The Envelope, Please"

The Game of the Year contest was a real barn burner this year. All the nominated games were really amazing, and the voting was hot and heavy. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners.

Upon request, winners will receive both Web buttons and print-ready buttons proclaiming them the top of their categories.

So without further delay, here are the winners as chosen by thousands of Game Industry News readers. These are the games that you voted as the best of the best this year.

Best Action Game Prince of Persia: Sands of Time UbiSoft just squeaked past The Return of the King to take the action game top honors this year. Resurrecting a title from the past can be a dangerous move, but Ubi accomplished this feat by creating an astounding action game that keeps all the jumping and running flavor of the original, yet added some great new elements like the ability to control time itself. This unique power means not having to do an entire level over again if you suddenly find yourself falling to your doom, and really endeared the title to gamers.

Best Adventure Game The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker Taking the classic Zelda franchise into a fully 3D world, complete with cute animated characters set Zelda apart from the other more serious-minded adventure games this year. The Wind Walker appeals to both younger players and adults, which is a huge key to the title's success. It is also one of the most popular games for the GameCube system, which earned it a lot of fans.

Best Family Game Toontown Online Creating a family type game at the same time as an online game was the challenge for Disney in this wonderful title. To keep things safe and family oriented, yet provide some action and challenge for players, humorous gags like pies in the face are used in place of actual combat. So there is excitement and some danger, but in the end nobody gets hurt and everyone from age six to one hundred and six can have a fun time online. See our Review.

Best Online Game Star Wars Galaxies In the Star Wars world we have always been enthralled by LucasArts and given the opportunity to play interesting characters. But with Star Wars Galaxies, players get to experience play something really unique, themselves inside the Star Wars universe. Or at least you can be someone you would like to become. The point is that all bets are off. There is no preexisting plot to follow. You make your own character and follow your own goals. Perhaps join The Rebellion or The Empire, or perhaps make money on the conflict. Or perhaps you just want to try and make your way in the world. The choice is yours. See our Review.

Best Peripheral EyeToy The EyeToy is a small camera that plugs into a PS2 console, putting gamers on the screen and in the middle of the action. Use arms, legs, your head, or any body part to play one of 12 mini-games including boxing, dancing and even window washing. As more games allow for the use of the EyeToy, expect this amazing little peripheral device to gain even more fans.

Best Puzzle Game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst As one of the most beautiful games ever created, Uru reminds people why they fell in love with the puzzle game genre to begin with. Moving from the standard slideshow type of game into a fully 3D world was a bit strange for most puzzle gamers, but actually being able to look around the beautiful worlds while exploring was worth the effort to learn the shooter-type interface. The puzzles themselves are varied in both type and difficulty, leading to hours of exploratory enjoyment. See our Review.

Best Role-Playing Game Morrowind: Bloodmoon The (we suspect) final sequel to Bethseda Softworks' hugely popular Morrowind franchise, Bloodmoon follows the first person nonlinear gameplay that made the core Morrowind game so popular. Players journey to a new frozen island off the coast of Morrowind and get to fight powerful creatures aimed at higher level characters. Bloodmoon features plenty of moral dilemmas, side quests and detailed dungeons to explore, plus an epic ending battle that rivals even the one that finished the main storyline. The only thing gamers who voted for Bloodmoon told us they really wanted was: more Morrowind! See our Review.

Best Shooter Game Call of Duty Activision's Call of Duty has been winning awards all over the place. The action packed World War II game features squad combat, driving missions, sniper levels and even several different countries that you fight for in the course of the game. You play as an American Paratrooper, a British Commando and even a Russian peasant drafted into the great red army. Once you finish the single player game, there is a host of multiplayer maps and a strong community of players to fight with and against online. This is easily one of the best World War II games every created, and also one of the best shooters. See our Review.

Best Simulation Game Railroad Tycoon 3 The simulation category is really becoming extremely popular, and Railroad Tycoon 3 is a great example of why. A perfect soundtrack sets the mood for tycoons starting out with small spur tracks between cities and slowly expanding into multinational rail lines. Take over rival companies, issue stock, invest in new technology and try to make money hauling valuable freight and passengers. You can even invest in side businesses like farms and hotels, to create perfect monopolies centered on your rails. If you can master the multiple single player challenges, you can move online to test your business mettle against other armchair tycoons.

Best Sports Game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 This year the sports genre voters knocked forever-winning Madden off the charts and chose Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 as the top game. This shows the growing trend for nontraditional sports like wrestling and skateboarding to be accepted by the sports community. Pro Skater 4 is a perfect example of what a computer game can do. Complete with accurate physics and challenging environments, you can have a lot of fun here and survive without any broken bones.

