ModDB: Mod of The Year voting begins

We're now getting well and truly stuck into 2009, with 2008 a distant and fading memory. Christmas is a dimly remembered gluttony and New Year has been wiped from our minds entirely - but there's still one thing to be done before 2008 can truly close and that's to declare the best PC Mods of the year.

ModDB has today announced it'sTop 100 Mods of 2008. The list is a mix of reader-voted and hand-picked choices, which is readying to enter a second round of voting before a winner is selected and prizes - which include free games, magazines and engine licenses - are awarded.

As pointed out on the site though, the real prize that modders will be after is the prestige that comes from being a trophy holder, mainly because it's a sure way to attract the attention of professional games developers. Previous winners of the Mod of The Year trophy include Garry's Mod and Red Orchestra, both of which are now available to buy on Steam and have been great PC success stories.

Some of the notable entries in the Top 100 include the currently-on -sale Mount and Blade Medieval world simulator, the non-game art piece Dear Esther that's been made in Half-Life 2 and Portal: Prelude, which is exactly what it sounds like. We've played each of these three and if their quality is at all representative of the others then it'll be a fierce competition.

There's also a separate run-down on the site for the Top 100 Upcoming Mods, which includes the Nameless Mod for Deus Ex, the heavily anticipated Dead Before Dawn campaign for Left 4 Dead and Red Alert 2: Apocalypse Rising, which turns the classic game into more of a shooter than an RTS.

The rundown of the Top 100 is still on-going and will continue into a second round of voting, so there's still plenty of time to look over the mods on offer. Let us know what you think of the selection of the forums and tell us if there's any good mods we can play at lunchtime.