Every major video game site loves to do an end-of-year "Best of" awards feature (something we'll undoubtedly lash out at you, PSP Fanboy reader). Contrary to popular belief, the PSP has done quite well for itself, and some of the awards its received may surprise you. Here's a run-down of everything I've seen across the Internet:

Gamespot
Best Platformer: Daxter
Daxter beat out three Nintendo DS games, including New Super Mario Bros, thanks to its incredible technology, great personality and fantastic gameplay. "The gorgeous visuals and sound are wrapped in gameplay that is as polished and enjoyable as any full-fledged PlayStation 2 game. While not wholly original, Daxter sacrifices nothing and is simply an all-around amazing game."

Best PSP Game: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
"Portable Ops not only delivers some of the best presentation quality to date on the PSP, but makes some meaningful, interesting changes to the MGS formula. The resulting game is very well suited to playing on the go and also achieves a better balance of gameplay and storytelling than previous Metal Gear Solid games."

IGN
PSP Game of the Year: Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror
"What's most impressive is the depth of the action -- no second analog stick required! The control scheme enables you to do everything from operate a set of gadgets and diffuse bombs to snipe enemies and sift through different enemy types, all without slowing down the pace of the action."

Games Radar
WTF Award: LocoRoco
Games Radar certainly took a non-traditional approach to awards this year. "We also loved that you couldn't play this game without cracking a smile - the nonsense songs were insanely catchy, the bright colors and curvy shapes were captivating and the overall theme was almost relentlessly happy and fun. By forcing our jaded, stone-like faces to grin once again, LocoRoco earns its Platinum Chalice like few other games on this list."

The "It Doesn't Actually Suck" Award: PSP
Games Radar understands what we've known all the time: PSP is a great system. The plethora of excellent exclusive titles and fantastic PS2 ports has Games Radar and PSP fanboys everywhere asking "this is a bad system?"

Next Generation
23rd Best Game: LocoRoco
In its top 50 list, LocoRoco managed to break into 23rd place. "Eminently cute and weird as a $3 bill, LocoRoco had players controlling a world and tilting it in order for a smiling blobbish thing to collect goodies, get fatter, and eventually roll or drop past a finishing point. It was as if someone's strange drug-induced hallucination had come to life on the PSP, complete with a dandy soundtrack and a punishing difficulty factor."

The weird ads just keep on coming out of Sony these days. Syphon Filter, one of the PSP's best exclusive games, has been out in the states for quite some time. Unfortunately for Europe, they just got the game relatively recently. In order to promote this stealth action shooter, Sony hired a scantily clad man to run around his house, acting a little silly. It's funny, but I question the wardrobe choice: certainly this commercial would've been just as funny if he were wearing pants. Due to the excessive amount of male skin in the commercial, I deem it somewhat not safe for work. Check it after the cut:

Syphon Filter hasn’t made a striking appearance on a console since, well, the first Syphon Filter came out on the PSOne back in 1999. Fans of the third-person shooter can breathe a sigh of relief then knowing that the newest addition to the franchise, Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror for the PSP, has made an equally large splash.

Excellent graphics, effective use of the PSP controls, and great online multiplayer mark Dark Mirror “the game to beat on the PSP” by IGN, and while 1UP has issues with the originality of the story (“The story…isn’t something to pay close attention to”), both they and GameSpot agree that the ability of the game to play well even without the help of a second analog stick is a blessing.

Gee; two great games and news of several landmark peripherals in the span of a week. Suddenly that feeling I had as a neglected PSP owner is feeling somewhat less soul-deadening.

• IGN (9.3 / 10) – “Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror packs an uncommon amount of detail, variety and overall quality. It blends intense action sequences with stealth in a way no portable game has before, and it does so with style to spare.”
• 1UP (8.0 / 10) – “Better than any PSP shooter yet, Dark Mirror functions without a second analog stick. The extraordinary grace of the remaining controls is enough to almost forget how nice dual-stick control would be.”
• GameSpot (8.8 / 10) – “With everything Dark Mirror has to offer, including its great controls, varied campaign, and high-caliber presentation, Syphon Filter is easy to recommend to anyone who likes action games.”