Portal 2 marks huge success at 2012 BAFTAs, Skyrim gets the snub

Well this is a triumph. This weekend, Portal 2 swept the 2012 GAME British Academy Video Game Awards, trumping the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyim, Batman: Arkham City, and L.A.Noire for Best Game of 2011. Valve's puzzler was also awarded the most trophies during the UK awards gala, including nods for Best Design and Best Story.

Other notable winners include EA DICE's Battlefield 3, which took home awards for Best Online Multiplayer, Audio Achievement, and the fan-voted GAME Award of 2011; and Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet 2, which hopped away with nods for Game Innovation and Best Family Game. Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire – the night's odds-on favorites with eight nominations each – were nicely recognized with Batman landing the award for Best Action Game and Best Performer (Mark Hamill – The Joker), and L.A. Noire winning a BAFTA for Best Original Music.

Markus “Notch” Persson, founder of Mojang Studios and creator of Minecraft, also added to his trophy case with BAFTA's Special Award for his “outstanding creative contribution to the industry".

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The full list of winners is as follows:

Best Game: Portal 2 (Valve)
Design: Portal 2 (Valve)
Story: Portal 2 (Valve)
Action: Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
Strategy: Total War: SHOGUN 2 (Creative Assembly)
Artistic Achievement: Rayman Origins (Ubisoft)
Audio Achievement: Battlefield 3 (EA DICE)
Debut Game: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (Shadow Planet Productions)
Family: LittleBigPlanet 2 (Media Molecule)
Game Innovation: LittleBigPlanet 2 (Media Molecule)
Mobile & Handheld: Peggle HD (Popcap Games)
Online – Browser: Monstermind (Bossa Studios)
Online-Multiplayer: Battlefield 3 (EA Dice)
Original Music: L.A. Noire (Team Bondi)
Sports/Fitness: Kinect Sports 2 (Rare and Big Park Studios)
Performer: Mark Hamill (The Joker) – Batman: Arkham City
BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital: Tick Tock Toys (Swallowtail)
GAME Award of 2011: Battlefield 3 (EA DICE)

Interestingly enough, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim failed to garner a single award despite being up for numerous categories and winning Game of the Year recognition at past award shows like the GDC Awards, Interactive Achievement Awards, and Spike VGAs. Naughty Dog's Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception also left the gala without any love. See what other games were up for recognition at BAFTAs website.

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Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.