Best Wii Game:
Super Mario Galaxy

While there wasn’t much competition for this title outside of Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, having to choose between the two proved to be quite a difficult task. Both Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 are in a whole other league than every other Wii game displayed at E3 when it comes to visuals, perfectly refined controls, and most importantly, how much fun it is to play them.

In the end, Mario Galaxy pulls it out by a hair for providing that familiar Mario experience, but in a way that makes it seem like we’ve never played anything like it before. Every single level of the four galaxy demo that we played at E3 was just brimming with creativity, smart level design, and beautiful environments that we couldn’t wait to explore. If just a simple E3 demo can be this good, we can’t wait to see what else Super Mario Galaxy has in store for us when it hits shelves on November 12.

Honorable Mention: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Best PC Game:
Bioshock

Being the spiritual successor to what is widely considered one of the scariest games of all time, System Shock 2, Bioshock looks to mimic that creepy atmosphere, but also provides one of the most unique first person shooter experiences ever. The game takes place in the underwater city of Rapture, which was originally meant to be a utopia for those looking to escape the horrors of World War 2, but eventually became a breeding ground for genetically enhanced freaks and lumbering giants called Big Daddies.

Aside from the breathtaking graphics and a fantastic artistic style, what sets Bioshock apart from other first person shooters is its emphasis on choice. Every room, every hallway, every enemy can be dealt with several different ways. Much of this is due to the plasmids that your character will find and use to genetically alter his abilities. Some plasmids enable your character to shoot out lightning, fire, or ice, while others will affect the way your enemies perceive you and the world around them. Bioshock is aiming to redefine what it means to be a first person shooter and break away from all of the typical stereotypes that accompany the genre. From what we’ve seen, it looks like they’re accomplishing their goal brilliantly.

Honorable Mention: Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

Best PS3 Game:
LittleBigPlanet

It’s hard to say exactly why LittleBigPlanet is so endearing. At first glance it’s simply a fairly simple, yet strikingly beautiful looking 2D platformer with a heavy emphasis on real world physics. Then you dive a little deeper and you see the “So easy a child could do it” level editor, the large emphasis on sharing your levels with other users, the ability to play through the highest rated levels along with your friends, and the ability to create your own items and tools using the in-game materials.

LittleBigPlanet is going to be an incredibly important game for the PS3, not only because of its innovative design and gameplay, but also because it’s one of the few PS3 games that has that universal appeal that Nintendo is making bank on with the Wii. The game appeals to the casual crowd by having cute and completely customizable characters to play as, simple and fun platforming gameplay, and a completely cooperative element that allows them to play with friends of any kind of skill level. Likewise, hardcore gamers might be attracted to it for much of the same reasons, plus the ability to create, play, and share their own levels with the rest of the world so that they can show off their creativity.

All things said and done, even among great titles like Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Killzone 2, and Assassin’s Creed, LittleBigPlanet stands out not only as being an excellent game in its own right, but also the game that can finally reach out to the mainstream audience that the system desperately needs if it wants to stay in the game with Microsoft and Nintendo.

Honorable Mention: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune