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The 2007 Boysie Awards

Actors get Oscars, singers get Grammys and video games get awards from Boys’ Life: THE BOYSIES. The Boysies are dedicated to the age-old proverb that video games don’t have to be gross to be cool.

CATEGORY ONE: Best Console

The best video game console doesn’t need to be the most powerful. For this category, we’re closing in on what we think matters most: which console has the best games.

wii.jpgWinner: Wii

(Nintendo of America)

Nintendo’s goal has been to take gaming into a new world, and Wii has been a success. Having come out a year later than Xbox 360, Wii has overtaken the Microsoft console in sales, while leaving PS3 in the dust. Wii’s lead over the competition is especially notable, however, when it comes to family-friendly games.


CATEGORY TWO: Best Portable Game System

Games for cell phones have really improved, but they still can’t compete with dedicated portable game systems like DS and PSP. Like the race for best console, this is a battle between a powerful system and an innovative, less-expensive rival designed with the family in mind.

nintendods.jpgWinner: Nintendo DS

(Nintendo of America)

DS just keeps on rolling: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Mario Party DS, Brain Age 2 and a really excellent version of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older).

Nintendo’s portable boy’s screens are considerably lower resolution than the screen on PSP and the processor is weaker, yet somehow Nintendo makes the whole thing work. The truth is that it’s in the games. Too many PSP games feel like smaller versions of console games—and too many are made for adults.


CATEGORY THREE: Best Sports Game

madden1.jpgWinner: Madden NFL 08

(Electronic Arts for GameCube, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, DS, PSP, Mac, PC)

Year in and year out, the Madden NFL series continues as the best of the best: great graphics, realistic action, a wide variety of plays, sharp controls, and enough levels of difficulty for both beginners and hardcore players.

Not all versions of Madden NFL are created equal. The Wii and DS versions are disappointing; the PS3 version had problems. When we say Madden NFL 08 is the sports game of the year, we mean Madden NFL on Xbox 360.

bigs.jpgRunner-up: The Bigs

(2K Sports for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP)

2K Sports has breathed a little extra life into baseball by picking up the pace of the game and adding a ton of mini games, making The Bigs a bit more entertaining than the more realistic baseball games of 2007. The Bigs isn’t bad on any platform, but it really is most fun on Xbox 360.

fifa08.jpgRunner-up: FIFA 08

(EA for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PSP, PC)

Electronic Arts is the biggest publisher of games and the overall champ when it comes to sports, and FIFA 08 shows why. This soccer game is not easy, but it’s worth the trouble to learn it. It looks great and plays better than it looks. Just don’t expect to win any championships on your first try.


CATEGORY FOUR: Best Party Game/Collection

rayman.jpgWinner: Rayman Raving Rabbids 2

(Ubisoft for Wii, DS; Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older)

This collection of 60+ mini games delivers on action and humor. The rabbids, which look like cartoon rabbits and act like zany maniacs, are the funniest characters in gaming today. It’s worth pointing out that this game is much more satisfying on Wii than DS.

mariopartyds.jpgRunner-up: Mario Party DS

(Nintendo for DS)

Overall, Mario Party DS probably has slightly better games than Raving Rabbids 2, but the sense of humor in Raving Rabbids was the decision maker. What Mario Party DS brings to the party is a story mode and a puzzle mode along with a collection of mini games.

namcomuseumremix.jpgRunner-up: Namco Museum Remix

(Bandai Namco for Wii)

Namco has taken nine classic arcade games and dressed them up with new graphics and altered gameplay to create a fun collection.

vivapinata.jpgRunner-up: Viva Piñata Party Animals (Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Packed with 40 mini games — some good, some great, a few a bit disappointing — Viva Piñata Party Animals is a good package overall. Many of the mini games in this collection are not all that miniature, such as the cart racing game.


CATEGORY FIVE: Best Games of the Year

It’s been a good year, but not an especially great year for games. That said, the top two games of 2007 would make the “best of” list no matter what year they came out.

supermariogalaxy.jpgConsole Winner: Super Mario Galaxy

(Nintendo for Wii)

If you’re looking for a game that reminds you why you started playing video games in the first place, here it is.

In Super Mario Galaxy, the powerful plumber chases bad boy Bowser across not just one galaxy but dozens. Mario transforms into a boo (ghost), a bee and his old two-dimensional self. The graphics are beautiful, the challenges endless, the fun nonstop.

zeldaphantomhourglass.jpgPortable Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

(Nintendo for DS)

Great Wind Waker-style cel-shaded graphics and a storyline that picks up where Wind Waker left off make this the portable game of the year.

legostarwars.jpgRunner-up: LEGO Star Wars: The Compete Saga

(LucasArts Entertainment for PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, DS; Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older)

First of all, a word to LucasArts: Why isn’t this game on PS2, Xbox and PC?

