This is it, Game of the Year. No quantifiers, no excuses. Our team looks at the year gone by and decides which games they feel stood head and shoulders above the rest. Considering '08 has been a banner year for gaming, it wasn't easy.

The PSP started the year with a bang, and then it quickly cooled off. The DS never really peaked, but a constant stream of gaming goodness flowed forth. Not really a banner year for either platform, but there were quite a few gems. Oh, and one game seems to have clobbered the rest into submission...

Sony might have fallen from it's perch up on high, but it hasn't been a fall from grace. The PS3 has enjoyed its best year yet, with a stable of solid releases, excellent exclusives and strong third party titles. We pick the best of the best.

Year of the PS3? Who knows, but the 360 keeps on doin' it's thing, putting out hit after hit after hit. '08 was another banner year for the console that's grown in leaps and bounds. It was tough, but we've picked our favorite games of the year.

The Wii may have had a front loaded year, and you can argue till the cows come home about whether or not there are enough hardcore games on the system, but there are great games. Here's what we think are the cream of the crop....

The Red Ring of Death is the most common failure of the Xbox 360 to date. The chances of your Xbox crashing are a whopping 30%. Microsoft has been tight lipped on this subject except in a July 2007 press release, where they stated that there is a design flaw, and almost every system could fail at some point. Even if you don't have problems right now, you should be aware of what can happen because as your system gets older, the chance of failure increases drastically.

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Every classic was once a new IP, they're the life blood of the industry, and yet they're extremely risky propositions for developers and publishers.

We vote on the year's best.

Just because WiiWare's the new kid on the downloadable games block doesn't mean it hasn't had its fare share of hits in its inaugural year. Based on our editors opinions though, one title stands head and shoulders above the rest....

Live Arcade continues to go from strength to strength. In the face of increasing competition this year from the upstart PSN, Live Arcade went beyond its umm... arcade roots to give gamers  some truly new and unique experiences.

My, my PSN, look how you've grown all big and strong over the past two years! Our editors foist upon you their personal opinions on the year's best PSN games, and invite you to do the same.