However, where Guitar Hero II excels and builds on its predecessor is the addition of a co-operative multiplayer mode allowing a partner to jam with you on bass or rhythm guitar, adding a whole new dimension to the game.

If this doesn't make Guitar Hero II one of the best party games ever, I don't know what does. Still, I think the thing that makes Guitar Hero II such an outstanding music/rhythm game in particular, is the fact that it can actually teach the basics of playing guitar on some level and even inspire people to pick up a real instrument afterwards.

Runner Up: Elite Beat Agents (DS)

Best Shooter
Winner: Gears of War (360)
Synopses: Jason "Njiska" Westhaver

It's Gears of War: 'nuff said.

What, not good enough for you? Okay, how about it's the most beautiful, visceral experience you can have without being sentenced to 940 years in prison.

Intensity is the name of the game when it comes to picking the best Shooter of 2006 and intensity is what Gears has in spades. Whether fighting the hordes of on coming locusts or giving your friends a few seconds to come to terms with their own death before you smash their skull into the pavement, Gears just makes you feel like you're constantly on the edge of orgasm, and if you're good, it'll result in an equally messy finish.

Runner Up: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (360)

Best Strategy Game
Winner: Company of Heroes (PC)
Synopses: Jason "Njiska" Westhaver

When one attempts to visualize a strategy player, the image of a large man in a white shirt with a pocket protector immediately comes to mind. Someone who is the master of micromanagement and has 50,000 different formulae for maximizing distortion while maintaining a stable economy. You know, the kind of people the Bush administration might want to consider hiring.

But Company of Heroes isn't that kind of game. Instead of gathering resources like nearly every other RTS on the planet, the game focuses on extending your supply lines just like the Allies did during the real war. Combined with incredible visuals and a rich physics engine, Company of Heroes is a great addition to a somewhat stale genre, and proves to be more then just another WWII RTS. Hence it's the Best Strategy game of 2006.

Runner Up: Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II (360)

Best Sports Game
Winner: Wii Sports (Wii)
Synopses: Mark Buckingham

In a world where games get deeper and less accessible to the countless casual and/or non-gamers out there, Nintendo made things simpler. We've reached a point where more pixels or better physics or sharper images aren't improving games as much as they did a generation or two ago.