Batman: Arkham Asylum Wins BAFTA Game Of The Year

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Posted March 19, 2010 - By Jake Gaskill

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out their annual video game awards today, and while Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves walked away with the most awards (4), it was Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum that went home with the Game of the Year statue.

There were a few rather surprising results, including Wii Sports Resort besting the Fab Four-fest The Beatles: Rock Band for Best Family and Social Game, FIFA 10 over Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for Use of Online (and Left 4 Dead 2 over MW2 for Multiplayer Game for that matter), and Flower over every juggernaut game of last year.

However, the highlight of the evening had to be Nintendo creative head and industry legend Shigeru Miyamoto receiving the BAFTA Fellowship. Miyamoto becomes the third gaming icon to receive the prestigious honor, after Sims creator Will Wright (2007) and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell (2009), and the first ever Japanese recipient. Well deserved indeed.

The full list of this year's winners can be found after the break.

Best Game

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Action

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

inFAMOUS
Brian Fleming, Bruce Oberg, Chris Zimmerman
Sony Computer Entertainment/Sucker Punch Productions & SCE Foster City Studio

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Artistic Achievement

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

Flower
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/ThatGameCompany and SCE Santa Monica Studio

Street Fighter IV
Yoshinori Ono
Capcom/Capcom

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Family & Social

The Beatles: Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Paul DeGooyer, Josh Randall
Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/Harmonix Music Systems

Buzz! Quiz World
David Amor, Andrew Eades, Lee Clare
Sony Computer Entertainment/Relentless Software & XDEV Studio Europe

EyePet
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE London Studio

Guitar Hero 5
Brian Bright, Paul Robinson, Allen Freese
Activision/Neversoft Entertainment/Vicarios Visions/Budcat

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura
Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Sports Resort
Katsuya Eguchi, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita
Nintendo/Nintendo

Gameplay

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura
Nintendo/Nintendo

PixelJunk Shooter
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Q-Games & SCE Santa Monica Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Handheld

Gran Turismo
Kazunori Yamauchi, Yuji Yasuhara, Hiroki Imanish
Sony Computer Entertainment/Polphony Digital Inc

LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
James Shepherd, Piers Jackson, Mark Green
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Cambridge & xev Studio Europe

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival
Kenji Sakai, Saeka Horikoshi, Hiroya Matsugami
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Japan Studio

Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kubota
Nintendo/Nintendo

Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box
Akira Tago, Akihiro Hino, Tatsuya Shinkai
Nintendo/Nintendo

Scribblenauts
Jeremiah Slaczka, Marius Fahlbusch
Warner Bros Interactive Entertainmnent/5th Cell

Multiplayer

Battlefield 1943
Patrick Liu, Gordon Van Dyke
Electronic Arts/Dice

The Beatles: Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Paul DeGooyer, Josh Randall
Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/Harmonix Music Systems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

Halo 3: ODST
Development Team
Microsoft Game Studios/Microsoft

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Original Score

Assassin’s Creed II
Jesper Kyd
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
James Hannigan, Zsolt Marx, Campbell Askew
Electronic Arts/EA Bright Light

PixelJunk Shooter
Dom Beken, Alex Paterson
Sony Computer Entertainment/Q-Games and SCE Santa Monica Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Sports

Colin McRae: DiRT 2
Matt Horsman, Clive Moody, Guy Pearce
Codemasters/Codemasters Studios

FIFA 10
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Football Manager 2010
Development Team
Sega/Sports Interactive

Forza 3
Development Team
Microsoft/Turn 10

Wii Fit Plus
Shigeru Miyamoto, Tadashi Sugiyama, Hiroshi Matsunaga
Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Sports Resort
Katsuya Eguchi, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita
Nintendo/Nintendo

Story

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s Cut
Charles Cecil, Neil Richards, Tony Warringer
Ubisoft Entertainment/Revolution Software

Brutal Legend
Tim Schafer
Electronic Arts/Double Fine Productions

Dragon Age: Origins
Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Mike Laidlaw
Electronic Arts/BioWare

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Strategy

Command and Conquer 3: Uprising
Development team
Electronic Arts/EA Los Angeles

Empire: Total War
Development Team
Sega/Creative Assembly

FIFA Manager 10
Gerald Köhler, Cord Westhoff, Bernhard Maiberg
EA Sports/Bright Future

Football Manager 2010
Development Team
Sega/Sports Interactive

Halo Wars
Development Team
Microsoft/Ensemble Studios

Plants vs Zombies
George Fan, Tod Semple, Rich Werner
Popcap Games/Popcap Games

Use of Audio

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

DJ Hero
Jamie Jackson, Dan Neil, Tim Riley
Activision/Freestyle Games

Flower
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/ThatGameCompany and SCE Santa Monica Studios

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Use of Online

Battlefield 1943
Patrick Liu, Gordon Van Dyke
Electronic Arts/EA DICE

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
Electronic Arts/ EA Canada

LIttleBigPlanet (PSP)
James Shepherd, Piers Jackson, Matt Porter
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Cambridge & XEV Studio Europe

Singstar TakeThat
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE London Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

Colour Coded
Murray Sinclair, Faye Wright, Liam Wong, Sean Donnelly, Nnanna Kama
(PixelPirates)

Quick as Thieves
William Wright, Michael Doig, Andrew Knight, Jamie MacKinnon, Lee Cresswell
(Gentleman of Fortune)

Shrunk!
Vykintas Kazdailis, Andrew Macdonald, Michael Cummings, Jacek Wernikowski, Stuart Kemp
(The Butterflyers)

GAME Award of 2009 (The only award to be voted for by the public)

Assassin’s Creed II
Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman Arkham Asylum
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

The Beatles: Rockband
Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/ Harmonix Music Systems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10
Electronic Arts/EA Canada

GTA: China Town Wars
Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Nintendo/Nintendo

Street Fighter IV
Capcom/Capcom

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Wii Sports Resort
Nintendo/Nintendo

Well? What do you think of the results? Agree? Disagree? Indifferent?

