And our game of the show winner is ...

E3 was all about the games this year. With the console launches out of the way, game developers have been able to focus on making great games, and we saw a ton of that at E3 2014 this year. 

We shared with you our nominees for game of the show and about a dozen other categories. Now it's time to find out what games have won our Best of E3 2014 winners!

Game of the Show: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

The couple days of E3? A bit uneventful. Nothing matching the convention's bombastic scale. The Phantom Pain wasn't a a big, surprising reveal, but it was enough to wrest a lot of us from the throes of cynicism. 

Ground Zeroes was too light an appetizer, too free of Metal Gear idiosyncrasies that make Kojima the highest budgeted auteur around despite some whacked writing (also, Konami has no games). After a goofy monologue, the demo transitioned seamlessly into gameplay and a horse started pooping in real time. I really, really hope you (or enemies) can step in the poop and respond accordingly.

Metal Gear Solid V offers the excitement and technical fidelity of big budgets, but with unique ideas that manifest themselves in atypical mechanics. Like the Fulton recovery system, which can be used to balloon knocked out soldiers, vehicles, and sheep back to Mother Base. Or subtler touches like rolling onto your back while crawling so you can shoot without spinning around while inching back on your elbows. Snake smokes an e-cig with holographic smoke for aesthetic effect to pass time.

It's Metal Gear's grandiose self-seriousness with enough juxtaposition of weird, quirky stuff to make it interesting. To make it surprising. That capacity to surprise, to offer something new, even within a set staple mechanics, is why it's our E3 2014 Game of the Show. -- Steven Hansen.

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Here's our Game of the Show nominees again, with all the other winners for each category listed below. 

Nominees: 

• Bloodborne
• Sunset Overdrive
• Hyper Light Drifter
• Super Smash Bros. 
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• EVE: Valykrie 
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
• Far Cry 4
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
• No Man's Sky

Best PlayStation Exclusive -- Winner: Bloodborne

Nominees: 

• BloodBorne
• DriveClub
• The Order: 1886
• Hohokum
• Persona 4: Dancing All Night
• LittleBigPlanet 3
• Freedom Wars

Best Xbox Exclusive -- Winner: Sunset Overdrive

Nominees: 

• Halo: The Master Chief Collection
• Sunset Overdrive
• Forza Horizon 2
• Fable Legends 
• Killer Instinct
• Ori and the Blind Forest
• D4

Best Nintendo Exclusive -- Winner: Super Smash Bros.

Nominees: 

• Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
• Super Smash Bros.
• Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire 
• Hyrule Warriors
• Yoshi's Woolly World
• Bayonetta 2
• Splatoon
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Mario Maker
• Persona Q

Best PC game -- Winner: Civilization: Beyond Earth

Nominees:  

• Civilization: Beyond Earth
• The Sims 4
• Skyforge
• Gauntlet

Best Portable game -- Winner: Persona Q 

Nominees:

• Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire
• Theatrhythm: Curtain Call
• Persona Q
• Super Smash Bros
• Freedom Wars
• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
• Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate 
• Story of Seasons
• Hitman Sniper

Best Action/Adventure -- Winner: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Nominees: 

• Alien: Isolation
• Hyper Light Drifter
• Assassin's Creed Unity
• Batman Akrham Knight
• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
• Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number
• Bayonetta 2
• Below
• No Man's Sky

Best Shooter -- Winner: Far Cry 4

Nominees: 

• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
• Destiny
• Evolve 
• The Order: 1886
• Battlefield: Hardline
• Far Cry 4
• EVE: Valykrie 
• Sunset Overdrive
• Splatoon
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Best Strategy -- Winner: Civilization: Beyond Earth

Nominees:

• Civilization: Beyond Earth
• Defense Grid 2
• GreyGoo

Best Platformer -- Winner: Yoshi's Woolly World

Nominees:

• Skylanders Trap Team
• Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric
• Disney Infinity 2.0 - Marvel Super Heroes
• LEGO Batman 3
• Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty
• To Leave
• LittleBigPlanet 3
• Yoshi's Woolly World
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Ori and the Blind Forest

Best RPG -- Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Nominees:

• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Fable Legends
• Pokemon Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire
• Bloodborne
• Kingdom Hearts 2.5
• Persona Q
• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley
• Story of Season
• Dragon Age: Inquisition 
• Freedom Wars

Best Racing -- Winner: Forza Horizon 2

Nominees:

• DriveClub
• World of Speed
• The Crew 
• Forza Horizon 2

Best Sports -- Winner: NHL 15

Nominees: 

• NHL 15
• Madden NFL 15
• FIFA 15

Best Fighting -- Winner: Super Smash Bros.

Nominees: 

• Persona 4 Arena Ultimax
• Super Smash Bros.
• Mortal Kombat X
• Killer Instinct - Season 2
• Legend of Raven

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Editor's note: We only nominate up to a max of ten games per category. We also only select games that were actually playable in some form here at the show. 

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