GameSpot is very proud to present its sixth annual Best and Worst of the Year feature, which highlights the most noteworthy achievements from the past year in gaming. We award the most distinguished games in more than 20 different categories, each with up to five different nominees. In this process, we consider every game released in 2001, then locked ourselves in a room and yelled at each other until we reached a conclusion. Note that while review scores were taken into consideration during our discussion, they didn't directly dictate our choices.

2001 was an especially interesting year, as we saw the introductions of both the Xbox and the GameCube, as well as Nintendo's new handheld, the Game Boy Advance. This launch-filled year was packed with outstanding releases. Games that ended up lower on our nominee lists or didn't make the cut at all probably could have taken home awards in any other year. In short, it was a great year for gaming.

In response to the market's balance toward a few particular genres, we've also introduced a new annual tradition for our Best and Worst Awards: A countdown of the top 10 games of the year, culminating in the overall number one game of the year. Previously, our awards had forced us to select one game in each category. This time, our top 10 list will give you a real sense of the best overall games of the year. A game may have won in its genre--but did it crack the top 10? And maybe a game didn't win in any other category but was robust or innovative enough to crack the list. Whatever the case, you'll soon find out.

After you've finished reading our choices, we encourage you to participate in our sixth annual Readers' Choice Awards by selecting your favorite games in each category. And now, without further ado, we offer you GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2001.

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