VGW's 2011 Game of the Year Award Winners

VGW’s 2011 Game of the Year Awards: The Final Winners

By Jason Evangelho on 03 January 2012 in BrainCandy, Game of the Year Awards with No Comments

With 2011 in our rear view mirror, and following more than 8 hours of deliberations recorded across 3 podcasts, all that’s left to do is put our list of Game of the Year category winners into virtual print. We’d like to congratulate everyone on this list, and thank them for giving up 1000′s of their lives to provide us with 1000′s of hours of gaming bliss in 2011.

It also needs to be said: These aren’t the only games of 2011 worth playing, not by a long shot. Check out our review database to find several other titles worth your time and money.

Listen to how we ultimately decided on the final winners in part 1 and part 2 of our GOTY Podcast series:

VGW’s 2011 GAME OF THE YEAR: BATMAN ARKHAM CITY

Most Anticipated Game of 2012: Bioshock Infinite
Best Gaming Platform of 2011: The PC
Best Publisher of 2011: Ubisoft
Best Developer of 2011: Epic

The Platform Awards

Best PC Exclusive: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Best X360 Exclusive: Gears of War 3
Best PS3 Exclusive: inFamous 2
Best Wii Exclusive: Zelda: Skyward Sword
Best PSP Exclusive: Corpse Party
Best DS Exclusive: Radiant Historia
Best 3DS Exclusive: Super Mario 3D Land

Scandals, Surprises, Disappointments

Biggest Scandal of 2011: Playstation Network Outage
Best Promotional or Ad Campaign: Long Live Play (Playstation)
Biggest Surprise of 2011: Mortal Kombat
Biggest Disappointment of 2011: Dragon Age II
Most Underappreciated Game of 2011: Corpse Party
Best Video Game (or Game-Inspired) Book: Ready Player One

The Genre Awards

Best Indie Game: Bastion
Best Racing Game: Forza Motorsport 4
Best Action/Platformer: Batman Arkham City
Best Sports Game: NCAA Football 2012
Best Fighting Game: Mortal Kombat
Best RPG: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Best Shooter: Gears of War 3
Best Co-Op Experience: Gears of War 3
Best Multiplayer Experience: Modern Warfare 3
Best Downloadable-Only Game: Outland
Best New IP: Bulletstorm
Best HD Re-Release of HD Collection: Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
Best Use of Motion Controls: The Gunstringer

Characters, Graphics, Writing, Design, and Audio

Best Antagonist/Villian: GlaDOS
Best Character: Cave Johnson
Best Voice Acting: Arkham City
Best Graphics: Arkham City
Best Writing: Portal 2
Best Narrative: Portal 2
Best Level Design: Portal 2
Best Soundtrack: Skyrim
Best Sound Design: Battlefield 3

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Written by Jason Evangelho (406 Posts)

Jason is VGW’s founder, Executive Editor, and a longtime podcaster, writer, and “solopreneur” who is driven by the classic Jello Biafra quote “Don’t hate the media. Become the media.” His singular mission is to develop VideoGameWriters into a gaming site known for its intelligence, timeliness, originality and integrity. You can hear him leading the VGW Collective in the site’s official podcast, “Unlimited Ammo.”