We asked, and you delivered. Instead of a traditional (read: boring) ranking system to determine the best games of last year, we decided to gamify the process by asking you in the Bitmob community to assign 10 Award Points across your top five games.

And assign you did. You gave points to a whopping 72 different games, showing just how diverse this community is -- and how fantastic 2010 was for gaming. Heck, just look at the breadth of settings and genres among the top five point earners: cowboy epics, platformers, Western space operas, Eastern space operas, and more.

Check out those top five games -- along with commentary from the Bitmob staff who loved them -- after the break, then head over to page 2 for the complete list of nominated games and their AP totals.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

1. Red Dead Redemption (360, PS3, PC) - 33 AP

I never knew I wanted to be a cowboy.

My childhood dreams were filled with adventures in space and across fantasy landscapes -- experiences that I've now played through hundreds of times in games. Only after booting up Red Dead Redemption did my heart yearn for the nobility and freedom of the Wild West.

With protagonist John Marston, Rockstar has given gaming one of its greatest heroes, and his story of redemption is one that will stick with me as strongly as the tales of a moisture farmer who defeated an empire in a little series called Star Wars. Red Dead Redemption reconfigured the open-world genre into a place where moral choices aren't forced on you but rather arise naturally due to your experiences and relationships with the game's characters. Games like this don't come around often, and even with a year stacked with as many excellent titles as 2010 was, Red Dead Redemption stands victorious as the leader of the pack.

Also, look at how prophetic I am. -Mike Minotti, writer 

2. Mass Effect 2 (360, PS3, PC) - 29 AP

"What could I have done differently?"

In life, people usually mutter those words in moments of regret and sadness. The epic RPG Mass Effect 2 triggers those moments time and again, a rare thing for a video game. For example, I'm stuck thinking that if only I had done things differently, maybe the character Jack would still be alive. I should've sided with her in that fight she got into with Miranda -- but then Miranda probably wouldn't have had sex with me. I have to face facts: One of my crew died because I was chasing some space tail.

Choice itself is difficult to pull off in games, but Mass Effect 2's greatest accomplishment is making players want to own their decisions. Jack is dead -- and I need to learn to live with it. -Jeff Grubb, writer

3. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii) - 25 AP

"Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a vain attempt to recapture the magic of the original's novelty! Why bother?"

This is the poison that the Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption hostage negotiators will shout up to you as you sit in a church-steeple belfry with your Galaxy 2 Carbine, taking unsuspecting and willing victims with you. And you won't care that it wasn't the right choice. You'll sit above haughtily, and you'll shout: "Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't ply trade in originality. It doesn't care! It finds its currency in variety! And isn't variety necessarily novelty!" And you'll shout with frothing agitation again and again -- perhaps with an undue zeal -- about repetitive mission structures and tired American-dream narratives and space guns. They'll try to shoot you down -- you know they will -- and eventually, they'll succeed.

And maybe they're right. 'Cause, really, Mass Effect 2 is pretty awesome. But you'll have died a martyr for your cause. And you'll have died knowing that you're someone who constantly wanted to try something new. -James DeRosa, editor

4. Final Fantasy 13 (360, PS3) - 22 AP

Let the haters hate -- I loved Square Enix's latest epic. Yes, it started slowly. Yes, it basically forced you to run in a straight line for most of the game. I don't care. The constant strategic shifting of paradigms in combat had me hooked. Add in a story with surprisingly complex characters, the most beautiful graphics on the PS3, and the best FF soundtrack in years, and you've got my favorite game of 2010. -Layton Shumway, writer

5. (tie) Halo: Reach (360) - 13 AP

Ever since gamers read about the annihilation of humanity's last keystone colony way back in 2001, right on page 4 of the Halo: Combat Evolved instruction manual, we've wanted to see the fall of Reach. Nine years later, in Halo: Reach, we tried to somehow stop it and failed. Bungie's last bite at the franchise that made them a force in the industry might be the ultimate refinement of a idea that started as a best-of-breed experience...the gameplay hits, the new control map hits, the multiplayer really hits. But what truly elevates Halo: Reach above other A-class shooters is your desperate struggle to pull any victory out of a fight you know you'll lose. The tragedy of Reach builds until nothing remains except you, a dead world, and the last fight of your life.

Plus, it has jetpacks. Beat that, Call of Duty. -Rus McLaughlin, writer

5. (tie) Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (360, PS3, PC) - 13 AP

When Ubisoft announced Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood just a year after the superb, sprawling Assassin's Creed 2, people assumed it'd be a quick cash-in. After the news broke that it would have multiplayer, the grumbling grew louder: Here was yet another series with unnecessary features shoe-horned in to compete with Call of Duty and Halo. Few suspected that the shortened single-player campaign -- continuing Ezio's story right after the events of AC2 -- would actually enhance the experience by tightening the focus on one city, Rome. Fewer still guessed that the multiplayer would turn out to be a refreshingly unique concept -- essentially a reverse Turing test where your prime goal is to fool other players into thinking you're AI.

The fact that the team at Ubisoft can made a better game with just a year's turnaround has me very excited for the next entry in the series -- even if it's already been released by the time you finish reading this sentence. -Brett Bates, managing editor

Check out the full list of nominated games and their AP scores on page 2.