Spike VGA Awards

The biggest annual award ceremony for the video game industry took place on Saturday night. The Spike TV Video Game Awards were attended by developers, legends, fans and celebrities as they all congregated to share the success of the industry this year. You may have missed some or all of the winners as they were not all announced on screen so here is the full list of nominees, winners (Source: Kotaku) and my personal choices too after the break.

Let me also say that I have a large backlog of games and have yet to experience the delights of some of the nominated titles. I therefore only speak based on the games I have played and alternatively the attention received by others in the media.

GAME OF THE YEAR

Game Of The Year Spike VGAs 2011 - The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim

Winner: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Nominees: Batman: Arkham City; The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword; Portal 2; Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

A tough choice of titles and five worthy contenders for the GOTY. I haven’t played Zelda SS or Portal 2 but can say that Zelda was probably nominated due to it’s elusiveness as a harcore title for the Wii and the apparent excellent implementation of motion controls. Portal 2 was commended for having a great story that provided gamers with a humorous experience only found in a few games.

I haven’t completed Arkham City but can say that so far the best way to describe it is with the word more! More city, more villains, more weapons/gadgets, more missions, more playable characters and more riddler trophies/side missions. The game expanded in every way and really is a great title to represent the comic book hero/movie industry and British game studios.

Skyrim is the biggest game you can hope to play anytime soon. 300+ hours worth of content is incredible. A large expansive world filled with dragons and other creatures can be played for months to come. Bethesda have also promised DLC to further expand the game beyond 300 hours. An incredible achievement by the team although it does suffer very badly from bugs and glitches. Poor testing procedures have caused game killing bugs and many have lost save files and progress. In a vast game like this there are bound to be a few bugs but the amount in Skyrim is a touch over unforgivable.

Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception was the game many wanted to blow them away. For me personally the game was fantastic and the plot was as close to an Indiana Jones movie as you can get but it failed to surpass my expectations beyond Uncharted 2. I felt many of the best scenes were shown off before release resulting in a lack of surprise during playthrough and the game seemed shorter too. It was easier to nit pick issues such as grenade happy enemies and same faced villians but that was due to my extremely high expectations. One place where I give Naughty Dog plenty of credit is their programming department. Achieving physics systems that simulate a moving cruise ship that then flips on it’s side is a grueling task. Graphics also looked enhanced and remain some of the best in industry. The cinematic feel of the game is brilliantly unique.

My pick for GOTY would actually not be any of the nominees. Although I haven’t played most of the big releases yet, I would say Battlefield 3 is my game of the year from the ones that I have played. The Frostbite 2 Engine blew my mind. I have never felt so immersed in a game like BF3. Although the campaign was lacking in some areas, It was still a great accomplishment for DICE to bring the game at least on par with Call Of Duty. The multiplayer maps are vast warzones filled with action and activity on land, sea and in air. Nothing looked as good as BF3 and the fine details such as leg animations and breaking cover really set this game apart from the rest.

STUDIO OF THE YEAR

Studio Of The Year Winner Spike VGAs 2011 - Bethesda Game Studios

Winner: Bethesda Game Studios
Nominees:Naughty Dog; Rocksteady Studios; Valve

Bethesda may deserve it for the sheer amount of content in the game but definitely not for studio practices in my book. Naughty Dog are a worthy contender for their outstanding work in all departments of the game. It is clear how each department contributed something beneficial to the game from great graphics by art, great playable set pieces by programming and great story by production. Rocksteady, although they did manage to 1up everything I feel they struggled to strive for perfection. Navigating the city for example just didn’t feel as fluid for me as it would in Assassins Creed for example. The control overload was another contributing factor. Rocksteady are making steps in the right direction to achieving best studio but I feel they are not quite there yet and some game system tweaking is required. Valve are a secretive and dedicated studio. You never know much about what happens behind the scenes and because I can’t yet relate to Portal 2 I will move on. In all honesty Studio of the year tends to go hand in hand with GOTY. Making a great game requires a great team and a great studio. Therefore I would give the award to DICE.

BEST XBOX 360 GAME

Best Xbox 360 Game Spike VGAs 2011 - Batman Arkham City

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

Once again I disagree with the winner here. Nothing personal against Batman but best PS3 and Xbox games should only feature console exclusive titles in my opinion. Best Third Party title should be a separate category. I look at it as which first party publisher owned studio did the best job at creating a game for their platform. A sort of internal competition award if you like. I would therefore choose between Forza and Gears Of War 3. Public opinion seems to sway towards Forza being the more acclaimed title whilst Gears of War 3 being more of the same. I would say that if Microsoft take away anything from this it should be to place more focus on AAA first party titles.

