I'm pretty sure you could reconfigure the controls... And you could control everything by mouse anyway....

I enjoyed Mario Kart, Viewtiful Joe, F-Zero GX and Broken Sword 3 a lot, but Wind Waker wins. It's prize can be some kind of golden wristwatch, that has an extra dial to tell you what year it is, and the watch is frozen at 2003 and the dials can't be moved around my mischevious types who would be all "Wind Waker won the 1982 award at 6:27am?"

I bought my brother KotOR for christmas, so I'll have to steal that from him when he's finished. I would have bought Prince of Persia too, but the European release for the Gamecube (or the X-box) isn't until the end of January.

I'm glad I'm not alone on the Anachronox front, I can see a lot of potential in this game as I am slowly making my way through it. I'm going to finish it over these next two weeks I have away from work I think (as well as continuing my manuscript), especially since I'm getting no games this Christmas and am waiting for the January sales.

It's just a shame the game didn't sell very well, as it is a fine accomplishment by a very talented group of developers. The World of Anachronox is very immersive, and reminds me of a cross between Deus Ex and Blade Runner. There is a lot to take in as well, so you're still learning things about the game as you go along, which has got to be a plus!

Highly recomended to all who have yet to purchase it. I got hold of my copy from Gameplay in a 2 for £12 deal I think it was (along with the Black and White expansion pack I hadn't bought).

FREELANCER!, it got only all good rating by mags like APC, blah blah blah..does any one know if theres gonna be a FREELANCER 2 or somfin????

DAmmit posted this a few weeks too late!

I didn't play enough games to label one the best. Like, I haven't played KOTOR yet or, most games. I did really enjoy PoP, BG&E, and SSX3 a lot, a ton actually.

Its nice how many good games came out this year.

I love how this is an adventure game forum, and of all the people who have posted in this thread, only two have mentioned an adventure game as possibly being their top game of the year. Don't get me wrong, none of my favorite games of the year were adventures either, with the possible exception of BS3. Poor, poor genre...

Anyway, Beyond Good and Evil probably takes the cake for me. What a beautiful and well-crafted game. I give major, major congrats to the developers for this game. The dedication and love that went into BG&E is almost tangible. If you haven't played this game, do so. It's dirt cheap (my friend got it brand new in the shop for $9.99) and as far as I know it's available on PC and all three major consoles.
Prince of Persia is definitely up there for me, though it's worth saying that I'm only 70% through the game according to its progress meter. It's not a very difficult game, and it sort of does everything for you, but I appreciate its execution and style very, very much.
I'd like to add Tony Hawk's Underground as well, but it's hard for me to do that. I mean, it was, to me, one of the best games released this year, but it really wasn't that much different than Tony 4, so its strengths are more just that it's a Tony game rather than that Underground really, ah, broke new ground (aha).
This may sound silly, but Bomberman Generations was one of my tops. I wouldn't call it one of the most brilliant games of the year in terms of craftsmanship (like THUG, most of its strengths are inherent to the series) but I'll be damned if it wasn't a hell of a lot of fun, and a great party game.
I've only played a 20-minute demo of Zelda: Windwaker (the demo came with the excellent Zelda disc that came with my Gamecube) and so I can't judge anything but its visuals, but holy crap are those visuals beautiful. I'd probably put that game at the top of my graphics list this year, if I had a graphics list.
And finally, Broken Sword 3 gets a place in this list for giving me a nice warm adventury feeling that I haven't gotten from a new adventure game in years.

I can't pick a game of the year. Yes, I suck.

For me it was Beyond Good and Evil - I just had SO much fun playing it. I just started KOTOR over the weekend and that would have to be the best RPG of the year - I am already hooked and wish I had more time to play.

I played Anachronox last summer and it's one of my favourites. Really funny too. In what other game

Spoiler:

do you get to play as a planet?

I'd say Gothic 2. Haven't finished it yet, but so far it's really good. I think at least the English version was released in 2003? The German one was probably from 2002?