Cracked LCD 2008 Awards Show

OK, so I'm still working on the Trashies so the "naughty" awards are yet to come. But here are the Cracked LCD/Gameshark 2008 Awards as decided by me.  I tried to get Gary Busey to host, but I didn't realize that Bill Abner had a restraining order taken out against him.

Probably no big surprises overall, but I never thought I'd be handing AGRICOLA an award outside of the Trashies. DOMINION completely zeroed out- I still think it's a brilliant design, it just needs to be in a game. MAGICAL ATHELTE and THE WORLD CUP GAME weren't eligible for GOTY honors, but frankly they were the only two games I played all year that even held a candle to this year's winner.

There were some other games that I liked that deserved honorable mention- LIEBE & INTRIGE (got to hell, Robert Martin), DORN, TOUCH OF EVIL...but not award-worthy.

I thought 2008 was a pretty crap year for games. I'm only just now realizing it, but I played a lot of real garbage. In particular, I thought the AT designs we saw this year were pretty weak compared to past years since around 2003. Lots of repetition, little inspiration, and a snail's pace in terms of creative evolution.

Here's hoping 2009 turns out to be more interesting.