We've concluded our inaugural end of the year awards, which featured the best-of-the-best in massively multiplayer online gaming. Read more to find out which title won our Game of the Year!

FIRST PLACE: Penny Arcade Expo 

Of all the shows we attended this year, the Penny Arcade Expo remains the prime example of how to create a truly consumer driven event while still managing to pull in the biggest gaming publishers and developers. Their efforts showed through in the attendance numbers: over 60,000 people walked the halls of the Washington State Convention Center that weekend. 

Exhibitors that missed or couldn’t afford E3 eagerly snatched up space on the show floor and nearly every major MMO company was in attendance. Exclusive looks at Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Secret World were the highlights for MMO fans, and left many of us drooling for more from those particular games. Even after the show was over, PAX was still making headlines: an outbreak of swine flu was reported in over 100 individuals who attended the show and surely existed (undocumented) in others.  

SECOND PLACE: BlizzCon 

Although it didn’t reach the top spot in this year’s fan event category, Blizzard made a strong showing at this year’s BlizzCon with the announcement of Cataclysm and playable demos of the new Goblin and Worgen races. Unfortunately the Cataclysm unveiling was diminished by an early leak of the news. Other problems included ticketing issues and a rather lackluster display of Diablo III and Starcraft II..  

Despite those woes, a Murloc in-game World of Warcraft pet, amazing fan entertainment, and continually intriguing game-based panels kept BlizzCon in a solid second place. 

THIRD PLACE: Gamescom 

Out of all the events listed in our awards section, Gamescom was by far the largest. With 245,000 visitors in its inaugural year, the show can only continue to grow with time. Unfortunately, Gamescom doesn't provide quite as much in-depth MMO gaming coverage as BlizzCon, nor does it have the overall gamer appeal of PAX. Its size and the growing celebrity status of the show among gamers, however, proves that Gamescom could be a top three contender for this award for years to come.