BAFTA nominees announced, Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire take lead

Four new categories added to UK video game awards

Words: Matt Bradford on February 16, 2012

8 Comments

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced its picks for the GAME British Academy Video Game Awards. The list of nominees include the usual suspects, with extra attention given to Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham City and Team Bondi's L.A. Noire, which lead the pack with eight nominations each.

Vying for the title of Best Game are other AAA contenders including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, FIFA 12, Portal 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. BAFTA has also seen fit to expands its categories to include trophies for Debut Game, Online-Browser, Online Multiplayer, and Performer – the latter of which includes deserving nods to Mark Hamill (Joker) in Batman: Arkham City, Nolan North (Nathan Drake) in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) in Portal 2.

Place your bets on the full list below:

Best Game
Batman: Arkham City 
Fifa 12 
LA Noire 
Portal 2 
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Action
Assassin's Creed Revelations 
Batman: Arkham City 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 
Deus Ex: Human Revolution 
Portal 2 
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Strategy
Dark Souls 
Deus Ex: Human Revolution 
Football Manager 2012 
From Dust Ghost Recon
Shadow Wars 
Total War: Shogun 2

Story
Batman: Arkham City 
Deus Ex: Human Revolution 
LA Noire 
Portal 2 
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Artistic Achievement
Batman: Arkham City 
LA Noire 
LitteBigPlanet 2 
Rayman Origins 
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Design
Batman: Arkham City 
LA Noire 
LittleBigPlanet 2 
Portal 2 Super Mario 3D Land 
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Debut Game
Bastion 
Eufloria 
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet Shadow Planet 
LA Noire 
Monstermind 
RIFT

Audio Achievement
Batman: Arkham City 
Battlefield 3 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 
Dead Space 2 
The Nightjar 
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Family
Dance Central 2 
Kinect Sports 2 
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean 
Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 
LittleBigPlanet 2 
Mario Kart 7

Game Innovation
Bastion 
Child of Eden 
From Dust 
LA Noire 
LittleBigPlanet 2 
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Mobile and Handheld
Dead Space iOS 
Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint 
Peggle 
Quarrel 
Super Mario 3D Land 
The Nightjar

Online – Browser
Gardens of Time 
I Am Playr 
Monstermind 
Resistance 3 
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure 
The Sims Social

Online-Multiplayer
Assassin's Creed: Revelations 
Battlefield 3 
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 
Dark Souls 
Gears of War 3 
LittleBigPlanet 2

Original Music
Assassin's Creed: Revelations 
Batman: Arkham City 
Deus Ex: Human Revolution 
LA Noire The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim 
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Performer
Aaron Stanton (Cole Phelps) – LA Noire 
Mark Hamill (The Joker) – Batman: Arkham City 
Nolan North (Nathan Drake) – Uncharted 3:Drake's Deception 
Stephen Fry (Narrator) – LittleBigPlanet 2 
Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) – Portal 2 
Togo Igawa (Dipolomat, Advisor and Military General) – Total War: Shogun 2

Sports/Fitness
Dance Central 2 
DiRT 3 Fl 2011 
FIFA 12
Kinect Sports 2 
Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

BAFTA Ones to Watch AwardJoust
Dreamweaver
Tick Tock Toys

The finalists for BAFTA's GAME Audience Award were posted last week, and are still open for voting. The winners from all 16 categories will be announced during the Academy's big show on Friday, March 16 in London.

Platforms:

Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii

Topics:

Batman: Arkham City, Bethesda, EA, FIFA 12, LA Noire, Nintendo, Portal 2, Rocksteady, Team Bondi, The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Valve

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DannyMB - February 16, 2012 10:34 a.m.

FIFA 12 in Best Game? Really? I understand that as a football game, its brilliant, but I feel that the BAFTA Game awards are about celebrating the more artistic side of game making. I'm not sure FIFA 12 fits in with that (though I do understand that a lot of hard work went into making it). Its great to see LA Noire up there as well, it might have been flawed but it dared to be different in a market saturated by shooters and sequels. Portal 2 was good, but i'm not sure its worthy of Best Game, i'd be happier if Stephen Merchant took the Performer award for it as he was bloody brilliant in it. My pick for best game has to be Batman. Its up against tough competition but its the only game on the list I think comes truly close to flawless. It had a great story, its mechanics were perfect, no cross-system glitches and it improved on Arkham Asylum in every way possible.
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Darkhawk - February 16, 2012 10:36 a.m.

Best Game Portal 2  Action Batman: Arkham City  Strategy Dark Souls  Story Portal 2  Artistic Achievement Rayman Origins  Design Portal 2 Debut Game Bastion  Game Innovation Child of Eden  Mobile and Handheld Peggle  Online-Multiplayer Dark Souls  Original Music Batman: Arkham City  Performer Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) – Portal 2  These are picks more than bets.
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Darkhawk - February 16, 2012 10:36 a.m.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR! STUPID GR FORMATTING THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A LIST WHAT THE HELL
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ericthesmith - February 16, 2012 11:31 a.m.

Ohh man, "Portal 2 Super Mario 3D Land" really did have great design. I hope it wins.
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Sonattine - February 16, 2012 11:40 a.m.

I like the categories and the choices made. It seems relevant. Could the BAFTAs be a good candidate for the video game equivalent of the Oscars ? I'll bet on Portal 2 winning the most categories, with Little Big Planet 2, Bastion and Rayman getting theirs.
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Jcookie11 - February 16, 2012 1:52 p.m.

Portal 2 doesn't even get on the nominations for original music?! that was one of my favourite bits about that game! I know it was pretty cheesy at points but it was still amazing
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DyranLK - February 16, 2012 5:06 p.m.

Might have to go with "Portal 2" for Best Game on this one, although the competition it's going up against makes the decision unnervingly difficult to confirm, lol. I'd be fine if AC takes it as well, though. I personally believe they were both pretty deserving, alongside the likes of "Skyrim", 'ey. Whatever the case, those are all pretty logical nominations, from what I could tell; although, "FIFA 12" for Best Game and the lack of "The Witcher 2" for Story is quite disappointing, but other than those few blemishes, I'm more or less content with the overall package. :-P Here's to the nominees! May the best (wo)man win! ;P
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austincharlesbond - February 16, 2012 11:17 p.m.

As much as I loved Batman and Skyrim, Portal 2 is one of the finest games I have ever played - one of the few games I can truly call flawless
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