Tags: Nintendo DS, PC Gaming, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Videogames, Wii, Xbox 360

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| Avalanche |

Wow! I don't think Batman deserved that award at all... i hated that game and stopped playing it with in a few hours! I would have to say that all the other nominees were more worthy of GOTY then it, but that's just my opinion. I really don't get it, why people like AA so much.

Posted: March 22, 2010 11:00 AM
zeroslashj

It's nice to see a game win a GOTY award that's NOT a shooter. <_<</safety_wrapper&g t;

Posted: March 22, 2010 5:29 AM
Charleh3

Kinda pisses me off how MW2 was voted by the public. Biggest mistake of a game of last year....

Batman: AA was definitely fantastic, probably my second favorite game of last year. Uncharted 2 definitely leads the pack.

To the few people saying it's good to see something different; I understand that UC2 wasn't necessarily your thing, but you can't argue with other people who reward Naughty Dog for ultimately making the best game of the year.

Posted: March 22, 2010 3:04 AM
KitFisto94

If Arkham Asylum hadn't have won, the folks at RockSteady would have been done professionally with BAFTA.

Posted: March 21, 2010 10:37 PM
FacePhoenix

It was good but not Game of the Year. Because after I beat it, I really had no reason to play that game again. I wasn't compelled to take another "Tour" through because everything you earned was GONE on a second playthrough. Which to me means this was a Fantastic Rental but $60 throughly wasted. Thank God, I borrowed my cousin's copy because I would have been mighty pissed if I paid what he paid. As I said before this was one of the best games of the year but not THEE BEST GAME OF THE YEAR.

Posted: March 21, 2010 12:49 PM
DrowNoble

Batman AA was an amazing game. Getting the original voice actors from the animated series to do the game really was a nice touch. Story could of been a comic series itself it was that well written.

This is not only the best Batman game I've ever played, but probably should set the standard for future comic games in general. Definately deserves the award.

Posted: March 21, 2010 12:29 PM
Atavax

maybe its because i only played the demo, but, let me put it this way.... the Demo of Batman AA was not good enough to warrant buying the game... spamming 1 button and having the game create combos from that spam was pretty lame, it felt like i was watching someone else play the game rather then me being in control of batman and me creating the combo's...

Posted: March 21, 2010 9:22 AM
Sabian187

Finally...Batman:AA is the best game of last year.
Uncharted 2 was good. No doubt about it, but come on. It's story was...ehh.
Not even in the same league and Batman.
Plus, its a great comic book character game. That is saying something.

Posted: March 21, 2010 6:49 AM
Really_another_Sequel?

Well with a name like Spicypooptastic it comes to mind that your tastes in anything are poor. Glad to see Batman:AA got some honors. Congrats!

Posted: March 20, 2010 7:37 PM
spicypooptastic

First off Batman and all comic book characters are lame as hell. 2nd that game is not even CLOSE! to the game of the year, id say it would be like 9th best

Posted: March 20, 2010 2:35 PM
jcordgamer

Congrats to RockSteady for the honor, for me, it is well deserved for the simple fact that is pretty much the 1st comic based game that was done extremely well. UC2 is spectacular but for me AA was GOTY.

Posted: March 20, 2010 8:03 AM
Keine_Lust

Batman AA was and still is a great game but I think Batman AA 2 will better. But it will be a great GOTY winner like Batman AA.

Posted: March 20, 2010 5:39 AM
MasterOfAllLife

wow. thats a surprise. not that Arkham Asylum was not deserving. but I would have bet money that UC2 would have won that. that is just cool

Posted: March 20, 2010 1:29 AM
-John-

Well, Arkham Asylum was awesome... but GOTY awesome?! Not really.

Heavy Rain or Uncharted 2 gets my vote.

Posted: March 19, 2010 9:25 PM
Mattcore

I absolutely loved Arkham Asylum, the gameplay was fantastic, but for a Game of the Year I honestly don't think the writing was particularly good. Considering also, the huge storehouse of Batman story arcs they would have had available to draw from it was a bit of a let down in places. It was a great game but offered almost zero re-playability as most of the puzzles and clues are quite simplistic and can be overcome with a single game mecahnic (Detective Vision Mode).

Posted: March 19, 2010 8:15 PM
wolfman01

It's good to see some different games instead of just Uncharted and MW2.

Posted: March 19, 2010 7:22 PM
RocketJoel85

Good to see Batman win something. I think every game in 2009 got overshadowed by UC2, not to saying it wasn't deserving. Too bad inFamous didn't win anything, thats one of my favorite games of all time. (my user name is my PSN)

Posted: March 19, 2010 6:33 PM
tylerstravis

I absolutely loved AA, though the very poor last battle kept it from a GOTY for me.

Posted: March 19, 2010 5:36 PM
Krypton

Glad Batman: Arkham Asylum finally got the recognition it deserves. To me, this was my choice for 2009 GOTY.

Way to go Rocksteady

Posted: March 19, 2010 5:33 PM
OmegaRed619

Batman AA was amazing. This game not only set the bar for comic book videogames, but as well as the gaming universe. I still feel Uncharted II was the more polished product however, I feel that the sequel to Arkham Asylum will better than the orginal, and will show that comic book games can actually be Game of the Year contenders, or even winners.

Posted: March 19, 2010 5:28 PM