Game Of The Year Picks: Sonic Branding Solutions' Nick Smolney

As part of Gamasutra's end of year round-up, we've asked our readers to submit their choices for top three games of 2005, which we will publish over the next few days alongside picks from the Gamasutra staff. Today's first picks come from Sonic Branding Solutions' Nick Smolney, whose top titles are as follows: "The Movies - Thank you Peter Molyneux. In a day and age when most other developers are abandoning PC based games, you go ahead and bring us one of the most original pieces of software I have ever seen. So much more than just a game, The Movies taps into the primal urge to create our own stories, and is a godsend to the novice machinima creator. I was a bit worried how it would develop after seeing it at GDC, but it really does deliver. Definitely a sleeper hit. World of Warcraft - Even though it officially debuted last year, there have been plenty of content updates this year, and it is arguably the best MMO ever made - certainly the first American born one to enjoy widespread success in Asia. The attention to detail that Blizzard gives to its games is an inspiration to us all. I am just happy I weaned myself off of it early on, otherwise I'd probably be living back home with the folks. Lego Star Wars - Yes, I am man enough to say it - this game just rocked. Maybe I had an insatiable urge to relive my childhood Saturday mornings (playing with my Legos while watching the 'holy trilogy'), but I found this game to be everything I could hope for. The use of so many different playable characters, each with their own abilities, along with different types of levels really made me feel this captured the full gamut of the Star Wars universe. The use of Lego really adds a humorous overtone that just added to my enjoyment, and the cut scenes just go on to emphasize this. I was definitely left wishing for more, and hopefully Eidos and Travellers Tales will be making episodes 4-6 soon enough." Anyone else interested in answering this question should use the official Question Of The Week page until January 2, 2006. Respondents should ideally keep their answers under 500 words.