I'm still a bit confused on the "Product of the Year" category -- is this category supposed to a "best of the best" to have come out in the past year? And if so, why are there several that weren't nominated in other best categories? I'm not trying to be deliberately obtuse here, but I'm just not getting the gist of this category.
Not necessarily. I approached it more as the big "wrap up" category, which takes into account the total product instead of focusing on the individual components.
For example, a product could have awesome art, but have dull game mechanics. It might get a nom for Best Art, but the mechanical/rule issues could prevent it from being PotY material. More realistically, PotY could be a product that is edged out in some (or all) of the individual component categories, but brings it all together in an excellent total package.
Hope that helps (and makes sense).
-Mark