• Certain to be a controversial decision, NCAA Football 2005 has surprised me to become my favorite football game of the year. The running game is top-notch and I haven't had the problem with the passing game that has been reported by many others (dropped passes).
• Madden's lack of optional controller configurations was a gamekiller for me or else it would have been my favorite football game this year.

Basketball: March Madness 2005 (Runner Up: NBA Live 2005)

• To my surpise, I've come to favor the Live basketball engine over ESPN's. While March Madness 2005 is still new to me, it controls and feels enough like Live with better gameplay and atmosphere to take home the award for Favorite Basketball Game of the Year. The Floor General system is a nice addition to the series.
• Even with it's subpar graphics, I've enjoyed Live more than the ESPN Basketball series for the first time ever. ESPN needs to tightened up it's clunky controls and work on its Isomotion feature for next year.

Hockey: ESPN NHL 2K5 (Runner Up: none)

• ESPN NHL 2K5 is such an improvement on the 2K series in every category and is so far ahead of the competition that I don't even have a Runner Up in this category.

Baseball: ESPN Baseball 2K4 (Runner Up: MLB 2005)

• A few months ago ESPN Baseball would not have even been on my list, but a revisit to this baseball gem has shown me the light. Clean graphics, tight fielding and an excellent zone-hitting batting scheme round out this great game.
• 989 Sports is on the verge of greatness with their series. This should be a very good upcoming year for baseball games.

Biggest Comeback: Fight Night 2004

• Changing the name from Knockout Kings and introducing analog punching controls, EA's first entry in the Fight Night series has laid the groundwork for an excellent boxing series. A lag free online mode for the PS2 was icing on the cake.

Biggest Disappointment: ESPN NFL 2K5 and MVP Baseball 2004

• ESPN NFL 2K5 was one of my most anticipated games this year and unfortunately left me disappointed. The stiff controls, terrible DB AI and unrealistic (to me at least) ball physics left a bad taste in my mouth. By no means is this a bad game, it does far more things right than wrong, but it still left me disappointed because of the huge expectations I had for it.
• MVP Baseball's bugs (lefty hitters), batting system and CPU AI hurt what was otherwise an excellent game. This is another game that can approach greatness with the right fixes.

Racing: MX Unleashed (Runner Up: Burnout 3)

• MX Unleashed's excellent combination of arcade fun and simulation controls are hard to beat. The only thing missing was online racing which will be remedied in this year's MX vs. ATV Unleashed.
• The visuals, fun factor and especially the speed of Burnout 3 guaranteed this game a spot on my list.

Non-Sports Game: Spider-Man 2

• Web-slinging through a virtual Manhattan is one of the most fun things I've done in a video game in a long time. Where was this game when I was a kid?!?