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The Golden Cogs, Stratics' annual E3 awards, return for their second year in the mix! This year we've pulled one of our awards, Best Sound, and added Most Innovative, Best Franchise, Best Original, Best Hardware, and Best Development Tool. Without further ado I give you the E3 2006 Awards - The Golden Cogs:

Best Persistent World: Seed
Developer: Runestone

The foundation of Seed must have been built with the idea of a persistent world in mind because Seed is the textbook definition of what a persistent world should be. Previously we used to thinking that interacting with the world was a great accomplishment (and in many games it is), but building the world and the objects in it the extent the astonishingly freeing experience that Seed offers. Players can affect, and shape, almost every aspect of the game. Many have criticized this game for lacking content, but that’s only because players haven’t taken the time to truly utilize the in-game tools to build the content they desire.

Runner-up: Saga of Ryzom

Best Graphics: Aion
Developer: NCsoft

World of Warcraft proved that graphics aren’t everything in current-generation massively multiplayer online games, but that doesn’t mean that developers are going to give up their visually appealing achievements for the next generation. NCsoft is one of those developers that still hold graphics in high regard - and it shows. Aion is stunningly beautiful with an unmatched attention to detail and astounding particle effects. We implore you to let your eyes discover this game because they deserve nothing but the best treatment.

Runner-up: EverQuest II and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes

Best Gameplay: Gods and Heroes
Developer: Perpetual Entertainment

One of the biggest challenges that massively multiplayer online game developers face at E3 is making their game not only playable but also simple enough that a player can experience and enjoy the game in just a few brief minutes. Perpetual Entertainment solved the problem with intuitive controls and synchronized animated combat. Gods and Heroes make it fun to be a hero in a world of godly existence.

Runner-up: Tabula Rasa

Best Booth: Sony Online Entertainment

From the outside the Sony Online Entertainment booth wasn’t all that impressive (unless of course you wanted some photos with the booth babes). That being said, we all know that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. The booth wasn’t all about a big show, but rather about treating the attendee right. Comfortable seating, food, and beverages (including alcoholic drinks during the cocktail hour) were some of the delights we experienced, but the true satisfaction came from the lineup of products and the hospitality of the Sonly Online Entertainment staff.

Runner-up: NCsoft

Best Expansion: World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade
Developer: Blizzard

I asked one of our representatives why he thought World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade deserved the title of best expansion and he said “it’s World of Warcraft, does it need another reason?” In truth, yes, you need more than just a title to win, and this big-hitter provided all the right answers: new races, new abilities, new lands, and a list of improvements and additions that go beyond the realm of feasible possibility given the development time. Blizzard put in the work and they’ve got the ultimate expansion to show for it.

Runner-up: EverQuest II: Echoes of Faydwer

Biggest Surprise: Hero's Journey
Developer: Simutronics

You’re not going to believe it, but these guys shocked us with blood. Yes, blood. Blood and gore effects in combat don’t exactly widely exist in massively multiplayer online games and when we saw it we responded in wonderment as to whether this feature would make it to launch. Hero’s Journey wouldn’t even be able to be published in Asia due to the blood and gore and we’re reluctant to say that it’d bode well in the North American market; heck, it might even be enough to tag the game with an ESRB “Mature” rating. Simutronics says they can effortlessly change their title for localization purposes due to the way they built their backend, but still we have to wonder if the red stuff is going to see the light of day anywhere.

Runner-up: Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Most Innovative: EVE Online
Developer: CCP

In recent years we haven’t seen many award-worthy innovations in the massively multiplayer online gaming genre, but this year that all changed when we saw what CCP was working on. The first is a feature which has been widely talked about, but hasn’t been implemented properly – or has been a scrapped feature for many titles: in-game voice chat. We had the opportunity to test the voice chat ourselves and there’s nothing more to say than the fact that it is crystal clear. CCP is taking things even a step further by testing the EVE Online client on PDA’s. That’s right. EVE Online might be coming to your handheld device – that’s pretty darn cool if you ask us.

Runner-up: None

Best Franchise: Lord of the Rings Online
Developer: Turbine Entertainment

How can you do a franchise justice these days? That’s the question we asked, because nowadays franchise games are coming out that exploit the franchise name to no ends and don’t actually represent the franchise properly. Lord of the Rings Online is clearly a Tolkien product which is exactly why it was unanimously selected as our best franchise winner. We have faith that Tolkien fans will not only be impressed with the game, but will be immersed in the world of Middle Earth as it’s never been realized before: in three-dimensional space.

Runner-up: None

Best Original: Tabula Rasa
Developer: Destination Games

In our world of franchise games and medieval massively multiplayer online games it’s getting harder and harder to make a successful original game, but Tabula Rasa – defined as a clean slate – is like no other product on the market. Being different when the core of your subscribers are habitual gamers has proven to be extremely difficult for publishers in the past, but Tabula Rasa has the potential to pull it off. If you’re looking for a unique experience in this age of cookie-cutter massively multiplayer online games than Tabula Rasa just might be the game for you.

Runner-up: Saga of Ryzom

Best Hardware: PhysX
Developer: AGEIA

Let’s face it, physics rendering basically sucks in current-generation games which is why AGEIA set out on the difficult task of making in-game physics more realistic. They accomplished this hefty goal by developing a physics processing unit (PPU) which works in conjunction with your GPU and CPU. So how does this affect you, the massively multiplayer online gamer? Well, City of Villains, Hero’s Journey, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, and Warhammer Online are all lined up to support PhysX. The developers of All Points Bulletin (Real Time Worlds) and Auto Assault (NetDevil) have also signed on with AGEIA; however, it is not confirmed whether the aforementioned titles or future products will actually support PhysX. Do yourself a favor and get PhysX, you won’t regret it.

Runner-up: NVIDIA GeForce 7900

Best Development Tool: HeroEngine
Developer: Simutronics

When Simutronics, the developers of Hero’s Journey, had the choice of licensing the rights to use various development tools or creating their own they chose to make their own. The result was HeroEngine – a non-genre specific massively multiplayer online game engine. HeroBlade, the development tool included with the engine, is obscenely robust and customizable (not to mention easy to use). HeroEngine also utilizes a proprietary scripting language called HeroScript which, for anyone with a programming background, can easily be learned. Simply put, HeroEngine is second-to-none in the realm of licensed massively multiplayer online gaming development tools.

Runner-up: BigWorld

Best of Show: Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
Developer: Sigil Games Online

A lot of people have speculated that the publishing rights to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes were not being sold by Microsoft Games Studio on good terms, but rather because the game was a failure. We can’t lay that theory to rest; however, we can tell you that the “failure” impressed us to no ends. Vanguard: Saga of Heroes features the most robust crafting, combat, and faction systems that we’ve seen to date. It also doesn’t hurt that the game is gorgeous, has great potential, and is being created by some of the industry’s most infamous developers.

Runner-up: Gods and Heroes

Contributors:
"Brekkee"
Derek "Kerrigor" Woods
J.R. "Eldorian" Cook
Jennifer M. "Cherry" Paulino
Joe "CrazyJoe" Harden
"Joshua Rowan"
Nelson K. Thachuk
Shelby "Optik" Stong
"SweetChoch"