X-Play Presents The Best of 2011 Awards: And The Nominees Are...

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Posted December 5, 2011 - By Leah Jackson

On December 14 X-Play will be presenting their Best of 2011 Awards at 6:00 PM ET, honoring some of our favorite games of the year. In their special one-hour episode of X-Play, hosts Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb, and Blair Herter will take you through each category to reveal the champions, and we'll all get to find out which game won the highly coveted Game of the Year award. Today, we have a list of the nominees so you can see which games have a chance of winning one of these prestigious awards.

X-Play's Game of the Year 2011 Nominees »

To whet your appetite, here's our Game of the Year nominees:

Game of the Year

    Batman: Arkham City
    The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
    Gears of War 3
    L.A. Noire
    Portal 2
    Saints Row: The Third
    Super Mario 3D Land

Check after the break for the full list of categories including Best RPG, Best Multiplayer, Best Shooter, Best Trailer, Most Original Game, and many more! Also, don't forget to vote in the final rounds of our Videogame Deathmatch to make your voice heard during the episode.

Most Original Game

    Catherine
    L.A. Noire
    Minecraft
    Stacking
    Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery

Best Gameplay Innovation

    L.A. Noire – Facial animation/capture
   League of Legends– Dominions mode
    Minecraft – Creative freedom
    Rocksmith – Teaching real guitar
   Skylanders Spyro's Adventure – Figurine integration

Best Multiplayer Game

    Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
    Battlefield 3
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
    Dark Souls
    Gears of War 3

Best Multiplayer Co-Op Game

    Dance Central 2
    Gears of War 3
    Ilomilo
    Portal 2
    Saints Row: The Third

Best Sports Game

    FIFA 12
    MLB 11: The Show
    NBA 2K12
    NHL 12
    WWE ‘12

Best Downloadable Game

    Bastion
    InFamous: Festival of Blood
    Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
    Iron Brigade
    Stacking

Best Downloadable Content

    Call of Duty: Black Ops – Rezurrection
    Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Missing Link
    Fallout: New Vegas – Old World Blues
    Gears of War 3 – Raam’s Shadow
    Portal 2 – Co-Op Challenges

Best Shooter

    Battlefield 3
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
    Gears of War 3
    Rage
    Resistance 3

Best Role-Playing Game

    Dark Souls
    Deus Ex: Human Revolution
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky
    The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings

Best Fighting Game

    King of Fighters XIII
    Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
    Mortal Kombat
    Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition
    Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

Best Art Direction

   Alice: Madness Returns
    Batman: Arkham City
    El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron
    Portal 2
    Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Best Animation

    Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
    Batman: Arkham City
    NBA 2K12
    Rage
    Rayman Origins

Best Writing

    Batman: Arkham City
    L.A. Noire
    Portal 2
    Saints Row: The Third
    Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Best Soundtrack

    Deus Ex: Human Revolution
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
    Portal 2
    Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery

Best Sound Design

    Batman: Arkham City
    Battlefield 3
    Dead Space 2
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
    Portal 2

Best Action/Adventure Game

    Batman: Arkham City
    L.A. Noire
    Rayman Origins
    Super Mario 3D Land
    Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Best Racing Game

    Dirt 3
    F1 2011
    Forza Motorsport 4
    Motorstorm: Apocalypse
    Shift 2: Unleashed

Best Motion Control Game

    Dance Central 2
    Just Dance 3
    Killzone 3
    The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
    Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster

Best Handheld Game

    Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
    Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
    Pokemon Black & White
    Professor Layton and the Last Specter
    Super Mario 3D Land

Best Puzzle/Strategy Game

    Achron
    Catherine
    Portal 2
    Professor Layton and the Last Specter
    Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

Best Performance By Nolan North

    Adventure/Space/Fact Cores – Portal 2
    Deadpool – Marvel vs. Capcom 3
    Desmond Miles – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations
    Nathan Drake – Uncharted 3
    The Penguin – Batman: Arkham City

Best Performance Not By Nolan North

    Aaron Staton – Cole Phelps, L.A. Noire
    JK Simmons – Cave Johnson, Portal 2
    John DiMaggio – Marcus Fenix, Gears of War 3
    Mark Hamill – The Joker, Batman: Arkham City
    Stephen Merchant – Wheatley, Portal 2

Best Remake/Retro Release

    Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary
    Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection
    The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
    Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
    Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Online Edition

Best Trailer

    Dead Island
    The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Live Action
    OverStrike

Make sure you tune in to X-Play on December 14th @ 6PM ET to find out who wins!

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

Comments

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erib

Ocarina of time is extremely overrated.

Posted: February 15, 2012 3:52 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Renaissance

A lot of Skyward Sword haters here; mostly from Skyrim fans.
What are you kids doing playing a Mature rated video game anyway?

Posted: December 15, 2011 7:08 PM | Reply | Report

+3 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
Renaissance

A lot of Skyward Sword haters here; mostly from Skyrim fans.
What are you kids doing playing a Mature rated video game anyway?

Posted: December 15, 2011 7:07 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
BolmungLK

Ok, it's official G4 hates Zelda. I mean I understand maybe the staff doesn't like Nintendo/Zelda, but the fans do. I know Skyrim, GoW3 and ACR were hot shiz and got many awards. But come the holy f$@#% on G4.....You're being a pansy by completely omitting it from everything. It makes G4 and ALL of its staff/associates look like a bunch of biased morons that want to pick on certain games regardless of their fanbase.

