2006 Edge Awards
As Famitsu is to Japan, Edge is to the U.S. and Britain. The much-respected games magazine has released their surprisingly short list of awards, for the 'best of' 2006. The winners are: "Best Game - Final Fantasy XII. Best Innovation - Nintendo Wii. Best Visual Design - Okami. Best Audio Design - Dragon Quest: The Journey Of The Cursed Kin. Best Developer - Nintendo. Best Publisher - Take Two. Best Online Experience - Test Drive Unlimited. Best Hardware - Nintendo DS."
I think its more that mainstream industry PC gaming sucks lately, there's been a lot of cool indie stuff coming out this year. Defcon (a minimalist RTS by the makers of Darwinia) looks awesome. Lots of other stuff by Garage Games, Big Fish Studios, Introversion Software, etc.