Making a list of the best PC games of the year is an impossible task.
First, consider that most of the truly top-tier gaming experiences to be had on personal computers this year actually fell into the Multi-Platform awards category, so Fallout 3 and the like weren't eligible. Also consider that Wired.com writers include voracious players of browser games, MMOs, and independent games, and the nominations list was bound to be a scattershot pile of unrelated games.
Thus, that's precisely what we're giving you: Five games that we enjoyed playing in 2008 that are utterly impossible to directly compare.
Karoshi 5. Best Stupid Browser Game: Karoshi Suicide Salaryman
Karoshi is Japanese for "death by overwork." It happens a lot there. In this browser game, you're a salaryman attempting to commit office suicide. You've got to puzzle out how you're going to kill yourself in each of 50 different levels. The production values are low, the joke gets old fast, and some of the puzzles are kind of stupid, but I couldn't stop playing. Who knows why? -- Chris Kohler
Peggle3 4. Best Sequel to a Game We Were Still Playing: Peggle Nights
Having perfected their recipe, the digital dope dealers over at PopCap unleashed yet another hit of that addictive pachinko formula with Peggle Nights. This rainbow-slathered package recycled the simple mechanics countless fans have come to love, tossing in new levels and challenges while a disarmingly cheerful atmosphere etches smiles on the faces of the coldest cynics. -- Nate Ralph
Sinssolar 3. Best Incredibly Complicated Simulation: Sins of a Solar Empire
Expand, explore, exploit, exterminate. Become the master of the universe in this elaborate interstellar strategy game. "Epic" doesn't even fully encapsulate the scope of Sins of a Solar Empire. The depth of the gameplay and the customization options are amazing enough. But when you extrapolate them out over the game's nearly-endless virtual spacescape, you see why Sins fans regularly claim to have spent thousands of hours immersed in it. -- Earnest Cavalli
Lichking 2. Best Expansion of an MMO That Needed It Least: Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath of the Lich King includes the finest additional content that World of Warcraft has ever seen, from expansive new territories to explore to a handy in-game calendar. As such, it is widely loved by the game's 11 million subscribers. More importantly, it proves that even though Blizzard is the most successful MMO developer in history by a huge margin, the company refuses to become complacent. -- Earnest Cavalli
Audiosurf_2 1. Best Breakout Indie Smash: Audiosurf
Talk about replay value. Audiosurf will take any MP3, WMA or OGG file on your PC and turn it into a Wipeout-style racetrack, with bumps and curves and power-ups that correspond to the beats and rhythms of the song. YouTube has plenty of examples, from "Still Alive" to Rick Astley. Everyone with a PC should shell out a few bucks and download this game.
(CondéNet, Inc.)
Total Members: 14199
