Even without owning a Wii U, I still found myself revisiting the thread on a daily basis to check out the results. Not to mention that stunning finale - both the tie and Balla's expertly crafted Phoenix Wright-up (hohoho). Top work - one of my favourite threads of the year."

(one vote apiece)

A Big Pot Full Of Bum: GNamer Forum Cr@p Game Reviews Thread: "Very nice of the kid to organise, and resultant in some hilarious writings."

Admintendo XI: "A pleasure to read.  Zero and Jay kept it bounding along at a great pace, with a feeling of goodwill and some clever thoughtful chat.  And with Jay joining the admin. team, I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2016! "

Counting Classics On Consoles
Vote For Iwata's Best Game

There are so many great events that take place on this forum that there was no clear winner firing to the top... but that's right. A lot of time and effort is put in by a lot of members to make this place the diamond that it is. So massive thanks to everyone who's put in some of that time and some of that effort. This is for you.