BEST PS3 GAME

Best PS3 Game Spike VGAs 2011 Uncharted 3

Winner: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Nominees: inFAMOUS 2; Killzone 3; LittleBigPlanet 2

All first party nominees goes to show that Sony are doing something right. I commend them for delivering a great first party experience again this year. Uncharted 3 winning was a no brainer. Being one of the most elusive franchises of this generation only a few games can live up to the same expectations. As for the other nominees, I loved how inFamous 2 took Cole to a new location not seen in games before. New Marais based on New Orleans provided something unique on top of the supernatural electric ability of the protagonist. It also sits alongside Batman as the best comic book character style games. Killzone 3 improved itself by extending its colour palette and taking you into the Helghan jungles to explore. It also pushed for Sony’s new technology by offering a great 3D experience and brilliant implementation of PlayStation Move motion controls for an FPS. Little Big Planet 2 was the sequel you thought you would never need. The original game spurred fan creativity and saw hundreds upon hundreds of user generated levels appear to play. This was not enough to accomplish everything as Media Molecule were plagued with requests to add more functionality. They delivered new tools in the sequel which enhanced the levels and implemented a vast list of features for gamers to play around with. These additions were not minor and made the game a whole new experience.

BEST WII GAME

Best Wii Game Spike VGAs 2011 Legend Of Zelda Skyward Sword

Winner: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Nominees: Disney’s Epic Mickey; Kirby’s Return to Dream Land; Lost in Shadow

Another no brainer as Zelda takes away the prize. Critics were also very impressed with Epic Mickey although I don’t have much to say about the rest.

BEST PC GAME

Best PC Game Spike VGAs 2011 Portal 2

Winner: Portal 2
Nominees: Battlefield 3; Minecraft; The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Portal 2 definitely has a bigger fan base on PC over consoles but all four nominees are worthy of the award. Frostbite 2 blows your mind further on PC’s, Minecraft has taken the world by storm and The Witcher 2 set a new benchmark for PC graphics.

BEST HANDHELD/MOBILE GAME

Best Handheld Game Spike VGAs 2011 Super Mario 3D Land

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

A worthy winner and great handheld title although I would have chosen Infinity Blade. Purely because it helped push the industry forward. Infinity Blade is considered a great achievement for smartphone and iOS gaming. The publicity it received more than likely convinced a few more people to get into gaming. Seeing that quality experience running on a phone was a jaw dropping moment when it was first announced.

BEST SHOOTER

Best Shooter Spike VGAs 2011 Call Of Duty MW3

Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Nominees: Battlefield 3; Gears of War 3; Rage

The fanbase for Call of Duty is too huge for anyone else to stand a chance at obtaining this award. I found the game ending one of the best of the recent releases and it was good to finally conclude the Makarov storyline. Having played the game after Battlefield 3 the level of immersion and excitement was missing as the engine showed its age. It would have been amazing if the MW3 campaign was running on Frostbite 2 as I feel the intense action scenes COD is known for would have looked and felt amazing in that engine. Having said that, the team did the best they could with what they had but the formula is getting repetitive and they need to show some serious innovation next year to maintain user attention. Battlefield 3 would take the award for me. I did see a lot of potential with RAGE running on id Tech 5 but the execution and game design could have been improved. I can’t speak for Gears but critics found it lacking innovation too.

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE GAME

Best Action Adventure Game Spike VGAs 2011 Batman Arkham City

Winner: Batman: Arkham City
Nominees: Assassin’s Creed: Revelations; The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword; Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Another great batch of nominees but none of them blew me away. I have a personal bond with Assassins Creed and would have probably given it the award over Batman for a more fluid control system. Both games did innovate over their predecessor very well however. Uncharted 3 could have easily taken the award if I had not played Uncharted 2 and Skyward Sword gave gamers a reason to pick up their Wiimotes again. This is one of the categories that I would find myself juggling between nominees as they are all fairly equal in what they offer, a great experience.

BEST RPG

Best RPG Spike VGAs 2011 Skyrim

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

I’m not extremely keen on RPG’s but Skyrim is a no brainer decision for RPG fans. I was thoroughly impressed by Deus Ex and have yet to play it but would place it in the action genre over RPG. Dark souls remains one of the hardest games to play this generation which appeals to a limited amount of gamers. The mass public would vote Skyrim so this a fair win for Bethesda.

BEST MULTIPLAYER

Best Multiplayer Spike VGAs 2011 Portal 2

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

I think this category would be better if separated in two. Best Co-op and Best Multiplayer should be separate. In my eyes Portal 2 would win Best Co-op and Battlefield 3 best multiplayer.

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME

Best Individual Sports Game Spike VGAs 2011 Fight Night Champion

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

The contest would be between Fight Night and Tiger Woods because they seemed to innovate the most this year. Fight Night introduced a story driven career mode and Tiger Woods implemented The Masters golf course into the game. Worthy winner.

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME

Best Team Sports Game Spike VGAs 2011 NBA 2K12

Winner: NBA 2K12
Nominees: FIFA Soccer 12; NHL 12; MLB ’11: The Show

NBA 2K12 vs FIFA 12 seems to be an annual competition for best sports game. NBA tends to add more new enticing content over FIFA which probably swayed the decision. Another worthy winner.