If G4 was the ONLY person/group that liked Skyrim and the rest of the world LOOOOOOVED ACR, G4 would auto-nominate Skyrim, just because THEY love it so much. All along this has NOTHING to do with fans voting, just G4 wanting to showboat their favorite game.

Posted: December 14, 2011 7:31 PM | Reply | Report

+6 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
ZethN64

Yeah, G4TV's a joke on how biased they are.

Posted: December 14, 2011 5:45 PM | Reply | Report

+4 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
SilentResident

The Ucharted 3 and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, if ANYTHING, need to be at least given the proper respect, and AT LEAST be NOMINATED, for a game of the year award!

But... Super Mario and Saints for GOTY 2011? Is G4TV kidding?

Today I completely lost any respect I had to this site. VGA at least nominated Zelda for GOTY even if it didn't won the title of GOTY at the end!

G4TV, you will know that, today, many people in the world disagree with your GOTY 2011's nomination list. Epic fail!

Posted: December 14, 2011 4:22 PM | Reply | Report

+5 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
inuyazeiah

I bet G4 was frightened that SS would have the possibility of beating all other contenders of GOTY so they decided to not include it in the game of the year but to please the Nintendo fans, they picked a game that they knew would not win so they chose SM3DL to make it more convincing that they chose a good game from Nintendo as game of the year but one that will loose easily.

Posted: December 14, 2011 3:53 PM | Reply | Report

+4 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
ZeldaParadise

Why the hell is Super Mario up there and not Zelda: SS?! This list is messed up, man.

Posted: December 14, 2011 3:38 PM | Reply | Report

+6 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
theDethDealer

Wtf.... So many of these could have had SS under as a nomination. But they didn't. Art direction for one. Innovation, really Spyro? Forcing you to buy expensive figurines to unlock and play as characters? Sure SS in under motion control, but come on. How many Wii or PS Move games used motion controls to the extent SS did? It may not actually fit there, but some of these categories it would have fit nicely under. Not going to throw a fit or anything. Though the Mario for GotY nomination truly throws me off. Especially with how well its done in the polls. I don't think Mario would have made it that far.

Don't get me wrong, I hope 3D Land makes it under the tree this Christmas, but I've heard too much about SS and it has been a fantastic game. I can't see Mario (I played a demo and it was pretty awesome) topping SS, it was just amazing.

Posted: December 14, 2011 3:31 PM | Reply | Report

+5 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
theDethDealer

Wtf.... So many of these could have had SS under as a nomination. But they didn't. Art direction for one. Innovation, really Spyro? Forcing you to buy expensive figurines to unlock and play as characters? Sure SS in under motion control, but come on. How many Wii or PS Move games used motion controls to the extent SS did? It may not actually fit there, but some of these categories it would have fit nicely under. Not going to throw a fit or anything. Though the Mario for GotY nomination truly throws me off. Especially with how well its done in the polls. I don't think Mario would have made it that far.

Don't get me wrong, I hope 3D Land makes it under the tree this Christmas, but I've heard too much about SS and it has been a fantastic game. I can't see Mario (I played a demo and it was pretty awesome) topping SS, it was just amazing.

Posted: December 14, 2011 3:20 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
xerolife900

why isn't Madden 2011 one of the best sports games of 2011? I have never commented on a forum before, but when I saw the list they did I am so like wtf lol... does anyone have input for this?

Posted: December 14, 2011 3:16 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
CoolestNoob

Why the f--- is Mario 3D land up for GotY?! That game is such a joke! xD they probably sold like 3 copies to a bunch of 3 year olds with autism :)

Posted: December 14, 2011 2:20 PM | Reply | Report

-8 thumbs up thumbs down

3 Replies
jonnyc

I hate you X-Play

Posted: December 14, 2011 1:49 PM | Reply | Report

+9 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
old_skool_gamerer08

Sorry, meant to say MW3!!

Posted: December 14, 2011 1:43 PM | Reply | Report

-1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
old_skool_gamerer08

Well i think the only 2 games that do belong in that list is Skyrim and Batman. And i agree with other on here, LOZ:SS, U3, and AC:R should be on there. Thank God they didn't put BF3 or MW# on this list. I would have had to cus someone out!!!

Posted: December 14, 2011 1:42 PM | Reply | Report

+6 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
andrewka75

There should be many more games up for Game of the Year. Plus there should be many more games in other categories. I wouldn't say that the list is biased, but put together very poorly.

Posted: December 14, 2011 1:23 PM | Reply | Report

+5 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
JoseEstigarribia

I can't believe how biased this list is. I mean, on your OGTY deathmatch on this same site, Zelda took down everyone it faced to far and made it into the Final ROund, but it' still not nominated for, not ven GOTY, but anythin else besides soundtrack and motion controls.

Really pathetic.

Posted: December 14, 2011 12:38 PM | Reply | Report

+13 thumbs up thumbs down

1 Reply
CheddarBBQ

I was gonna comment on how ridiculous a Nolan North-specific award is, but after looking at the options, it's probably one of the closest choices. Everything but The Penguin should have a good shot.

Posted: December 14, 2011 12:31 PM | Reply | Report

+1 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
123Four

If Catherine doesn't win 'Most Original' I will have to eat the game's box and turn into a supernova, ending all life. You have been warned.

Posted: December 14, 2011 12:09 PM | Reply | Report

+2 thumbs up thumbs down

0 Replies
MrSelfDestruct0plex

Just Give SKYRIM every award and move onto next year...( where it will win Game of the year AGAIN... with bioshock coming in close at 2nd) :B

Posted: December 14, 2011 11:58 AM | Reply | Report

-1 thumbs up thumbs down

1 Reply