oliveira8 said:
L4D and Wrath of the Lich King came out in November and they got plenty of GoTY nominations.
http://goty.gamespy.com/2008/pc/11.html
L4D and WotLK in 3rd and 4th place
http://kotaku.com/5122222/kotakus-2008-games-of-the-year-awards?skyline=true&s=x
L4D got best multiplayer
http://bestof.ign.com/2008/overall/19.html
http://bestof.ign.com/2008/overall/8.html
Also L4D for best multiplayer and shooter.
What does IGN, gamespot, and Kotaku all have in common? They are all internet sites. They all have info that can be processed faster than say television. SO....if you think use common sense, it would be easy for them because the internet can change anytime they want at a fraction of a second. Television shows on the other hand and live events are different. They are set up weeks ahead of the year and many even occur even before the year ends such as E3 and even Tokyo Game Show. Then you also have Magazines that are printed ahead of time and thus not all games count.
Do you know how many show/websites/magaxines give away the award for Game of the Year?
If Wikipedia is to be believed
* Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (see below)
* British Academy of Film and Television Arts
* Computer Gaming World
* Crispy Gamer
* Destructoid
* Edge
* Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)
* Eurogamer
* Games
* GameFAQs (through user polls
* Game Informer
* Gamereactor
* GameSpot
* GameSpy
* GameTrailers
* G-Phoria
* NoobToob
* Giant Bomb
* IGN
* JIVE Magazine
* Kotaku
* Nintendo Power
* PC Gamer
* PC World
* Pelit
* Penny Arcade
* Play
* Spike TV
* X-Play
They also don't have the same opinions either as one website choose another game for another one. So while IGN gave the 2007 away to Super Mario Galaxy, gamespot gave it to COD4: Modern Warfare.
In terms of a standard gaming year some don't give the award to games that come out to late in the year.
I know this because there was some concern as whether some games would make the cut due to them coming out so late, but the game came out in September and thus was clear.
So we are both right....depending on what point of view you take. Remember that websites differ greatly from other media as websites update faster than most print/shows.