AIAS 2011 nominees revealed, Uncharted 3 and Portal 2 lead the pack

Naughty Dog and Valve dominate list for 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards

Words: Matt Bradford on January 13, 2012

8 Comments

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has revealed its list of contenders for the 15^th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, naming the Nolan North, Cole Phelps, and GLaDOS vehicles as this year's biggest nominees.

Leading the pack is Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog), which earned a total of 12 nods, followed closely by Portal 2 (Valve) with 10 mentions, and L.A. Noire (Team Bondi) with 9. Oddly enough, despite its showing, L.A. Noire is not listed among the nominees for Game of the Year. Instead, both Uncharted 3 and Portal 2 will compete for the top prize against Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda), and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo).

The full list of AIAS Award nonimees includes other notable categories and nominations including:

Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play
Battlefield 3 (DICE)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games)
Gears of War 3 (Epic Games)
LittleBigPlanet 2 (Media Molecule)
Star Wars: The Old Republic(BioWare Austin)

Downloadable Game of the Year
Bastion (Supergiant Games)
Drawn: Trail of Shadows (Big Fish Games)
Insanely Twisted Shadown Planet (Shadow Planet Productions)
Ms. Spolosion Man (Twisted Pixel Games)
Orcs Must Die! (Microsoft Games)

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
Dark Souls (From Software)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (CD Projekt)

Sports Game of the Year
FIFA 12 (EA Canada)
Madden NFL 12 (Tiburon)
MLB 11 The Show (SCE San Diego Studio)
NBA 2K12 (Visual Concepts)
NBA Jam: On Fire Edition (EA Canada)

Fighting Game of the Year
Fight Night Champion (EAC)
King of Fighters XIII (SNK Playmore)
Mortal Kombat (NetherRealm Studios)
Super Street Fighter 4: 3D Edition Ultimate (Capcom)
Marvel vs Capcom 3 (Capcom)

The 15^th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards will also feature the induction of Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney in to the AIAS Hall of Fame, and awarding of arcade visionary Ed Logg with AIAS' 2012 Pioneer Award.

The big show goes February 9 in Las Vegas. Let us know which games you're rooting for in the comments below.

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii

Topics:

Batman: Arkham City, Bethesda, LA Noire, Legend of Zelda, Naughty Dog, Nintendo, Portal 2, Rocksteady, Team Bondi, The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Uncharted 3, Valve

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shawksta - January 13, 2012 11:16 a.m.

Well thats good, especially the game of the year Nominee's.
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Darkhawk - January 13, 2012 10:28 a.m.

Why didn't GR ever review Orcs Must Dies?! It was on XBLA sale and it's one of the nominees for GotY? Kind of an oversight!
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NanoElite666 - January 14, 2012 8:45 p.m.

I could have sworn I saw one here a little while back, unless I'm crazy and thinking of something else pertaining to the game.
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Money - January 13, 2012 10:20 a.m.

Dead Space 2? By far had the best single player campaign this year.
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V TheSystem V - January 13, 2012 10:09 a.m.

Skyward Sword should be a nominee for Best Original Soundtrack. Sure, SOME of it has been used before, but the stuff that hasn't is amazing! Not a massive fan of the game myself (the last good Wii game? It's good, but it's not what Twilight Princess was to the Gamecube), but I really do love the music. ELDER SCROLLS V: SKYRIM FOR GAME OF THE YEAR!
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mattrickhoffman - January 13, 2012 10:20 a.m.

I would definitely argue, and I think most would agree, that Skyward Sword is a much better game than Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess was good, don't get me wrong, but Skyward Sword innovates a lot more than TP did and has a much richer and deeper storyline. And I completely agree that the soundtrack is absolutely brilliant.
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Stridefizzel - January 13, 2012 11:23 a.m.

I just beat skyward sword, so it's fresh on my mind, and I have to say I completely disagree that it is better than Twilight Princess. I loved every moment of Twilight Princess (on the Gamecube by the way, that's the version you need to play), and I was so enraptured by the story, the music, the world, all of it! Skyward Sword was a blast, and I did enjoy some of the music, but the game wasn't as good as TP. Strangely linear world, ending wasn't very fulfilling, the sky world was kinda lame... it just wasn't as good as Twilight Princess. I just didn't enjoy exploring as much as I did in TP or OoT.
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Lionzest7 - January 13, 2012 1:52 p.m.

what? lol skyward sword isn't that impressive. The one to one is completely inaccurate and the gameplay is still there with core elements. The gyroscope controls are horrid and irritating, the story is less interesting than TP. The soundtracks aren't that different either, there is some new music in SS but it isn't that notable. (This is coming from a zelda fan who attended the 25th anniversary concert) In no way do I see this as being a clear winner over a game developed for GCN and ported to wii as a launch title. Lol at Fight Night Champion being a fighting game instead of sports. This comp is a joke, Portal 2 is great but doesn't deserve GOTY over Skyrim,Uncharted 3 or Arkham City. Maybe people are forgetting how little portal 2 has over these games in terms of storyline execution, gripping emotional sequences, and set pieces. The worst part about this list is another SF4 game getting on another list yet again. Capcom needs to stop receiving credit for revamping an old game. Just like all awards shows these are subjective and usually only encompass the big fish in the pond. Even the undeserving ones get nominations.
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