The 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards at the 2012 DICE Summit in Las Vegas have been announced, with Bethesda Softworks' popular action role-playing game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim taking home a total of five awards including Game of the Year. Skyrim won the Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Story, Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Online Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, and Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering awards.
Other big winners were Uncharted 3: Drake's Fortune and Portal 2. A full list of this year's winners can be found below. Congratulations to all of this year's award winners.
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition:
Portal 2
• Publisher: Valve Corporation
• Developer: Valve Corporation
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design:
Battlefield 3
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: DICE
Outstanding Achievement in Story:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Outstanding Character Performance:
Portal 2 - Wheatley
• Publisher: Valve Corporation
• Developer: Valve Corporation
Downloadable Title of the Year:
Bastion
• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Supergiant Games
Casual Game of the Year:
• Fruit Ninja Kinect Publisher: Microsoft Studios
• Developer: Halfbrick Studios
Social Networking Game of the Year:
The Sims Social
• Publisher: Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Developer: Playfish
Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Online Game of the Year:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Outstanding Innovation in Gaming:
Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure
• Publisher: Activision
• Developer: Toys for Bob
Sports Game of the Year:
FIFA 12
• Publisher: Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Developer: EA Canada
Racing Game of the Year:
Forza Motorsport 4
• Publisher: Microsoft Studios
• Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Fighting Game of the Year:
Mortal Kombat
• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year:
Orcs Must Die!
• Publisher: Microsoft Studios
• Developer: Robot Entertainment
Family Game of the Year:
LittleBigPlanet 2
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Developer: Media Molecule LLC
Mobile Game of the Year:
Infinity Blade II
• Publisher: Epic Games
• Developer: Epic Games
Handheld Game of the Year:
Super Mario 3D Land
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo
Adventure Game of the Year:
Batman: Arkham City
• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Rocksteady Studios
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay:
Star Wars: The Old Republic
• Publisher: Electronic Arts, Inc.
• Developer: BioWare Austin
Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity:
Portal 2
• Publisher: Valve Corporation
• Developer: Valve Corporation
Action Game of the Year:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
• Publisher: Activision
• Developer: Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games
Outstanding Achievement in Animation:
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Developer: Naughty Dog
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction:
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Developer: Naughty Dog
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering:
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Developer: Naughty Dog
Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Game of the Year:
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
• Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Source: IndustryGamers, Image Credit: Shutterstock
Comments
Re: Skyrim Wins Big at Interactive Achievement Awards
Frankly, I simply do not agree with the whole "Game of the Year" award for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. And some of the awards this group has given Skyrim are just a bloody joke.
Most notably, the "Outstanding Achievement in Story" and "Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering" don't stack up well with me. The storyline had massive potential but it didn't really surpass much more than the cliche'd "big baddie comes in, random hero saves the world" storyline.
The gameplay engineering should be fairly obvious to anyone who's played previous titles in the Elder Scrolls series. It's different in some parts, yes, but it doesn't dramatically shift so much that it's gameplay has become an "achievement".
Note that I'm not saying Skyrim is a bad game, just that it has an incredible amount of untapped potential, both gameplay-wise and storyline-wise. The main plot will probably never be fixed, and it's disappointing that some of the best questlines in Oblivion weren't as epic in Skyrim (the Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines, though this is pretty subjective). The fact that modders are pretty much the only people who will fix the major issues is, to me, just bad design in general.
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Randi Tastix - http://randomtastic.com
Re: Skyrim Wins Big at Interactive Achievement Awards
So, using a tweaked version of a standard game engine and releasing a game full of glitches and crippling bugs is an achievement in gameplay engineering now? *headscratch* I guess maybe "engineering" doesn't mean the same thing to the AIAS as it does to me.
I'm not trying to bag on Skyrim or anything. I think it's a blast and I'm glad I bought it. But that doesn't blind me to its many, many, many, many, many, many, many flaws.
Re: Skyrim Wins Big at Interactive Achievement Awards
Gameplay engineering: The engineering of gameplay. Aka, the job of a game designer. That, they did wonderfully.
Re: Skyrim Wins Big at Interactive Achievement Awards
It's been laggy as hell on my lately.