The AG staff would like to offer our sincere congratulations to the developers (and publishers) of all games that won awards, and our thanks to the many readers who participated in our public voting poll. We'd also like to thank a very special contributor, without whose support "The Aggies" wouldn't have had nearly the same impact.

For those who weren't aware, the Adventure Gamers logo is the creation of none other than the incomparable Bill Tiller. In deciding to expand on the logo's theme for this year's awards, we knew there was no one better to entrust with the new close-up artwork of "The Aggie" than Tiller himself. Much to our delight, Bill was willing to graciously provide us with the new design.

With Autumn Moon's A Vampyre Story eligible for awards in 2008, naturally this posed a risk of conflict of interest. Fortunately, good guy and total professional that he is, Bill was in absolute agreement that his private contribution should in no way influence the results, and in order to prevent the possibility of (even unintentional) favouritism, no participating member of staff was informed of the new design project before all voting was completed – in fact, not until the artwork was revealed publicly in our "Day One" awards feature.

We can't stop determined cynics from suspecting conspiracy anyway, but given that A Vampyre Story's one and only staff award this year was for Best Graphic Design, all that really proves is that we have great taste in artists! And since you readers agreed with us, we can't even take much credit for that.

Rest assured, then, that our awards were the result of nothing more than our own experience and opinion. For a recap of additional guidelines behind the voting process, read on.

Rules and Regulations

All staff nominations were submitted privately, seen and verified only by two awards administrators. Final voting was done following the same procedure.

To ensure total impartiality, no staff member was permitted to nominate any game in which they were involved in any way outside of official Adventure Gamers press coverage. For the purpose of final voting, no staff member was permitted to vote in any category in which a game they were involved in (outside of official Adventure Gamers press coverage) had been nominated.

To be considered, a game must have had its first release in a major English language market in the calendar year 2008. Major markets include North America and the United Kingdom. Alternatively, any game first made available through digital distribution or self-published online during the year was also eligible.

For the sake of administrative simplicity, Sam & Max: Season Two and Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People have been listed as a single entity.

Complete list of eligible games

1112: Episode 1 (iPhone/iPod Touch)
AGON: The Lost Sword of Toledo
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney (DS)
Art of Murder: FBI Confidential
Belief & Betrayal
Carol Reed: The Colour of Murder
Casebook: Episode I – Kidnapped
Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual
Diamonds in the Rough
Dracula: Origin
Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon
Everlight: Of Magic and Power
The Experiment
Flower, Sun and Rain (DS)
The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (Wii, PS2)
The Immortals of Terra: A Perry Rhodan Adventure
Insecticide (PC, DS)
Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles (DS)
The Lost City of Malathedra
The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure
Lost: Via Domus (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Murder in the Abbey
Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst
Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice
Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals
Outcry
Overclocked: A History of Violence
Penumbra: Black Plague
Penumbra: Requiem
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)
Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches
Sam & Max: Season Two (excludes 2007's Episode 201: Ice Station Santa)
Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens
Sinking Island
So Blonde
Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People (PC, Wii)
The Tales of Bingwood – Chapter I: To Save a Princess
Theresia (DS)
Time Hollow (DS)
Undercover: Dual Motives (DS)
Unsolved Crimes (DS)
A Vampyre Story

Contributors to the writing of this article include: Jack Allin, Austin Boosinger, Evan Dickens, Luke Jensen, Emily Morganti, Andrea Morstabilini, Kim Wild.