LucasArts took all the deep gameplay goodness that made the previous two LEGO Star Wars games so great and combined them into one huge title. If you don’t already have LEGO Star Wars I or II, here’s your chance to relive all six Star Wars movies through the eyes of blocky little LEGO characters.

36 Comments on The 2007 Boysie Awards

  1. I am from the future!

  2. lancers 2013 // April 22, 2010 at 9:38 am // Reply

    Nintendo has the all time greatest consoles ever made. The DS has some of the best 2-D graphics ever especially in Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Mario series, every other game for the DS.

  3. da best scout // February 23, 2010 at 12:40 pm // Reply

    the wii rocks!!!

  4. yo is so right I can’t even begin to explain.

  5. Dude don’t waste ur money on a xbox get a wii or nintendo ds or nintendo dsi:) or the best ever an iPod touch or iPhone

  6. I realy realy want a wii!

  7. I want a wii so bad all go crazy

  8. semi circle 1000 // August 8, 2009 at 11:18 pm // Reply

    I expected the wii to win because it is more family related than other gaming concles the PS1, 2, and 3 have good graphics for their time but they have more Teen games than E rated games some of them do but XBOX 360 also plays many violent games more like fighting games the maker and founder made the controller shaped for this and so I’m not suprised by the Wii winning the Boysie Award. 🙂

  9. semi circle 1000 // August 8, 2009 at 11:09 pm // Reply

    The old wii is just waiting to be obscelete and nintindo should begin building a new concle the Nintindo DSi should help with the problem but they need to branch out the have alot of games for the Wii and DS/DSi and that is the problem the Sony PS2 has over sixteen hundred games and then they made the PS3, Games Like Madden 08 and other Madden games are really entertaining and fun so my advive is don’t buy a wii wait and save money to buy the latest Ganing concle after the wii.

  10. Sonic and the Black Night is the BEST it ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  11. Lego star wars2 is the best game ever. i have it.

  12. Lego star wars is the best game ever #1

  13. I love the Lego star Wars the complete saga so much and i have heard it is a fabulos game.

  14. @ obiwon
    SSBB was released March 9th, 2008.

  15. ya SMG is amazingly awesome.

  16. THE WII IS THE BEST CONSOLE EVER! YOU REALLY GET INTO THE GAME. IT ALSO GIVES YOU AN AWESOME WORKOUT.( WII FIT )

  17. I agree with obi-wan, Super smash bros brawl sould be one of the best games.

  18. the gamer of hte nintendo wii // December 7, 2008 at 10:07 pm // Reply

    i have a nintendo wi and its the funnist syestem that is the coolest 🙂

  19. Super Christopher // October 22, 2008 at 4:52 pm // Reply

    I LOVE NINTENDO! Go Wii! Go DS!

  20. I love it

  21. I Love wii’s !!!!!!!!! and I want one verry verry baddly !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  22. mario party 8 is better than that weird rabbit game (ps) wii rocks

  23. pspftw is wrong.

  24. well, obi-wan, super smash bros brawl wasn’t released in 2007. It may be nominated for 2008!

  25. Super Smash Bros. Brawl should have been the best game!

  26. nintendo has good graphics just ppl think its terrible compared 2 ps3 and 360. i like da ds and da psp. pspftw, try a nintendo console 4 once. youll like it.

  27. i love wiis and i realy want one badly.

  28. WiiS ROCK!!!!!! GO NINTENDO!!!!! GO WiiS!!!!

  29. Lego Star Wars Master // July 18, 2008 at 3:03 pm // Reply

    PSPftw, stop complaining. the wii is AWESOME!! The graphics and sound on the wii is not bad at all.

  30. smashtasmrules // July 5, 2008 at 10:49 am // Reply

    i disagree with pspftw. the graphics and sound don’t matter, i mean, what’s better: a game with excellent graphics like the PS3 but is really boring and stupid, or a game with not-as-good graphics like the gamecube and is best game you’ve ever played? think about it.

  31. Nintendo makes bad consoles. The Wii has terrible graphics. The online offerings are stupid. The Gamecube had Nintendo 64 graphics that were just smoother. The Nintendo 64 has a bad controller design. The Game Boy series have terrible 3-D graphics and the 2-D graphics look old-school. The DS can break easily and it has the worst 3-D graphics. I won’t even talk about the Wi-fi connection. The PS3 is the best. the graphics own, the sound owns, the price is worth it. Mario games are so boring. Super Mario Galaxy is garbage compared to Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

  32. + the Wii’s graphics aren’t too bad.

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