E3 has come and gone yet again, and in the wake of the sensory-overloading convention we are left with nothing but anticipation for the games to come over the course of the next year. Some games stood out more than others, though, and it is these games that we are celebrating with our Game of the Show awards. So without further ado, let's get right into it: These were our favoritesports and racing games at E3 2012. 

And the nominees are:

Forza Horizon marks a departure for the storied sim series in more ways than one. The game is taking a completely new approach to simulation racing (and yes, worried Forza fans, simulation is still the name of the game here) by plopping players down in an open world filled with sprawling roads and even ambient traffic. Edgy driving is encouraged by a points system that will reward players with bonuses for drifting, speeding through oncoming traffic, etc. All the while you will have to keep a handle on the game's realistic driving physics so as not to send your ride hurtling off the road. All of the open world action will be reigned in by the premise of a driving festival, almost like the one that players raced through in Dirt 2. In order to handle this new direction for the series, a brand new developer has been brought in. Playground Games is a team made up of ex- Bizarre and Polyphony developers, with games like Project Gotham Racing 4 and Gran Turismo 5 under their collective belts. It's a meeting of some of racing's greatest minds, and what they've come up with so far looks compelling at the very least.

Wait, didn't Need For Speed: Most Wanted already release on the Xbox 360? Yes, but that was a long time ago, and that was a different development team. This is a brand new game developed by Criterion, masters of the action-focused arcade racer and veterans of the Burnout series. This new Most Wanted may bear the Need For Speed name, but with a sprawling open world, tons of single-player and multiplayer challenges scattered about the city, and collectible billboards to smash through, it's clear what this really is; simply put, Need For Speed: Most Wanted is a return to Paradise. City, that is. This spiritual successor to Burnout Paradise has all of the ingredients to enlighten arcade racing fans all over again, and the new social hooks provided by the ever-growing Autolog system should add more replay value than ever.

Littlebigplanet Karting may lack the sim elements of the rest of the games on this list, but that doesn't make it any less complex. A simple kart racer from the experienced developers at United Front on the surface, the game quickly reveals itself to be far more deep and involved than we had ever imagined. The creation suite from Littlebigplanet 2 returns here in full force, allowing would-be designers to craft their own tracks, karts, characters, and even power-ups. You can then dive even deeper into the creative experience by tweaking how often certain power-ups appear when compared with others, how fast the karts are capable of going on the track, how the camera views the action (you can set it to be top-down or behind the back,) how many laps your race requires to win... the list goes on and on. You can even create tracks in which the core objective is not simply to beat the others in a race. A simple example of this is a Battle Mode track, in which your goal will be to eliminate enemy players with the power-ups that you pick up in the arena. You can take this even farther by creating makeshift platforming levels using a kart and a grappling hook to swing around the area, or any other gametype your imagination can dream up. It'll be exciting to see if the wildly creative Littlebigplanet community can do for karting what they did for platforming when Littlebigplanet Karting releases later this year.

And the winner is...