Journey leads Spike VGA 2012 nominations

by David Hinkle on Nov 15th 2012 9:00PM

The nominees for this year's Spike Video Game Awards have been outed, featuring a cavalcade of 2012's best titles. Journey led the pack with seven nods this year, including Game of the Year. Other stand-outs include The Walking Dead, Assassin's Creed 3 and Dishonored, which are each nominated for five awards. The complete list of nominees and special "Viewer Voted" categories are available on Spike's award page.

In addition to being broadcast on television, the Spike VGAs will be presented on Xbox Live with special SmartGlass functionality. Viewers can check out the festivities through their Xbox 360 on December 7 at 9pm ET when Samuel L. Jackson takes the stage as host.

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Halo 4, Dishonored and The Last of Us top Game Critics Awards nominations

by Richard Mitchell on Jun 20th 2012 3:00PM

The nominees of the E3 2012 Game Critics Awards have been announced. Nominees for best of show include Dishonored, Halo 4, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider and Assassin's Creed 3. The games to receive the most nominations overall were Halo 4, The Last of Us and Dishonored, which each racked up four nominations. Meanwhile, the publisher to walk away with the most nominations was Sony Computer Entertainment at 12 nods, with Microsoft, Nintendo and EA tied in second place with eight each.

The nominees were voted on by various publications across print and the web, including our personal favorite: Joystiq. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, June 26.

You can see a full breakdown of nominations – sorted by category, genre and platform – on the Game Critics Awards website. Take in some more detailed stats – including platform and publisher nominations, and the number of nominations per game – right here.

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The GDCA 2011 nominations look strangely familiar

Lads, get your polite-clapping gloves ready, and shine your pearls, ladies -- finalists have been named for the Game Developers Choice Awards, and this year boasts quite the lineup. Valve, Bethesda and Supergiant Games have five nominations each for Portal 2, Skyrim and Bastion, respectively (and respectfully). Supergiant is nominated for Best Debut, alongside Team Bondi for L.A. Noire and BioWare Austin for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, Portal 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Dark Souls are nominated for Game of the Year. The awards ceremony will be held on March 7. We're not going to say that the GDCA stole their entire list of nominees from a super-cool and highly regarded gaming website, but it does look familiar:

Best Game Design

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo)
Portal 2 (Valve)
Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
Dark Souls (FromSoftware)

Innovation

Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Toys For Bob)
Portal 2 (Valve)
Bastion (Supergiant Games)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
L.A. Noire (Team Bondi)

Best Technology

Battlefield 3 (DICE)
L.A. Noire (Team Bondi)
Crysis 2 (Crytek Frankfurt/UK)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

Tiny Tower (NimbleBit)
Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo)
Jetpack Joyride (Halfbrick)
Infinity Blade II (Chair Entertainment)
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP (Capy Games/Superbrothers)

Best Audio

Bastion (Supergiant Games)
LittleBigPlanet 2 (Media Molecule)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
Dead Space 2 (Visceral Games)
Portal 2 (Valve)

Best Downloadable Game

Stacking (Double Fine)
From Dust (Ubisoft Montpellier)
Bastion (Supergiant Games)
Outland (Housemarque)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7)

Best Narrative

Portal 2 (Valve)
The Witcher 2 (CD Projekt RED)
Bastion (Supergiant Games)
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog)
Saints Row: The Third (Volition)

Best Debut

Supergiant Games (Bastion)
Team Bondi (L.A. Noire)
Re-Logic (Terraria)
BioWare Austin (Star Wars: The Old Republic)
Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex: Human Revolution)

Best Visual Arts

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog)
Rayman Origins (Ubisoft Montpellier)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (Ignition Japan)
Battlefield 3 (DICE)

Game of the Year

Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
Portal 2 (Valve)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal)
Dark Souls (FromSoftware)

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Uncharted 3 leads AIAS 2011 award nominations

by David Hinkle on Jan 12th 2012 9:00PM

We've already told you what our favorite games of 2011 are, but the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences apparently needed a bit more time to ruminate on the matter. The final awards will be given at the annual DICE summit in Las Vegas on February 9, giving us all tons of time to pressure the AIAS into giving Rayman Origins the awards for Outstanding Animation and Outstanding Art Direction.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the belle of the ball this year, with a total of 12 nominations across several categories. Other notable titles include Portal 2 (10 nominations) L.A. Noire (9 nominations), Bastion (3 nominations), and Battlefield 3 (6 nominations). 2010's top game from the AIAS was Mass Effect 2, which walked away with awards in the RPG and storytelling categories.

