Portal 2, the first person puzzle-platform game developed and published by Valve Corporation and distributed by Electronic Arts has picked up the Ultimate Game of the Year in association with Alienware at the annual GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards. Now in its 29th year the GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards took place today at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London and saw the elite of the video game industry gather to honour the best games of the past 12 months as well as witness four world exclusive game reveals on the day.
Arguably the second biggest award on the night, the One To Watch Award in association with Shortlist was picked up by the next hotly anticipated instalment of Bethesda’s role playing masterpiece Elder Scrolls – Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Meanwhile Action/ Adventure Game of the Year in association with Metro UK was won by Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, the innovative historical third person stealth game from Ubisoft. FIFA 12 pipped arch rival Pro Evolution Soccer to the post in the Best Sports Game category while Call of Duty: Black Ops bagged yet another award in the Best Shooter Game category. Despite not winning any game category awards this year, Nintendo didn’t leave empty handed picking up the Innovation of the Year award for the Nintendo 3DS console released earlier this year.
Not content with simply honouring some of the biggest and best game releases of the past 12 months, the GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards also revealed some world exclusive new content in the midst of the award presentations. Electronic Arts unveiled the brand new Battlefield 3 expansion pack, Nintendo launched the latest game in the popular Zelda franchise Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Namco debuted their newest game title Inversion with playable content available on-site while SEGA celebrated Sonic The Hedgehog’s 20th anniversary andhis Outstanding Contribution Award, which he attended to collect, by exclusively revealing brand new Sonic Generations content.
Voted for exclusively by the video gaming public, the GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards cemented its position as the biggest gaming awards in the world when it smashed the Guinness World Record for most number of votes cast in a gaming awards. Over 2.06 million votes were cast, smashing the record that was previously set by the GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards in 2009.
James Kick, Associate Publisher of The GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards says: “The GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards is officially the biggest – and certainly the best – celebration of video games in the world. This year the categories were even more closely contested than ever – but the gaming public have spoken, and today’s winners really are the cream of a fantastic crop.”
The GamesMaster Golden Joysticks Awards is pleased to have been partnered with Metro this year. The UK’s third largest national newspaper is sponsoring the Best Action Adventure Award. Other media partners include Shortlist Magazine, which is sponsoring the One to Watch Award, MSN and Habbo.
Award Winners in full and order or presentation
Action/Adventure Game of the Year in association with Metro UK – Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft)
Mobile Game of the Year in association with MSN – Angry Birds Rio (Chillingo)
Roleplay Game of the Year in association with Edge – Fallout New Vegas (Bethesda Softworks)
Massively Multiplayer Online Game of the Year in association with PC Gamer – World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Fighting Game of the Year in association with Official Nintendo Magazine – Mortal Kombat (Warner Bros. Interactive)
Racing Game of the Year in association with GamesRadar.com – Gran Turismo 5 (Sony Computer Entertainment)
Sports Game of the Year in association with Zavvi.com – FIFA 11 (EA Sports)
Strategy Game of the Year in association with Official Xbox Magazine – Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty (Blizzard Entertainment)
Music Game of the Year in association with Habbo.com – Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (Activision)
Free-To-Play Game of the Year in association with CVG.co.uk – League of Legends (Riot Games)
Downloadable Game of the Year in association with Virgin Media – Minecraft (Mojang)
Shooter Game of the Year in association with Turtle Beach – Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision)
One To Watch Award in association with Shortlist – Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks)
Innovation of the Year – Nintendo 3DS
Outstanding Contribution – Sonic The Hedgehog (Sega)
Ultimate Game of the Year in association with Alienware – Portal 2 (Valve Corporation)
Editor’s Notes
About the GamesMaster Golden Joysticks
Established in 1982, the GamesMaster Golden Joystick Award is the world’s longest-running and best-known gaming awards. It’s the only annual awards voted for by gamers and a highlight of the games industry calendar. In 2010 attracted a record 1.54 million votes. In 2009, it was named the World’s Most Popular Videogames Awards by Guinness World Records.
The GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards 2011 ceremony takes place on October 21st at the Westminster Bridge Park Plaza. Voting is open now at www.goldenjoystick.com.
About Future
Future is a leader in the field of digital publishing and was named Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year at the annual Association of Online Publishers Awards – becoming the first magazine publisher to win the Award. Future also won the Grand Prix Award at the event in June. Its web and mobile sites deliver 160 million* page impressions every month to over 25 million unique users. Digital now accounts for a third of all Future’s commercial revenues.
And its development of video on demand and apps is rightly regarded as market leading. Technology brand T3 is leading the way on iPad, becoming one of the top grossing apps in the UK and one of the very few five star apps in the world. The Future digital portfolio includes award winning and hugely respected brands including: www.techradar.com, www.cyclingnews.com, www.gamesradar.com, www.computerandvideogames.com, www.musicradar.com and www.bikeradar.com.
About Metro UK
Metro is the UK’s third largest national newspaper. 1.4m copies are distributed every weekday morning across 50 UK cities. Read by 3.4 million readers, Metro is the number 1 choice for urbanites, 18-44 year old, professional workers in urban areas. 97% of copies are self- selected by readers between 6 and 10am every weekday morning at the start of the commute.
Metro.co.uk complements the newspaper and has over 8.5 million unique users per month. It brings urbanites everything from the latest news and sport, the hottest showbiz gossip, a round-up of the best in entertainment, tech and gadget news, video content and much more. www.metro.co.uk
About MSN Games
MSN Games is one of the most popular gaming websites in the UK. Currently sponsored by Coca-Cola Zero, the site received 1.4 million unique users in August 2011 according to independent data from comScore. www.games.uk.msn.com
About Shortlist Magazine
ShortList is the print and digital concept that revolutionised the magazine market and is reaching upmarket men on a scale never before achieved. With a fascinating mix of intelligent editorial and imagery across a range of topics including news, sport, film, cars, style, grooming, tech, business and travel,
It’s a magazine for the man with more than one thing on his mind, and a healthy disposable income in his wallet. All of which takes the magazine into the heartland of the elusive ABC1 18- to 35-year-old man.
Entertainment is a key sector for our readers, with gaming a key cornerstone of the business. Our GMA awards also prove that the Editorial environment is second to none – we are an influencer and a key title to reach a mass audience. www.shortlist.com
About Habbo
Habbo Hotel is the world’s largest virtual community and social game for teens. Users join by creating a fully customized online character called a Habbo. From there, they can explore wide variety of spaces and millions of rooms created by other users in the virtual community, play a variety of games, connect with friends, decorate their own rooms, and have fun through creativity and self-expression. Currently Habbo Hotel has customers in over 150 countries and the service is available in 11 language versions. To date, 230 million characters have been created and over 10 million unique browsers worldwide visit Habbo Hotel each month, spending a total of 45 million hours in the service. www.habbo.com
Contacts
For further information / Use of pictures / Interviews
Idea Generation: +44(0)20 7749 6850 Camilla Jones: camilla@ideageneration.co.uk Tarafa Craig: tafara.craig@ideageneration.co.uk Dan Walsh: dan.walsh@ideageneration.co.uk
