The Game Critics awards for E3 2006 have been announced, and the winner of Best of Show this year is Nintendo’s Wii console, beating out Assassin’s Creed,Bioshock, Gears of War, and Spore to take the overall title. The Wii also took best hardware, while Will Wright’s Spore was voted Best Original Game, Best Simulation Game, and Best PC Game. Epic’s new Xbox 360 shooter, Gears of War won Best Console Game. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass came away with the award for Best Handheld Game, the rest of Nintendo’s showing was represented by Excite Truck as Best Racing Game, and Wii Sports as Best Sports Game.

In terms of console platform wins, Nintendo’s Wii led the pack with 4 wins, followed by the Xbox 360 with 3, and the PS3 with 2. Nintendo’s showing was quite impressive, given that the Xbox 360 was heading into its second generation of game titles, and had a number of great games shown; the amount of wins is a testament to Nintendo’s preparation and readiness for this Holiday season. Microsoft may have suffered a little bit due to the sheer number of nominations seen for the Xbox 360 platform; Xbox 360 games received a total of 21 nominations, resulting in multiple Xbox 360 games up for the same awards. Overall, Sony’s strongest showing were the games Heavenly Sword and Assassin’s Creed, which took Best Fighting Game and Best Action/Adventure Game respectively.

The full list of nominees (winners bolded) after the jump.

Best of Show
- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
- Wii (Nintendo)

Best Original Game
- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC/Xbox 360)
- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
- LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
- Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best PC Game
- Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC)
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)
- Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)
- Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)
- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)

Best Console Game
- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)
- Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
- Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Handheld Game
- Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)
- Killzone: Liberation (Guerrilla/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
- LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
- Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (Kojima Productions/Konami for PSP)
- The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo for Nintendo DS)

Best Hardware
- DS Lite (Nintendo)
- Logitech G25 Racing Wheel (Logitech for PC)
- PlayStation 3 (Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Wii (Nintendo)
- Xbox 360 Wireless Headset (Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Action Game
- Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts for PC)
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision for PC)
- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios for Xbox 360)
- Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (Capcom for Xbox 360)
- Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Action/Adventure Game
- Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3)
- Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC and Xbox 360)
- God of War 2 (Sony Santa Monica/SCEA for PlayStation 2)
- Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo for GameCube/Wii)

Best Fighting Game
- Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory/Sony for PS3)
- Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Midway Games for PlayStation 2/Xbox)
- Tekken: Dark Resurrection (Namco Bandai Games for PSP)
- Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega for Arcade/PlayStation 3)
- WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007 (Yuke’s/THQ for 360/PS3/PS2/PSP)

Best Role Playing Game
- Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix for PlayStation 2)
- Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/Namco Bandai Games for PC)
- Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
- Neverwinter Nights 2 (Obsidian/Atari for PC)
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard for PC)

Best Racing Game
- Excite Truck (Nintendo for Wii)
- Formula One 06 (Studio Liverpool/SCEE for PlayStation 3)
- Gran Turismo HD (Polyphony Digital/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)
- MotoGP 06 (Climax/THQ for Xbox 360)
- Test Drive Unlimited (Eden Studios/Atari for Xbox 360, PC, PS2, PSP)

Best Simulation Game
- Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft Games Studio for PC)
- Sid Meier’s Railroads! (Firaxis Games/2K Games for PC)
- Spore (Electronic Arts for PC)
- The Movies: Stunts and Effects (Lionhead Studios/Activision for PC)
- Wii Music Orchestra (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Sports Game
- Madden NFL 07 (Tiburon/EA for PS3 / Xbox 360)
- Madden NFL 07 (Tiburon/EA for Nintendo Wii)
- NBA 2K7 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports for Xbox 360)
- NCAA Football 07 (EA Tiburon/Electronic Arts for X360/PS2/Xbox/PSP)
- Wii Sports (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Strategy Game
- Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ for PC)
- Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth II (EA for X360)
- Medieval 2: Total War (Creative Assembly/Sega for PC)
- Supreme Commander (Gas Powered Games/THQ for PC)
- World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment/Sierra for PC)

Best Puzzle/Trivia/Parlor Game
- Elite Beat Agents (Inis/Nintendo for Nintendo DS)
- Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Red Octane for PlayStation 2)
- LocoRoco (SCEJ/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)
- Lumines II (Q Entertainment/Buena Vista Games for PSP)
- WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Nintendo for Wii)

Best Online Multiplayer Game
- Battlefield 2142 (Digital Illusions/Electronic Arts for PC)
- Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/ATVI for PC)
- Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)
- Huxley (Webzen for PC/Xbox 360)
- World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard for PC)

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