This is purely my own point of view, but I think Oblivion is more 'female friendly' because...
- You aren't forced to play as a really ugly character model with almost no hair
- There's a difficulty slider in the base game so you can customise the difficulty to your tastes (I don't think that was in the original Morrowind? Maybe an expansion? I can't remember...)
- The gameplay is based less around D&D style dice rolls, and instead on actual physical contact with people/enemies
- You can ride horses! I hate to be a self-parody of the girl stereotype, but being able to own and ride around an entire landscape on horseback -is- pretty cool.
- The game rewards exploration... going into unmapped territories reveals hundreds of dungeons and forts across the whole map. You can literally just take a hike into the countryside, enjoy the scenery, and discover new and hidden treasures.
As for why Morrowind appeals more to males (again, my opinion only, feel free to disagree!):
- Being forced to walk from town to town made people appreciate the travelling, noting how scenic everything looked. In Oblivion, that's all still there (and better! No more surrounded by cliffs on either side!), but I've seen more guys ignore this, saying they only ever quick-travel to places anyway.
- Combat focused on very strict rulesets for people familiar with RPGs
- A 'darker' atmosphere, everything feels very fantasy-like, with bleak towns instead of thriving cities
- Technical abuse: Guys seem to be more interested in abusing and exploiting game mechanics for personal gain, whereas females tend to be more about taking the world as it is.

This appears to be the common denominator between all my findings.

Time to be argumentative, sorry:
The Golden Joysticks are run by Future Publishing, who hold the licences for all three official magazines- hence why what would be "Best Wii or DS Game" becomes the autosponsored "Official Nintendo Magazine Game of the Year"
Whether you choose to believe this or not- and whether it's anything other than a charade or not-, the Golden Joysticks are voted for online by the public with a more or less open shortlist, and is also marketed heavily months in advance across Future's print and online portfolio- so it's hardly surprising that the games with the biggest marketing push, the games that as a result more people will have heard of, bought, and/or enjoyed, (Or at least, the fanboy favourites, Brawl) got the most votes.

Only the music industry, the film industry, the television industry and the professional sport industry.
Oh, and the big-box retail industry.
And every other industry, ever.

There isn't an award for 'Best 360 game' though... only best Nintendo game, and best HD PS3 game. Sure, they may not have a magazine for the 360 (?), but surely that shouldn't exclude any 360 exclusives from getting any awards?
As for the online voting thing, I find it kinda strange that both Activision and Play.com were chosen to -give- awards (and are completely unrelated to Future Publishing), and both companies also ended up -receiving- awards. It seems a little too fishy to be a coincidence, as why would they choose Activision to give an award otherwise? Why not EA or any other games company?

just an FYI seeing as there is no PM option, in the future what you can do, is hit reply on someone's post, copy their message including the quotes, then go and edit your previous message, paste it, and write your reply underneath. It saves you from double posting. I hope you find this useful.

There is, it was won by GTAIV, but bizarrely was sponsored by Arvato, whoever they are.
(It's listed as xBox GOTY rather than 360, but then PSes 2 and 3 are lumped into one category, too)
They would have "chosen" them to "give" an award, as they would have come along with the most money, it's a sponsorship- most of the sponsors have little to do with Future, and are even in competing fields (Nuts, Bliss). I'm not going to comment on how that may or may not have affected the result, but considering Activision's range of output, it's hard to see how they wouldn't have got a sizable number of votes, but then we can all find foul play anywhere if we want to find it.

"Phanboy4 Award For Best Website That Sells Downloadable DRM-Free Classic Games For Between $5.99 And $9.99: GOG.com"
See, I can do it too.

Hey Malorie, my name is Tobias Rowe. I am the winner of the 4talent Mobile Pitch 2008 competition. To clarify, I did not recieve a Golden Joystick award. The fact that I won the competition was simply given recognition at the award ceremony. If you actually watch the award show and listen to what they say before I go up on stage you will see I did not recieve an award. Not only does the Golden Joystick awards celebrate excellent games (which I agree, I am not worthy enough to stand beside) it is also to promote the industry and show its appreciation for it. I was invited to the awards and given my prize on stage to promote new talent in the industry and 4talent's achievement and success, along with EA Mobile and Nokia, with the competition.
I hope that this clears up any confusion.
Tobias

Congratulations on the award Tobias! :)
Mobile games are hugely under-appreciated in gaming circles, so its great to hear a developer (especially indie) recognised like that. Good luck with your game.

EA makes me feel like the image attached...
(caution the following image depicts a natural human process when one has perhaps fallen ill)

Thanks Chaotix :) Mobile gaming is starting to define itself as its own platform with the re-release of the N-gage and also the iphone. It's all really exciting. If you ever get the chance to play it, get Reset Generation. It's a really fun and addictive game, lol.
btw, what is this forum for? I've never been on this site before. Is it just a general gaming blog?

It's Good old games site forum. Good old games for good price. 'Nuff said.

+1 for you Chris - 'Nuff said.

Yes sir, Reset Generation is really fun. Yahtzee's game wasn't nearly as fun.
But also, this Forum is for Good Old Games, it's the forum for the store. They sell all sorts of great titles. Just go to gog.com.