In brief: It's a question many gamers are asked, and most have a different answer: what is the greatest game of all time? It's a conundrum that this year's Golden Joystick Awards will answer, as decided by the voting public, and you can also vote for the greatest piece of hardware ever made.
Voting for the various Golden Joystick Awards 2021 categories finished last week, but you can still vote for the ultimate game of all time and best gaming hardware of all time over at GamesRadar. In the case of the former, there is estimated to be around 1.1 million games released over the last five decades, so a voting shortlist was created using existing 'best of all time' lists from Edge Magazine and Retro Gamer magazine, along with every Ultimate Game of the Year winner from previous Golden Joystick shows, which began in 1983.
Here's the full list of Ultimate Game Of All Time contenders:
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Dark Souls
- Doom (1993)
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Half-Life 2
- Halo: Combat Evolved
- Metal Gear Solid
- Minecraft
- Pac-Man
- Pokémon Go
- Portal
- SimCity (1989)
- Street Fighter 2
- Space Invaders
- Super Mario 64
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Super Mario Kart
- The Last of Us
- Tetris
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Everyone has their own opinion, of course---this writer would have picked The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had it been included. The list contains some important titles from video game history, including the three best-sellers of all time: Minecraft, GTA V, and Tetris, in that order. From the options available, I'm torn between Doom (1993) and Half-Life 2, but it's hard to ignore the cultural impact of games such as Pac-Man and Space Invaders.
In addition to the ultimate game, voters also get to pick the best piece of gaming hardware of all time from this list:
- Amiga 500
- Atari 2600
- Commodore 64
- Dreamcast
- Game Boy
- Game Boy Advance
- Gamecube
- Nintendo 64
- Nintendo DS
- Nintendo Entertainment System
- PC
- PlayStation
- PlayStation 2
- PlayStation 4
- Sega Mega Drive
- Sega Saturn
- Super Nintendo Entertainment System
- Wii
- Xbox 360
- ZX Spectrum
Again, this is all very subjective; most readers, myself included, will likely pick the PC, though there are plenty of greats to choose from (learn more about the history of the Amiga and Commodore in this feature). The PlayStation 2 remains the best-selling console of all time, and many will argue over whether it was the Atari 2600 or Nintendo Entertainment System that really helped bring gaming to the masses.
What would be your pick for the ultimate game and greatest piece of hardware? Let us know in the comments below.