Best Strategy Game Command and Conquer: Generals Of all the voting categories, this one would best be described as a landslide. Command and Conquer: Generals received more votes than all the other entries combined. The game, developed by Westwood Studios and published by Electronic Arts, features some of the best graphics to grace a strategy title. It also has all the hardcore real-time strategy action that has become synonymous with the C&C genre. EA proves that Command and Conquer, the title that really pushed RTS games along, still has a lot of life left in it. See our Review.

Best Environment Prince of Persia: Sands of Time In addition to best action game, voters chose Prince of Persia: Sands of Time as the game with the best environment. And why not? With the ability to jump and run across walls, explore both interior and exterior environments and experience a host of varied lighting conditions, you will actually feel like you are in ancient Persia. The bottom line is that Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is a visual masterpiece that captures exactly the look and feel that players need to advance the game.

Best Soundtrack Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (PC) When GTA Vice City came out for the PC, it gave gamers the chance to experience what PS2 gamers had known all along, that the soundtrack for the game simply can't be beat. Featuring many popular songs from the 1980's spread out across various radio stations in the game, GTA:VC often caused players to carjack vehicles just to listen to their favorite songs. Many voters reported just sitting around in their stolen rides in the game, listening to the music. And when the action heats up, nothing compliments a car chase better than a song like Bryan Adams' "Run to You." See our Review.

Best Game for GameCube The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker Zelda is one of those games that are synonymous with Nintendo, so it was only natural that a new Zelda would be released for the GameCube. Facing resistance at first from gamers afraid of the newly revamped Zelda look, it quickly scored legions of fans with its in-depth plot and active gameplay. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker is one of the best reasons to own a GameCube and could become the flagship title for the entire GameCube game line.

Best Game for PC Call of Duty It's no surprise that the best shooter on the PC is also the best game for the PC. Call of Duty really advances the World War II genre with strong enemy AI, intuitive missions and action-packed gameplay. The addition of non-controllable squad mates also helps to both push missions forward and build a sense of camaraderie. You actually feel bad when squad members get killed, and when you are successful, you are glad that someone other than yourself survived. And there are thousands of people playing multiplayer games of Call of Duty at all hours of the day and night, meaning you can always find someone to partner with or shoot at. See our Review.

Best Game for Playstation2 Silent Hill 3 With an opening movie that could easily be mistaken for a music video instead of a game trailer, Silent Hill 3 sets a high mark of quality and does not let up. One of the few horror genre games to achieve huge success, Silent Hill 3 takes players on a bloody journey with the main character where you are never quite sure what is real and what isn't. It will enthrall you. It will entice you. And it will scare the heck out of you. Silent Hill 3 proves that action horror backed by good character development and a strong plot can be extremely successful. See our Review.

Best Game for Xbox Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic This is without a doubt the best single player Star Wars game ever created. The game looks so good and plays so well, that its mere existence prompted many people go out and purchase an Xbox. When a game is driving console sales, you know it's a good title. Knights features nonlinear gameplay, interesting non-player characters, a good role-playing interface and both beautiful graphics and incredible sound. Anyone who likes either role-playing or Star Wars simply must get this title for their Xbox. See our Review.

Game of the Year Runner-up Second Life A last minute rally almost put this unique title in the top spot, and did manage to garner second place for Second Life. The interesting thing about Second Life, from Linden Labs, is that the game is continuously being built by the players. Second Life is like an online role-playing game, except if you want something interesting like a motorcycle, then you build it using programming language. Thankfully, a special experimental area greets new players, complete with volunteer player guides who explain how the game works, and even give new people rides in their self-created balloons and rocket ships. Second Life has one of most tight knit communities we have ever seen in an online game and if you get used to the programming interface, you even can build your own kingdom.

Overall Game of the Year The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Bloodmoon The thousands of players who voted for Bloodmoon expressed both joy and sorrow in regards to this add-on adventure for the popular Morrowind RPG. Both PC and Xbox players had a fantastic time adventuring within the realms of Morrowind, but were sad that the series is probably over. Bloodmoon adds both vast outdoor landscapes as well as dark dungeons that can be explored in first person. Non-player character intelligence is some of the best in the world. They will recognize your character, sing songs in your honor and direct you on fantastic quests that end in a climatic conclusion that many say is better than even the original game. Bloodmoon is a perfect finale to a series that sets a high bar for role-playing games, one that everyone else is still trying to reach. See our Review.

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