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Editorial Awards Game of the Year: Guild Wars

In order to win in this category, a game has to be currently active, and has to have excellent gameplay and graphics, a respectable following, have made a significant contribution to the genre as a whole, and all-in-all done something interesting in 2006.

This year, Guild Wars has managed to distinguish itself by releasing not one, but two stand-alone follow-ups to their popular MMORPG, not a small undertaking by any stretch of the imagination. On top of this, Guild Wars continues to maintain a unique business model that makes their game free-to-play while maintaining and growing a AAA title.

Guild Wars is innovative and entertaining while continuing to grow and please their fans. That’s enough to make this game the Best of 2006.

Honorable Mentions

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is widely recognized as the most popular MMO to hit our genre. This year was a big year for Blizzard with WoW having appeared in an entertaining new episode of the animated series South Park, WoW continues to draw mainstream gamers into the MMORPG market. Combine that with their reported 8 million players and you have an industry juggernaut.

A pre-2007 release of the game’s first expansion pack “The Burning Crusade” may have shot this one to the top of the list, but this year, WoW will have to settle for second place.

EVE Online

This game certainly has its critics, but it also has its fans as well. EVE swept this year’s MMORPG.com Reader’s Choice Awards, and continues to grow its player-base. This sci-fi sandbox MMORPG resonates with fans because of the freedom the game allows its players.

All-in-all EVE has had an eventful year, with an expansion, and more on the way, this game may be a contender for years to come.