Gamespot has announced its Game of the Year nomination list. I don’t know why they break it down into so many different catergories – I count 53. Sure, ten of the categories are “joke” categories like the one for excessive cursing or product placement. But clicking through all those pages is the best argument yet for ignoring platforms as a distinguishing characteristic.

The Strategy Game of the Year nominees are a bit of a surprise since there are two console games on the list: Advance Wars: Dual Strike and Metal Gear Acid. The PC entries are Act of War: Direct Action, Dragonshard and the odds-on favorite Civilization IV. Civ is also the only strategy entry in the PC Game of the Year category.

The failure of Age of Empires III to be nominated for a single category must be a serious disappointment for the folks at Ensemble. This is a marquee franchise that has brought lots of critical acclaim to the developers and they put together another good game – very good at times. Still, it wasn’t good enough for Gamespot. Not quite good enough for me either.

Come January, the major sites and magazines will announce all of their 2005 best-of lists, and I’ll be here to look at all the strategy relevant opinions.