The fine folks over at Gamers with Jobs has given Sins of a Solar Empire the award for Best PC Exclusive Game of the Year! Not only that, Sins was also a runner up in the Game of the Year award.
Link: 2008 GWJ Community Game of the Year Awards
“As a rule, we at Gamerswithjobs avoid putting together any kind of intenal Game of the Year awards, primarily because the debate over the value and standards of such a thing would result in bloodshed, assault charges and the very likely ritual suicide of our own literary leporidae. Besides, it's far less interesting for us to make grand pronouncements from on high, and far more interesting to hear what a few hundred gamers we trust actually have to say on the matter.”
They also had a great article “analyzing the stories of 2008”, and Sins also had a feature there as well.
“Stardock and Ironclad broke all the conventional rules. They created a strategy game for the PC with virtually no DRM protection, and managed to be rewarded by a grateful, if desperate, PC gaming fanbase. An outstanding game on its own, it is also a slap in the face to companies too lazy or too jaded to believe that this kind of market still exists.
If you were to hold a gun to my head and make me pick a Game of the Year, this is it for a variety of reasons.
Why This is Important: Large corporations with the resources to risk tens of millions of dollars in the hope that they will collect revenue in the hundreds of millions are timid juggernauts. With that kind of scratch on the line, these companies must play it safe at every opportunity, and like financial hypochondriacs, the more risk averse they become the more they see risk in every option.
With a more modest budget comes the ability to be successful with more modest sales, thus opening up the opportunity to tap otherwise untapped markets. Ironclad proved that you can still create a strong product from humble means without sacrificing quality or integrity”