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It’s once again that time of the year: time for the Spike Video Game Awards .
. Over the years the Spike VGAshave grown in prominence, both as a major televised industry event and a place to showcase some of the next year’s hot new titles, but not necessarily in quality. Some could argue that the awards themselves, while usually indicative of sales trends, don’t exactly fall in line with the collective gamer opinion.
This year’s nominees, however, are actually some of the strongest we’ve seen in quite some time. Rather than go for the obvious choices — granted, many are still there — Spike opted to reward some new IPs and even a downloadable title few gamers would even consider being a ‘Game of the Year’ contender. Actually, make that two downloadable titles.
Games like Halo 4 , Assassin’s Creed 3 , and Black Ops 2 all receive credit in some form or another, but they have some stiff competition from some unexpected titles. Though, if these three games don’t sweep their respective categories, that would be surprising, but at the same time invigorating.
Game of the Year Assassin’s Creed 3 Dishonored Journey Mass Effect 3 The Walking Dead
Studio of the Year Gearbox Software 343 Industries Arkane Studios Telltale Games
Best Xbox 360 Game Assassin’s Creed 3 Dishonored Borderlands 2 Halo 4
Best PS3 Game Assassin’s Creed 3 Borderlands 2 Journey Dishonored
Best Wii/Wii U Game New Super Mario Bros. U The Last Story Xenoblade Chronicles ZombiU
Best PC Game Diablo 3 Guild Wars 2 Torchlight 2 XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Best Shooter Borderlands 2 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Halo 4 Max Payne 3
Best Action Adventure Game Assassin’s Creed 3 Dishonored Darksiders 2 Sleeping Dogs
Best RPG Diablo 3 Mass Effect 3 Torchlight 2 Xenoblade Chronicles
Best Multi-Player Game Borderlands 2 Guild Wars 2 Halo 4 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Best Individual Sports Game Hot Shots Golf World Invitational SSX Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 WWE ’13
Best Team Sports Game FIFA Soccer 13 Madden NFL 13 NBA 2K13 NHL 13
Best Driving Game Dirt: Showdown F1 2012 Forza Horizon Need for Speed: Most Wanted
Best Song in a Game
“Castle of Glass” by Linkin Park – Medal of Honor: Warfighter “Cities” by Beck – Sound Shapes “I Was Born for This” by Austin Wintory – Journey “Tears” by Health – Max Payne 3Best Original Score Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Halo 4 Journey Max Payne 3
Best Graphics Assassin’s Creed 3 Dishonored Halo 4 Journey
Best Independent Game Dust: An Elysian Tail Fez Journey Mark of the Ninja
Best Fighting Game Dead or Alive 5 Persona 4 Arena Street Fighter X Tekken Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Best Handheld/Mobile Game Gravity Rush LittleBigPlanet (Vita) New Super Mario Bros. 2 Sound Shapes
Best Performance By a Human Female
Emma Stone as Amanda Cartwright – Sleeping Dogs Jen Taylor as Cortana – Halo 4 Jennifer Hale as Commander Shepard – Mass Effect 3 Melissa Hutchison as Clementine – The Walking DeadBest Performance By a Human Male Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack – Borderlands 2 Dave Fennoy as Lee Everret – The Walking Dead James McCafferey as Max Payne – Max Payne 3 Nolan North as Captain Martin Walker – Spec Ops: The Line
Best Adapted Video Game Disney Epic Mickey 2 LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes The Walking Dead Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
Best DLC Dawnguard – The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Leviathan – Mass Effect 3 Mechromancer Pack – Borderlands 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative – Portal 2
Best Downloadable Game Fez Journey Sound Shapes The Walking Dead
Best Social Game
Draw Something Marvel: Avengers Alliance Sim City Social You Don’t Know JackAs we alluded to, Dishonored , Journey , and The Walking Dead are all getting their name out their in some typically high-profile categories. The fact that all three are nominated for Game of the Year, and Halo 4 is nowhere to be seen, is probably the biggest shocker of the bunch. But knowing those games, as a bunch, have better odds chance against Mass Effect 3 and AC 3 could lead to some interesting developments.
This year’s Studio of the Year choices are also fairly solid, with props being given to some of this year’s biggest risk takers. It’s surprising to see that BioWareisn’t in the mix just by virtue of their name, but then thoughts of the Mass Effect 3 ending debacleand the Doctors departingpaint a decidedly grimmer picture.
Though gamers can’t officially vote on any of these nominees — that task is up to the 2012 VGA Advisory Council — they can, however, vote in the ‘Most Anticipated Game’ and ‘Character of the Year’ categories. Most Anticipated Game is (surprisingly) the juiciest category of all those announced with BioShock Infinite , Grand Theft Auto 5 , and The Last of Us battling for pre-2013 supremacy. Fan response to GTA 5 ‘s trailerstells me Rockstar’s latest will take the category, but it nonetheless has some stiff competition.
Most Anticipated Game
BioShock Infinite Grand Theft Auto 5 The Last of Us Tomb Raider South Park: The Stick of TruthCharacter of the Year Connor – Assassin’s Creed 3 Commander Shepard – Mass Effect 3 Clap Trap – Borderlands 2 Master Chief – Halo 4 Raul Menendez – Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
Character of the Year, on the other hand, is a really silly category. And is mainly just a chance for these voice actors to perform some scripted skit that was hastily put together by the game’s respective developer. Last yearThe Joker won for Arkham City , but Mark Hamill was seated up in a balcony and didn’t get to accept the award.
While most gamers typically don’t look forward to hearing which title came away with the award for ‘Best Driving Game’ or ‘Best RPG,’ there’s still an entire awards show wrapped around the guise of one big marketing event. In reality, most look to the Spike VGAs as a Winter E3 — a chance to see what unannounced games they can look forward to and to receive closer looks at some of next year’s most anticipated titles.
We’ve yet to hear anything regarding major reveals, though, so for now gamers can mull over the nominees.
What do you think of the nominees for the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards? Who will/should win in each category?
The 10th Annual Spike Video Game Awards will air live at 9 PM ET and 6 PM PT on SpikeTV. Samuel L. Jackson will be hosting this year’s festivities.
Source: Spike