This morning, BAFTA announced the nominees list for this year’s prestigious awards. Although some of their categories can seem a bit peculiar to those of us used to games only being commended in very narrow terms, it’s very interesting to see how they fill each category. It would be fascinating to listen in on the judging panel’s discussions of the nominees. How do they judge whether L.A. Noire was more innovative than Bastion, for example?
It’s a huge list but there is quite a nice mix, although the heavy-hitters obviously receive multiple nominations. Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire both lead the nominations with eight each.
Action
- Assassin’s Creed Revelations
- Batman: Arkham City
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Portal 2
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Artistic Achievement
- Batman: Arkham City
- L.A. Noire
- LitteBigPlanet 2
- Rayman Origins
- The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Audio Achievement
- Batman: Arkham City
- Battlefield 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Dead Space 2
- The Nightjar
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Best Game
- Batman: Arkham City
- FIFA 2012
- L.A. Noire
- Portal 2
- The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Debut Game
- Bastion
- Eufloria
- Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
- L.A. Noire
- Monstermind
- RIFT
Design
- Batman: Arkham City
- L.A. Noire
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- Portal 2
- Super Mario 3D Land
- The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
Family
- Dance Central 2
- Kinect Sports 2
- LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean
- LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- Mario Kart 7
Game Innovation
- Bastion
- Child of Eden
- From Dust
- L.A. Noire
- LittleBigPlanet 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Mobile & Handheld
- Dead Space iOS
- Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint
- Peggle
- Quarrel
- Super Mario 3D Land
- The Nightjar
Online – Browser
- Gardens of Time
- I Am Playr
- Monstermind
- Resistance 3
- Skylanders: Spyro’s Adventure
- The Sims Social
Online-Multiplayer
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
- Battlefield 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Dark Souls
- Gears of War 3
- LittleBigPlanet 2
Original Music
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
- Batman: Arkham City
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- L.A. Noire
- The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Performer
- Aaron Stanton (Cole Phelps) – L.A. Noire
- Mark Hamill (The Joker) – Batman: Arkham City
- Nolan North (Nathan Drake) – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
- Stephen Fry (Narrator) – LittleBigPlanet 2
- Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) – Portal 2
- Togo Igawa (Dipolomat, Advisor and Military General) – Total War: SHOGUN 2
Sports/Fitness
- Dance Central 2
- DiRT 3
- Fl 2011
- FIFA 2012
- Kinect Sports 2
- Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012
Story
- Batman: Arkham City
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- L.A. Noire
- Portal 2
- The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Strategy
- Dark Souls
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Football Manager 2012
- From Dust
- Ghost Recon Shadow Wars
- Total War: SHOGUN 2
BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital
- Dreamweaver
- Joust!
- Tick Tock Toys
GAME Award of 2011
(Voted for by the public)
- Batman: Arkham City
- Battlefield 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- FIFA 2012
- L.A Noire
- Minecraft
- Portal 2
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
3shirts
Apart from CoD and FIFA, I actually don’t mind who wins any of those. A lot of very worthy titles this last year.
I’d love Steven Merchant to get the gong for performer. He was ace in Portal 2
Loxstokk
It would be cool to get these put into a poll so we could pick our winners. It would be interesting to see how the results stack up with the eventual winners!
cc_star
Portal2
Rayman Origins
Dead Space 2
Portal2
Eufloria
LBP2
Probably a Kinect game
None of them are that innovative, poor show.
Peggle, yes still in 2012
N/a
What an awful shortlist
Again, terrible shortlist
Stephen Merchant, easy!
YSFE2012
Portal2
Dark Souls
N/a
Portal2
MW3 & Bf3 nomination make me smile one of them is a cut&paste and the other is terrible dross with a fancy lighting model. LA Noire had some good ideas, not all of it was done well though. Batman would be nothing without Batman in it other than a repetitive open world game. Uncharted3 isn’t even the best Uncharted, by a long way. AC Rev is simply awful, one giant loading screen and Skyrim only became playable for half its install-base last week.
Portal2 won’t walk it, but should.
tonycawley
But BF3 is one of the best MP experiences I’ve ever had on any console, don’t know how you can call it terrible dross really, except for just in an attempt to be contraversial.
Forrest_01
I am in agreement with tony here on BF3, as it’s ace – It really does deserve to win it’s category i think (it was never gonna get nominated for best sp story or anything like that), but i have a horrible feeling that CoD will once again prevail.
BrendanCalls
I found BF3 awful…until my friend who loved it came round my house and schooled me in how to play it properly. I’ve competely converted from CoD to BF now, superb game I think
Forrest_01
*categories
(hadn’t noticed that there was a category for best audio as well)
Rocket_345
I got to say i’m also with tony. Despite being as useful as a chocolate fireplace online the game is awesome. I should really join the meet at some time.
cc_star
@tonycawley
Because it is, I don’t know how you can call it any different, unless you’re just talking about the MP.
