Famitsu Awards 2008

Were you unhappy with the results of the Video Game Awards this year?  Well, there is one set of awards left which hopefully won’t piss you off: the Famitsu Awards.  The results may be a bit more specific to those living in Japan, but I have a great respect for Famitsu and figure you guys may be interested.  Anyway, here are the results:

GAME OF THE YEAR:

• Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom/PSP)

MVP (the person who contributed greatly to the development of the gaming industry):

• Hideo Kojima

GAME CHARACTER OF THE YEAR (most active character of 2008):

• Snake from Metal Gear Solid 4

GAME COMPANY OF THE YEAR (a company not only with high sales but a high level of trust among its customers):

• Capcom

ROOKIE TITLE AWARD:

• The Last Remnant (Square Enix/Xbox 360)

INNOVATION AWARD:

• Wii Music (Nintendo/Wii)

QUALITY AWARD:

• Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami/PS3)

BEST HIT AWARD:

• Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G (Capcom/PSP)

RACING GAME PRIZE:

• Mario Cart Wii (Nintendo/Wii)

MULTI-PLAYER GAME AWARD:

• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Nintendo/Wii)

ALL GENERATION PRIZE:

• Pokémon Platinum (Pokémon/Nintendo DS)

COMMUNICATION GAME PRIZE:

• Animal Crossing: City Folk (Nintendo/Wii)

ADVENTURE AND PUZZLE AWARD:

• Professor Layton and the Last Time Travel (Level 5/Nintendo DS)

MASTERPIECE PRIZE:

• Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (Square Enix/Nintendo DS)

CHARACTER AND ACTION GAME PRIZE:

• Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Square Enix/PSP)

ROLE PLAYING GAME PRIZE:

• Tales of Vesperia (Bandai-Namco games/Xbox 360)

DRAMATIC PRIZE:

• 428: In a Blockaded Shibuya (Sega/Wii)

PLAYSTATION 2 GAME PRIZE:

• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Atlus/PS2)

WORLD-WIDE PRIZE:

• Grand Theft Auto IV (Capcom/Playstation 3, Xbox 360)

Damn, GTA just had to pop up right at the end didn’t it?  I think I like most of the choices with the exception of Tales of Vesperia for best RPG perhaps.  I think there are a lot of titles more deserving, but whatever.

Monster Hunter winning best game really doesn’t surprise me since I was in Japan at the height of the game’s popularity.  It was almost like a cult, every male between 14-25 had a PSP and could be seen playing it on the subway.  I considered buying it myself even, just to try to understand the obsession.  Someday I could see myself giving it a go.

I am glad Metal Gear Solid 4 and Kojima got some respect.  I have been pretty obsessed with the Metal Gear Solid series lately…  I feel like I have only started to really understand its greatness.

So what do you guys think?  Anything you feel got shafted or undeserved praise?