Jay Mohr will be hosting again -- here's his monologue from last year -- and the entire show will be streamed online through GameSpot, starting at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm ET. Or you could buy a plane ticket and fly to Vegas, hoping to somehow sneak in. We wouldn't suggest that, though, as your time and money can be better spent petitioning for Rayman Origins.

Hit the jump for the full list of this year's nominees.

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition L.A. NoireLittleBigPlanet 2Uncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionInFamous 2Portal 2Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3L.A. NoireNeed For Speed: The RunUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Story BastionL.A. NoirePortal 2The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Character Performance Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Adam Jensen)L.A. Noire (Cole Phelps)Portal 2 (Wheatley)Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Nathan Drake)Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Victor Sullivan)Downloadable Game of the Year BastionDrawn: Trail of ShadowsInsanely Twisted Shadow PlanetMs. Splosion ManOrcs Must Die!Casual Game of the Year Fruit Ninja KinectTiny WingsJetpack JoyrideMonsters Ate My CondoWhere's My Water?Social Networking Game of the Year Army AttackCastleVilleGardens of TimeThe Sims SocialTriple TownRole-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year Dark SoulsDeus Ex: Human RevolutionStar Wars: The Old RepublicThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Witcher 2: Assassins of KingsOutstanding Innovation in Gaming BastionL.A. NoirePortal 2Skylanders Spyro's AdventureThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimSports Game of the Year FIFA 12Madden NFL 12MLB 11 The ShowNBA 2K12NBA Jam: On Fire EditionRacing Game of the Year Forza Motorsport 4Mario Kart 7Real Racing 2 HDFighting Game of the Year Fight Night ChampionKing of Fighters XIIIMortal KombatSuper Street Fighter 4: 3D EditionUltimate Marvel vs Capcom 3Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year Iron BrigadeOrcs Must Die!Total War: Shogun IIToy Soldiers: Cold WarWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - RetributionFamily Game of the Year Dance Central 2Just Dance 3Kinect Disneyland AdventureLittleBigPlanet 2Skylanders Spyro's AdventureMobile Game of the Year Contre JourDead SpaceInfinity Blade IITentaclesThe Dark MeadowHandheld Game of the Year Ghost Trick: Phantom DetectiveKirby Mass AttackMario Kart 7Professor Layton and the Last SpecterSuper Mario 3D LandAdventure Game of the Year Batman: Arkham CityL.A. NoirePortal 2The Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Online Game Play Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Gears of War 3LittleBigPlanet 2Star Wars: The Old RepublicOutstanding Achievement in Connectivity Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Dragon Age IIPortal 2Uncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionAction Game of the Year Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Dead Space 2Gears of War 3Saints Row: The ThirdOutstanding Achievement in Animation Assassin's Creed: RevelationsBatman: Arkham CityL.A. NoireRayman OriginsUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Art Direction Batman: Arkham CityBattlefield 3Portal 2Rayman OriginsUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering Battlefield 3Crysis 2L.A. NoireRAGEUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering Batman: Arkham CityPortal 2Skylanders Spyro's AdventureThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordOutstanding Achievement in Game Direction Batman: Arkham CityL.A. NoirePortal 2The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionGame of the Year Batman: Arkham CityPortal 2The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordUncharted 3: Drake's Deception

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Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Black Ops rack up BAFTA nominations

by JC Fletcher on Feb 16th 2011 9:49AM

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for its GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, which manage to be prestigious despite the inclusion of a sponsor's name in the title. Even before any winners are announced, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is representing well, with nominations in seven categories including Action, Artistic Achievement, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation, and, of course, Best Game. Call of Duty: Black Ops is also nominated in seven separate categories.

Other nominees include Heavy Rain (six nominations), Mass Effect 2 (five), and XBLA favorite Limbo, receiving nods for Audio and Artistic Achievement. Best Game nominee Super Mario Galaxy 2 is also nominated for Technical Innovation, an area in which that game is not typically lauded. In addition, the first Social Network Game award includes Bejeweled Blitz, Farmerama, FIFA Superstars, My Empire, Zoo Mumba, and Zuma Blitz as nominees.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on March 16. Until then, you can vote for the GAME Award winner online.

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