Innovation drives our industry. Games which innovate are the games which drive our industry forward. We have seen it over and over again when it comes to sports gaming: A group of developers implements a cool, innovative and exciting feature, and then other developers create their own version of that same feature. This year, innovative features came at a premium, but there were definitely points of relative strength in the realm of innovation.

This year's winner is NBA 2K10's NBA Today with Dynamic Commentary feature. Most readers and staff members alike loved the dynamic commentary and the fact that the announcers referred to events from the ongoing NBA season. While commentary in sports games is far from a new concept, implementing it in the way the NBA 2K10 developers have is quite impressive. Both our readers and staff agree, NBA Today with Dynamic Commentary is the most innovative feature of 2009.

Most Innovative Feature: NBA 2K10's NBA Today

Dustin Toms: It really would be a tie between NBA 2K10 and NBA Live 10 if it were not for the awesome dynamic commentary in 2K10. I love being able to play a game and hear something that actually happened yesterday in the real NBA.

Christian McLeod: NBA 2K10's dynamic commentary is one of the coolest features I have ever seen implemented in a sports video game. I cannot help but be amazed each and every time I hear the game's announcers reference a player's performance from the previous night. Every game played in 2K10's NBA Today mode feels incredibly fresh and exciting -- and the dynamic announcing and graphical overlays that tell you about real-life NBA happenings are largely responsible. This game has set the new gold standard for sports gaming announcing.

Honorable Mention: Punch Out's Title Defense mode. Just when you think you have mastered the game, Nintendo mixes things up with a brilliant new gameplay mode.

Jayson Young: There really were not a whole lot of innovations in 2009 -- at least when compared to what we had last year (NHL 09's EASHL, NCAA Football 09's online dynasty) -- so I think, if anything, NBA 2K10 wins this one by default. I feel bad giving the award to something as basic as game commentary and stat overlays, but it's just tough to come up with a better alternative this year. Here is to hoping we see a lot more innovation in 2010 than we did in 2009.

Matthew Coe: I am going to vote for NCAA Football 10's Teambuilder mode. Even though it is not truly integrated into the full game, and you have to be connected online to use custom logos, I have had a lot of fun both creating and downloading other players' teams. I had a lot of fun playing with an incredibly accurate Appalachian State team with friends who go to school there.

This was not possible in NCAA Football 09 or any of the other current-gen NCAA Football games for that matter. The ability to create FCS, FBS, Historical, or completely fictitious teams was great. And, yes, there are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out with Teambuilder mode next year as well.

Reader's Choice

Winner: NBA 2K10's NBA Today w/Dynamic Commentary

Voting Results: NBA 2K10's NBA Today (45%), NCAA Football 10's Team Builder (20%), NBA Live 10's Dynamic Season (13%)

Readers Comments: I went with Teambuilder since it was a version of create-a-team that we had never seen before. Even though there were a couple setbacks -- like always having to be online to have the custom logos show up and some of the other restrictions -- it was still a pretty big thing and something I think we will see in almost all future EA games (hopefully looking at you Madden). NBA 2K10's NBA Today/Dynamic Commentary was a close second though because I have never heard such realistic commentary in my life as a sports gamer. It actually sounds like you are watching a live TV broadcast with two real announcers, instead of a video game with a bunch of canned lines that repeat themselves over and over after two or three games. -- BlueNGold

Dynamic Season from NBA Live 10. A great idea to blend real-world results with virtual reality. I still would love to see a Dynamic Season in Madden in addition to Dynasty. -- DJwolfpack

Toss up between NBA 2K10 and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 10 for me. I am going with SvR since the story mode gave so much replay value to the game, especially with the ability to download other people's work. -- ty5oke

SvR in my book. Yeah it had its flaws, but it is a real innovative feature that has potential to revolutionize the game. User-generated content is the way to go these days -- PC gamers have known this for over a decade now. If the developers expand that mode a bit more, you will have some highly dedicated people creating some amazing storylines. -- Bears5122