Skyrim deserves to win the next Ultimate Game of the Year

Thank you for responding, In this round i'd like to address some of your points and then make my conclusion. To start most of these problems with Skyrim are found with in the Playstation 3 version of the game. It seems as though Bethesda did not properly port the game to Playstation 3, my point of lag and freezing is based on mostly that version of the game, as from what I've heard is the version which is filled with many bugs, and as I said the most recent patch has broken the mechanic of magic resistance, making intensive magic players have to suffer this resistance. Though this may be fixed in the next patch, it is not currently to my knowledge. I have also heard of loading times being long on Xbox 360 however I suspect this is not as frequent as the PS3 version. I agree that combat is generally fine especially with the bow, and with magic spells. However when you are using melee weapons (swords, maces, daggers) the aiming could be better. I do not disagree that the heat of the battle is lost, just that it could be more precise. But saying that it is "overall a very good experience to fight people" is what could edge out the top spot for game of the year. Your argument that the fighting is not merely magic or melee is not true. At its' basis it is weapon and magic based combat, though there are these subtleties that you mentioned, still at its' roots it is melee and magic combat. In accordance to your Skyward Sword thoughts, I have several things to say. I would argue that the experience of playing an adventure game such as Skyward Sword is completely different than that of the experience of Wii Sports. Of course you would rather go out and play tennis because Wii Sports is a sports game, with honestly horrid motion controls, relying only on timing. You can not fairly compare a game such as Skyward Sword with the game that comes with everyone's Wii. It seems that you refuse to believe that the Wii has games that are worthwhile, and just as hardcore and good quality as any game on a different system. Skyward Sword utilizes the Wii Motion Plus peripheral for the Wii Remote to literally make every movement you make 1-1 with your actual movements. If you play badly, it is your fault. Aiming with the bow is exact, swordplay is exact, and every motion is exact, which is an area where I believe Skyward Sword wins over Skyrim. The thrills in Skyward Sword are completely as good, or better than Skyrim. I believe that one of the most hyped parts of Skyrim were the dragons. However after watching people fight dragons, it seems to be a let down compared to expectations. The first boss of the game is the recurring villain, which literally plays with you, stopping your sword in between his fingers. A sense of urgency overcomes the player as the story progresses, which I believe is not really present in Skyrim. The sense of the main story line is not urgent, as there is so much to do. Many players will go off on their own tangents instead, finding the side quests more interesting. My point would be that Skyrim's main quest and storyline is not engaging to many players. The fourth boss entails fighting a giant automaton, which you ultimately defeat with your whip and slashing at it with it's own giant appendages. I would argue that Skyward Sword gives you a sense of enrollment in the character of Link, as the set hero, as Skyrim allows you to pick your own fate. A point about Skyward Sword i'd like to stress is that you can not change the difficulty settings on this game. There is no Easy, Medium, or Hard mode. There are extra hints for puzzles you may employ, but the difficulty of fights can not be dialed down. I can say from first hand experience, that at one point I played 8 hours of Skyward Sword in one day (probably not healthy), and barely realized any time had passed. I realize that this is so with Skyrim as well, however I believe that Skyward Sword rivals this ability of time passing. I'd also like to say that Skyward Sword is a beautiful game. It literally looks like something straight out of an impressionistic painting. The art style really adds to the mood of the game, which is a great mix of wit and urgency. It is hard to describe the experience of Skyward Sword if you have not played it. It far surpassed my expectations, and lived up to the expectations of the sometimes rabid Zelda fan base. The motion controls make you have a feeling that you never want to play a Zelda game again without them, which immerses you in the game arguably more than Skyrim. The experience of Wii Motion plus vs. the normal Wii remote is drastically different. If you ever wish to experience this I suggest you try to play this game, which employs motion controls absolutely perfectly. In accordance to Arkham City, I do not think that being too much like Assassin's Creed is a bad thing. They are not set in the same place, only manners of stealth and movement are similar to Assassin's Creed, and if Arkham City is a fundementally better game than the newest Assassin's Creed than there should not be a problem of it being a contender for Game of the Year. I don't really understand your argument that because it is not far enough from the Assassin's Creed series that it should be out of the running. Though you have many good points, and I do not disagree that Skyrim is one of the best games of the year, I believe that it should not win Game of The Year. Afternote: (What a year for gaming eh? Might have mentioned Dark Souls too, but didn't know enough about it personally, heard it was amazing)