As we hurtle toward a promising 2012, 2011 has arguably been one of the most impressive years for the industry since, well, 2010. Its a good time be playing games. A saturation of semicolons is indicative of a continued franchise offensive by the major publishers and, if Spike TVs Video Game Awards are anything to go by, its 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 theyve 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, its 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, Im surprised that Team Bondis 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. Im not for a moment suggesting all this franchise mayhem is killing originality thats 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? Wed 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: Drakes Deception
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Bethesda Game Studios Naughty Dog (Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception) Rocksteady Studios (Batman: Arkham City) Valve (Portal 2)
CHARACTER OF THE YEAR
The Joker Batman: Arkham City Nathan Drake Uncharted 3: Drakes 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 Kirbys 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 Assassins Creed: Revelations The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Uncharted 3: Drakes 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 Im 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: Drakes Deception
BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE
Ellen McLain as GLaDOS Portal 2 Claudia Black as Chloe Frazer Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception Emily Rose as Elena Fisher Uncharted 3: Drakes 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: Drakes Deception E3 2011 Trailer
EA SPORTS NFL BLITZ DIGITAL COVER ATHLETE
Ray Rice Roddy White Patrick Willis