BEST DRIVING GAME

Best Driving Game Spike VGAs 2011 Forza 4

Winner: Forza Motorsport 4
Nominees: DiRT 3; Driver: San Francisco; Need For Speed: The Run

A vastly unique set of driving games this year. All nominees offer something different. Coma car jumping in Driver was a fun mechanic but not worthy of a winner. Forza seemed to offer the same simulation based racing and I’m not sure what would have given it the edge over other games. Need For Speed to me looked quite appealing although was bombarded by negative press. Dirt 3 seemed to innovate the most with rally driving and the Gymkhana elements. Dirt always seems to be an underestimated and overshadowed title, I would give it to Dirt 3.

BEST FIGHTING GAME

Best Fighting Game Spike VGAs 2011 Mortal Kombat 9

Winner: Mortal Kombat
Nominees: The King of Fighters XIII; Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds; WWE All Stars

Hardcore fighting fans may suggest Marvel Vs Capcom as the winner but I’m glad with Mortal Kombat winning. After the silly DC Universe PG rating iteration fans wanted classic Mortal Kombat to make a return and it did with an awesome title. The game went back to its roots of 2D game play with classic characters and new additions including a storymode and 300 tower challenges. WWE All Stars was a fun concept but game play felt quite average.

BEST MOTION GAME

Best Motion Game Spike VGAs 2011 Legend Of Zelda Skyward Sword

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

Hailed as the game which finally utilises the Wiimote as it was intended, Zelda fully deserves this award. I loved the release of Child of Eden bringing back Rez style game play from last generation but it was on the short side. Dance Central 2 was seen to be more of a commerical casual hit than industry achievement. The gunstringer is also noted as a great title for Kinect.

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME

Best Independent Game Spike VGAs 2011 Minecraft

Winner: Minecraft
Nominees: Bastion; Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP; The Binding of Isaac

Minecraft has an enormous following and has had more success then anyone could have imagined. The only other title I could see winning would be Bastion.

BEST ADAPTED VIDEO GAME

Best Adapted Video Game Spike VGAs 2011 Batman Arkham City

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

I think the guys over at Telltale games are on to something good with cinematic game play for franchises in Back To The Future and the LEGO series has always resulted in solid titles from Travelers Tales. Captain America was your average movie tie in style game but Batman featured plenty of dedication and hard work to transform it into a AAA franchise. A well deserved win for Rocksteady.

BEST SONG IN A GAME

Winner: “Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)” by Darren Korb—Bastion
Nominees: “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; “Want You Gone” by Jonathan Coulton—Portal 2

I don’t think I have heard any of the nominee songs but Saints Row The Third also featured a great theme song.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Best Original Score Spike VGAs 2011 Bastion

Winner: Bastion
Nominees: Batman: Arkham City; Deus Ex: Human Revolution; Portal 2

I like the orchestral scores in Assassins Creed, Uncharted and Deus Ex. I wasn’t that keen on Batman’s score although it did feel at home in the game.

BEST GRAPHICS

Best Graphics Spike VGAs 2011 Uncharted 3

Winner: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Nominees: Batman: Arkham City; LA Noire; Rage

Battlefield 3 for overall visual impact. Uncharted 3 for exotic environments and LA Noire for their facial capture technology.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN MALE

Winner: Stephen Merchant as Wheatley—Portal 2
Nominees: 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

Stephen Merchant or Mark Hamill. Stephen’s normal voice was a great casting decision as it suits a comedic character. Mark Hamill may take the slight edge for me because the Joker is a harder voice to pull off and it’s very convincing.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE

Winner: Ellen McLain as GLaDOS—Portal 2
Nominees: 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

Ellen or Tara for the same reasons as the male winners. The harder the voice is to pull off along with the quality of their performance are the two factors I would consider. In this case Ellen probably takes it.

BEST DOWNLOADABLE GAME

Best Downloadable Game Spike VGAs 2011 Bastion

Winner: Bastion
Nominees:Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet; Stacking; Trenched

Bastion has had plenty of critical acclaim. I hope the game comes to more platforms now it is so popular.

BEST DLC

Best DLC Spike VGAs 2011 Portal 2

Winner: Portal 2 Peer Review
Nominees: Fallout: New Vegas—Old World Blues; Mass Effect 2: Arrival; Mortal Kombat: Freddy Krueger

Probably the right choice in terms of fresh and innovative content.

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME

Most Anticipated Game Spike VGAs 2011 Mass Effect 3

Winner: Mass Effect 3
Nominees: BioShock: Infinite; Diablo III; Halo 4; The Last Guardian

BioShock Infinite because Ken Levine’s imagination and ability to create unique immersive worlds is incredible. I am also looking forward to Hitman Absolution and Prey 2 along with GTA V of course.