Voting for the second annual XBLA Awards opening soon, here are the nominees

Starting on Tuesday, March 3, the polls for the second annual Xbox LIVE Arcade awards will open. This year, Microsoft is actually letting us vote through our Xbox 360s, so there’s no blaming the weather this time around.

In case you were wondering, Bomberman LIVE was voted as the best overall LIVE Arcade game last year (full list of winners here). What will it be this time around? My guess is that most people will opt to pick either Castle Crashers or Braid.

Honestly, I don’t really care what y’all vote for, except for the “Best Classic/Remake Game” category. If Bionic Commando Rearmed doesn’t end up winning, I’m going to be pretty disappointed. Make it happen, guys.

Best Overall Arcade Game

• Braid
• Castle Crashers
• Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2 
• Street Fighter II HD Remix
• Portal: Still Alive 

Best Original Game

• Castle Crashers
• N+
• Braid
• Penny Arcade Episode 1
• Schizoid
• Age of Booty

Best Family Game

• Boogie Bunnies
• Roogoo
• A Kingdom for Keflings
• Lost Cities
• Meteos Wars

Best Co-operative Multiplayer Game

• Castle Crashers
• Schizoid
• Bionic Commando Rearmed
• N+
• Geometry Wars Retro Evolved

Best Competitive Multiplayer Game

• Street Fighter II HD Remix
• Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2
• Soul Calibur
• Meteos Wars
• Age of Booty

Best Solo Game

• Braid
• Mega Man 9
• Penny Arcade Episode 1
• Rez HD
• Portal: Still Alive

Best Innovation in XBLA

• Braid (time travel)
• A Kingdom for Keflings (use of Avatars)
• Fable II Pub Games (retail game integration)
• N+ (level sharing)
• Duke Nukem 3D (dynamic replay) 

Best Graphics

• Street Fighter II HD Remix
• Geometry Wars Retro Evolved 2
• Braid
• Castle Crashers
• Bionic Commando Rearmed

Best Classic/Remake Game

• Bionic Commando Rearmed
• Street Fighter II HD Remix
• Mega Man 9
• Galaga Legions
• Rez HD