The Golden Joystick Awards (or the People’s Gaming Awards) are the world’s oldest gaming awards ceremony. The ceremony has just run its 29th year as of 2011 and seems to be growing from strength to strength as this year they recorded a Guinness World Record breaking 2.06 million votes, making it the most voted on gaming awards ceremony on record; with the previous record being held by the same event in 2009. Its awards are given on the basis of votes by the general public and it took place in London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel this month.
The main highlights of the award ceremony included Sonic The Hedgehog receiving the first ever Outstanding contribution award; the Sega Mega Drive original is celebrating its 20th Anniversary and to my knowledge can only be beaten on contribution by a certain Nintendo Plumber in red overalls. In the ‘One to watch’ category which features currently unreleased games I personally had my money on Modern Warfare 3 to take home the gold but gamers of the world seem to disagree with me as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim won over games such as Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, Metal Gear solid: Rising and Tomb Raider, amongst others.
Treyarch’s Black Ops edition to the Call of duty franchise (and also the biggest seller of the past year) won almost unsurprisingly the Best Shooter award but in the closely contested ‘Ultimate game of the year’; with other nominees including the likes of Gran Turismo 5, Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, Halo Reach, La Noire, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and Rock Band 3 as well as Black Ops, the hard fought category was actually won by Valve’s much supported first person puzzler Portal 2. This win perhaps proving that gamers enjoy humour in games more than previously thought, as Portal 2 features voice acting from the likes of ‘The Office’ and ‘The Ricky Gervais show’ comedian Stephen Merchant and actor J.K Simmons of ‘Spiderman’ and ‘Spiderman 2’.
The winners list:
Ultimate game of the year: Portal 2
Strategy game of the year: Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty
Sports game of the year: Fifa 11
RPG of the year: Fallout: New Vegas
Racing game of the year: Gran Turismo 5
Mobile game of the year: Angry Birds Rio
Online game of the year: World of Warcraft
The one to watch: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Music game of the year: Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Free to play game of the year: League of Legends
Fighting game of the year: Mortal Kombat
Download game of the year: Minecraft
Action/Adventure game of the year: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Shooter of the year: Call of Duty: Black Ops
Alexander Shutti
Tags: 2011, golden joystick awards
