2012 Game Developers Choice Awards honoring Portal 2, Bastion and Skyrim among others

Dark souls is my game of the year for sure. Honestly, it`s the fairest game I've ever played. When I die, it's not the game's fault, it's mine. I can't say that for pretty much any game out there, from skyrim (although the only way to die is through the various glitches, due to the game's ridiculously low difficulty) to gears of war 3 (any multiplayer game is full of bullshit). It also had my favorite rpg elements, what with the weapon scaling and the proper leveling system.

I still can't believe GamesRadar gave Portal the game of the yar over Skyrim. I know it's just an oppinion but still. Portal 2 was an amazing game, but i beat it over a weekend and had no incentive to go back and play it again. Why? Because once you figure out the puzzles there is no need to play through again. Skyrim on the other hand is the mother off all games. Is it the streamlined, polished game like Portal is? Maybe not as much, but Skyrim is the definition of what future gaming will be like. It has the most rich, detailed world that any of us have ever seen. I am 200 hours in and still have tons of stuff to do. All the quests are epic. Portal i love you, but Skyrim is the end all be all! = )

The reasoning is simple: Portal 2, among other things, was actually finished. Points were taken away from Skyrim for the simple fact that it is more or less impossible to play on one of the platforms it was released on.

Other reasons are personal, of course, because each of the editors gets their own vote, but for some people length of play isn't the most important thing. I remember when I was younger I was all about playing games over and over for ages, now I have less time and really appreciate how I played Portal 2 (twice, in fact) and loved it just as much both times. I was unable to find any flaws in it and beyond that the game kept pulling me along to want to see more.

I do have to disagree with you on the point that Skyrim is the future of gaming. There will be more games like Skyrim in the future, but they are so expensive to produce (and even with all the time and money Bethesda had, we've all seen the problems left over) that you pretty much have to be able to guarantee success to go at it. I for one will be happy that more games like Skyrim will come out in the future, it's a great game that's one of the best from 2011, but there are sizable chinks in its armor, whereas I can't even find a crack to start prying Portal 2 open.

most of the choices suck so i'm not gonna bother voting. I know what my games of the year are and that's all that matters.

Things I know I would pick:

Best Narrative: Portal 2
Best Technology: BF3
Best Debut: Bioware Austin (Star Wars: The Old Republic)
Best Audio: Portal 2 (Valve)

Anything left out is because I either have yet to decide or I just do not agree with any of the nominees.