VGA Awards 2011: Warner Bros & Bethesda Lead a Memorable Year

2011 was a fine year for gaming, and the VGA Awards lauded the great and the good of the year's offerings. Here's the full breakdown of what went down at the awards ceremony.

By Alex Turner /

As we hurtle toward a promising 2012, 2011 has arguably been one of the most impressive years for the industry since, well, 2010. It€™s a good time be playing games. A saturation of semicolons is indicative of a continued franchise offensive by the major publishers and, if Spike TV€™s Video Game Awards are anything to go by, it€™s really paying off. Warner Bros. Interactive led the way with a total of seven wins from its three strongest games €“ Bastion, Batman: Arkham City and Mortal Kombat. Bastion bagged Best Downloadable Game, as well Original Score and Best Song, whilst Arkham City came away with an impressive 4 wins over 11 categories. Nintendo came out on top in some pretty big categories, bagging wins for Skyward Sword in Best Wii, Handheld and Motion Game. However, coming away with top prize of Game of the Year, Bethesda seem to have finally nailed the open world RPG (though they€™ve been very close for years) with the powerhouse Skyrim, the fifth instalment of its Elder Scrolls series. At a time when a lot of us thought that interest in role players was waning, their forms being deconstructed, their parts scattered over other genres like shooters, it€™s both refreshing and exciting to see a fully formed, single player RPG come out on top. On a side note, given the attention it garnered earlier in the year, I€™m surprised that Team Bondi€™s L.A. Noire seems curiously absent from some of the categories, appearing with only one nomination in Best Graphics. By extension, it would have been great to see some kind of best original game category. I€™m not for a moment suggesting all this franchise mayhem is killing originality €“ that€™s a tired argument that goes against the bottom line of videogames being first and foremost a profitable business €“ but, equally, it would be good to award new ideas and potential franchises with some recognition, too. Are there any games you think are missing from these categories, or categories you think are missing from these awards? Are all the winners thoroughly deserving in their victories? We€™d love to hear what you think.

GAME OF THE YEAR

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Batman: Arkham City The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Portal 2 Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception

STUDIO OF THE YEAR

Bethesda Game Studios Naughty Dog (Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception) Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham City) Valve (Portal 2)

CHARACTER OF THE YEAR

The Joker €“ Batman: Arkham City Nathan Drake €“ Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception Marcus Fenix €“ Gears of War 3 Wheatley €“ Portal 2

BEST XBOX 360 GAME

Batman: Arkham City Forza Motorsport 4 Gears of War 3 Portal 2

BEST PS3 GAME

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception inFAMOUS 2 Killzone 3 LittleBigPlanet 2

BEST Wii GAME

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Epic Mickey Kirby€™s Return to Dream Land Lost in Shadow

BEST PC GAME

Portal 2 Battlefield 3 Minecraft The Witcher 2

BEST HANDHELD/MOBILE GAME

Super Mario 3D Land Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective Infinity Blade Jetpack Joyride

BEST SHOOTER

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Battlefield 3 Gears of War 3 RAGE

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE GAME

Batman: Arkham City Assassin€™s Creed: Revelations The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception

BEST RPG

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Dark Souls Deus Ex: Human Revolution Dragon Age II

BEST MULTI-PLAYER

Portal 2 Battlefield 3 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Gears of War 3

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME

Fight Night Champion Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters Top Spin 4 Virtua Tennis 4

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME

NBA 2K12 FIFA Soccer 12 NHL 12 MLB 11: The Show

BEST DRIVING GAME

Forza Motorsport 4 DiRT 3 Driver: San Francisco Need for Speed: The Run

BEST FIGHTING GAME

Mortal Kombat The King of Fighters XIII Marvel vs. Capcom 3 WWE All Stars

BEST MOTION GAME

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Child of Eden Dance Central 2 The Gunstringer

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME

Minecraft Bastion Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP The Binding of Isaac

BEST ADAPTED VIDEO GAME

Batman: Arkham City Back to the Future: The Game Captain America: Super Soldier LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars

BEST SONG IN A GAME

Build that Wall (Zia's Theme) by Darren Korb €“ Bastion Exile Vilify by The National, Portal 2 I€™m Not Calling You a Liar by Florence + the Machine, Dragon Age II Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme) by Darren Korb, Bastion Want You Gone by Jonathan Coulton, Portal 2

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Bastion Batman: Arkham City Deus Ex: Human Revolution Portal 2

BEST GRAPHICS

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Batman: Arkham City L.A. Noire RAGE

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN MALE

Stephen Merchant as Wheatley €“ Portal 2 J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson - Portal 2 Mark Hamill as The Joker - Batman: Arkham City Nolan North as Nathan Drake - Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE

Ellen McLain as GLaDOS €“ Portal 2 Claudia Black as Chloe Frazer €“ Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception Emily Rose as Elena Fisher €“ Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception Tara Strong as Harley Quinn €“ Batman: Arkham City

BEST DOWNLOADABLE GAME

Bastion Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Stacking Iron Brigade

BEST DLC

Portal 2 Peer Review Fallout: New Vegas €“ Old World Blues Mass Effect 2: Arrival Mortal Kombat: Freddy Krueger

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME

Mass Effect 3 Bioshock: Infinite Diablo III Halo 4 The Last Guardian

GAMETRAILERS.COM TRAILER OF THE YEAR

Assassin's Creed: Revelations €“ E3 2011 Trailer Batman: Arkham City €“ Hugo Strange Reveal Trailer Dark Souls €“ Ignite 11 Debut Trailer Dead Island €“ GDC 11 Cinematic Trailer Deus Ex: Human Revolution €“ Purity First Infomercial The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim €“ In-Game Debut Trailer Hitman: Absolution €“ E3 2011 Trailer Prey 2 - E3 2011 Trailer Tomb Raider €“ E3 2011 Trailer Uncharted 3: Drake€™s Deception €“ E3 2011 Trailer

EA SPORTS NFL BLITZ DIGITAL COVER ATHLETE

Ray Rice Roddy White Patrick Willis