Forrest_01
@cc_star – Bear in mind that BF3 is only nominated for MP & Audio.
tonycawley
Cc, I am indeed only talking about the mp, played through the sp and though it was nothing to write home about it wasn’t terrible. The mp however is truly excellent and since that’s the award its up for I think your comment is a little unfair. Plus you can’t fault the audio!
The Lone Steven
I’ve only played the Beta of BF3 and surprisingly, i enjoyed it. Considering i rarely play online, i would probably agree with the others that BF3 had the best MP of 2011. Despite it’s lack of a private match function. =)
bunimomike
cc_star is our finest contrarian I’ll have you know!
Nocure-fd
Yes, BF3 multiplayer has become like digital crack for me. I just can’t seem to get enough (Nocure_aMp is my battlelog ID if anyone cares). I am on PC, though if there is a vibrant community of TSAers currently playig I’ll consider picking it up on another format (PS3?). A platoon of mature gamers would be nice to join up with.
On topic: In my opinion BF3 should be a strong contender for the categories it has been nominated for.
yogdog
Yep, massive fan of BF3 here. Didn’t really enjoy MW3 but I don’t really mind too much if it does win an award, although BF3 deserves the online and sound categories.
Death_In_Flamez
Controversialist is controversial…….BF3 I’ll concede is not Battlefield’s finest outing, but it’s a bloody good game still
BrendanCalls
I can see Portal 2 and LA Noire pick up an awful lot of awards there. Portal 2 would be completely justified, brilliant game…LA Noire great facial animations, but once the novelty of that wore off I lost interest.
Problem for me is that only in a couple of fields have I played more than 50% of the games, so to judge them would be unfair….that said, I want BF3, Portal2 & Uncharted to come away with the majority
Forrest_01
I feel the same with LA Noire & if anything it should take artistic achievement, as i can admit the tech was very impressive.
Next time though, wrap that tech around a game that is actually entertaining & you might have something.
Rocket_345
Portal 2 should clean up here. Played split screen co op with my bro last week and it was awesome. Best game that was released by a mile last year and its not normally my type of game.
BrendanCalls
I think i’d have to agree with you there….split screen is an utterly joyful experience. The best gaming experience I had last year by a mile
Ossy
My personal game award would have to be FIFA 12 , minecrafts lost its appeal after more then a year of playing. Portal 2 was amazing but I just love football and FIFA is just a lot more fun.
cc_star
FIFA12 is a good shout, don’t think it’ll have a chance because there’s too many gaming snobs around, but 12 is truly revolutionary not just incremental improvements that people stereotype it as.
BigCheese
I seem to be the only gamer of all tie that really doesn’t think anything of Portal 2. I’ve played through the majority of the (ridiculously short) single-player game and it really hasn’t found many ways to impress me.
How Battlefield and Call of Duty can even get mentioned is beyond me, though! Hope Rayman picks up some rewards, it deserves them. Just disappointed there was no mention of inFamous 2 and very little of Resistance 3; they were my favourite games this year, other than FIFA.
BigCheese
*of all time. Stupid ‘m’ key!
The Lone Steven
Last time i checked, Dark Souls and DU:HR are not stragety games. Sure, you can use stragety but that doesn’t mean that they are in that genre. If that was the case then every RPG, i’ve ever played would be classed as a stragety game.
I fear the public vote will be taken over by Fanboys and thus we will end up with a game that ends up winning despite the same fanboys saying it’s not as good as the previous ones. :S
Where is Bulletstorm? Surely, that deserves to be nominated in the Innovation catergory as it was innovative.
I’m glad they didn’t nominate Zumba or any dancing game for best music like a certain awards show did. Also, no Zumba in the sports catergory? :O
The list is too short imo as there was a lot of decent games that came out last year. Also, are they sticking to one voice actor per game?
Origami Killer
I would put Dark Souls down as strategy, it does require a strategic approach to every fight. All I know is that Batman AC will steal the show which is unfortunate (haven’t played it but if its anything like AA it doesn’t deserve anything IMO)
I would like to see LA Noire pick a few up, but it will be the big hitters i.e. COD, Assassins Creed, FIFA & Skyrim.
The Lone Steven
True but techincally, it is classed as an action adverture(RPG?) game. When i think of strategy games, i tend to think of Total War. However i do believe it should have been nominated for the Action catergory. =)
Origami Killer
yeah it is. Not very happy with the nominations tbh. Dont get me wrong Portal 2 is probably really good but does it class as an action game?
The Lone Steven
I would class it as First Person Puzzle game. But i suppose it would get away with being called a First Person shooter.
Actually, why is it not nominated for best original music? O-o
TheDemocrodile
good grief, Skyward Sword…. innovation???? am i in some alternate universe where windwaker, twilight princess and OOT werent released?? I cant remember the last time a zelda game introduced a truly fresh mechanic let alone a game full of innovation.
its a good game sure but innovative? hell no.
Moshbag
Totally agree, that’s a crazy nomination right there.
MICKY17
I’m willing to bet that MW3 will win the GAME award unfortunately. Really hope Portal 2 gets a few awards as it is a truly superb game.