The Gaming BAFTA’s Awards

This past Friday GAME held the British Academy Video Games Awards for 2011 and I was watching the second half as it streamed live online. In case you missed it there was a rather cringeable moment when Jonathan Ross came on absolutely drunk as anything! I’ve also decided that, in case you missed it (and you can’t really be bothered going through the list of awards over at the official website), that I would help you folks out and post all the awards and various winners here on MMGaming.

While naturally not as prestigious as the MMGaming Awards, I imagine that some of these were rather sought after by Game companies so it makes for good food for though, if nothing else.

I will post the name of the award, the nominees and the winner of the award. I might also have a wee rant if I decide that the choice they made is something I disagree with. Although, I will try and keep that to a minimum because Tim usually gets on my case when I do stuff like that…As well as all the following awards it’s worth mentioning that Notch himself picked up a “special award” for Minecraft and he gave tribute to Project: Zomboid. I don’t know why but I just think he is so damned cool!

Anyway, in pretty much alphabetical order, the first award is:

Best Action Game

Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception

Winner: Batman: Arkham City

MMGaming Verdict: A perfectly acceptable choice and one I completely agree with.

Artistic Achievement BAFTA

Nominees: Rayman Origins, Batman: Arkham City, L.A. Noire, LitteBigPlanet 2, The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Winner: Rayman Origins

MMGaming Verdict: An interesting choice here, having looked at some of the gameplay footage of Origins I think it could be deemed a valid choice as it does look rather nice and artistic (also while Skyrim looks AMAZING, describing it as “Artistic” might be along different lines to what they were thinking).

 

Audio Achievement BAFTA

Nominees: Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Dead Space 2, The Nightjar, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Winner: Battlefield 3

MMGaming Verdict: I genuinely can’t comment here when it comes to audio in games we aren’t really the best people to ask about it…

 

Debut Game BAFTA

Nominees: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Bastion, Eufloria, L.A. Noire, Monstermind, RIFT

Winner: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

MMGaming Verdict: Now we liked ITSP, but I think we also agreed on the fact that Bastion was better, so personally I reckon we would have given this to Bastion. That said, I think we can live with this decision.

 

Design BAFTA

Nominees: Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, L.A. Noire, LittleBigPlanet 2, Super Mario 3D Land, The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim

Winner: Portal 2

MMGaming Verdict: Hmm… I’m not really sure what they were after in this particular award… So, saying that, I think giving it to Portal 2 seems like a good choice!

 

Best Family Game

Nominees: LittleBigPlanet 2, Dance Central 2, Kinect Sports 2, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, Mario Kart 7

Winner: Little Big Planet 2

MMGaming Verdict: MMGaming doesn’t play games with our families, nor did we play any of the above mentioned games. So, saying that, good job LBP2!

 

Game Innovation BAFTA

Nominees: LittleBigPlanet 2, Bastion, Child of Eden, From Dust, L.A. Noire, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Winner: LittleBigPlanet 2

MMGaming Verdict: Hang on… Was LBP2 not just the same as the previous one? What was innovative about it? Surely this one should have gone to From Dust (or Bastion). I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one, but permit me to narrow my eyes in a suspicious manner… Hrmmmm…

 

Best Mobile & Handheld Game

Nominees: Peggle HD, Dead Space iOS, Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint, Quarrel, Super Mario 3D Land, The Nightjar

Winner: Peggle HD

MMGaming Verdict: If they say so…

 

Best Online (Browser) Game

Nominees: Monstermind, Gardens of Time, I Am Playr, Resistance 3, Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure, The Sims Social

Winner: Monstermind

MMGaming Verdict: Again, I don’t think we’ve played any of these games unfortunately… Which is a shame as Monstermind does look pretty bloody nifty!

 

Best Online Multiplayer

Nominees: Battlefield 3, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Dark Souls, Gears of War 3, LittleBigPlanet 2

Winner: Battlefield 3

MMGaming Verdict: OOooo a toughie! I’m pretty sure that given to each MMGamer personally we might have chosen something different. Tim would definitely have agreed with GAME’s choice. I personally would have gone for Revelations. Ali would probably have gone for Gears. I think I’m willing to accept that Battlefield deserves the top spot here though.

 

Original Music BAFTA

Nominees: L.A. Noire, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Winner: L.A. Noire

MMGaming Verdict: When we did our MMGaming Awards we were unsure about who to give this Award to… And I still am… I think I’ll leave it at that rather than disagree with their verdict.

 

BAFTA for Best Performer

Nominees: Mark Hamill – Batman: Arkham City, Aaron Stanton – L.A. Noire, Nolan North – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Stephen Fry – LittleBigPlanet 2, Stephen Merchant – Portal 2, Togo Igawa – Total War: SHOGUN 2

Winner: Mark Hamill – Batman: Arkham City

MMGaming Verdict: A veeerrry tough decision. At MMGaming we did give this award to Stephan Merchant, but Luke Skywalke- I mean Mark Hamill is equally deserving of the award and so I believe this to be a correct choice.

 

Best Sports/Fitness Game

Nominees: Kinect Sports 2, Dance Central 2, DiRT 3, Formula l 2011, FIFA 2012, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

Winner: Kinect Sports 2

MMGaming Verdict: Didn’t play enough of them, can’t comment…

 

Best Story

Nominees: Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, L.A. Noire, The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Winner: Portal 2

MMGaming Verdict: Okay! Now hang on! Portal 2 has a great story, yes very true… But Skyrim is an RPG, they are almost designed for their story! My eyes which had previously narrowed with suspicion have now been joined by a wagging finger. I’m willing to accept this one GAME! But agree with it? I’m not sure I do…

 

Best Strategy Game

Nominees: Total War: SHOGUN 2, Dark Souls, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Football Manager 2012, From Dust, Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

Winner: Total War: SHOGUN 2

MMGaming Verdict: An excellent choice!

 

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award

Nominees: Joust, Dreamweaver, Tick Tock Toys

Winner: Tick Tock Toys

MMGaming Verdict: Okay! We’ll watch them! Might well be worth our while!

 

And now the big ones! The Best Game of 2011 and the GAME Award of 2011 (that’s the one you all should have voted on a while back):

 

Best Game of 2011

Nominees: Batman: Arkham City, FIFA 2012, L.A. Noire, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Winner: Portal 2

MMGaming Verdict: Haha! Yes! I KNEW Skyrim would win this one! Wait hang on… WHaaaaaat!?!

 

GAME Award of 2011

Nominees: Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, FIFA 2012, L.A Noire, Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Minecraft, Portal 2, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

Winner: Battlefield 3

MMGaming Verdict: …

 

Skyrim didn’t win a single award? What is this world coming to!?!

Okay, calm down inner fan-boy… Portal 2 definitely deserves best game of 2011, of that there can be no question or argument. But I’m still planning to be a little petulant about this and have a wee sulk for a little while…