Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

55 Comments

BioShock Infinite, Uncharted 3 Lead Game Critics E3 Nominations

Batman: Arkham City, Sound Shapes, and Battlefield 3 round out the rest of the most-nominated titles.

You've probably heard Jeff talk a few times about E3 Judges Week, and the experience of being one of the illustrious 35 gaming editorial luminaries who gets to decide which games get fancy pants "Best of E3" stamps on their respective game boxes.

Your judges! (In non-human, logo-based form)
Your judges! (In non-human, logo-based form)

This year, it seems most likely that BioShock Infinite (Giant Bomb's own E3 2011 Game of the Show, as you may recall), and Uncharted 3 will be taking at least a couple of those fancy pants stamps, as they each lead the 2011 nominees with four nominations apiece.

Not far behind were Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham City, Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot, DICE's Battlefield 3, Ubisoft's downloadable god game From Dust, Bethesda's latest Elder Scrolls sequel, BioWare's Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Jonathan Mak's musical platformer Sound Shapes, with three nominations apiece. While Sound Shapes was easily the strongest small-studio performer, Supergiant Games' stylish action RPG Bastion, and thatgamecompany's Journey both made a strong showing with a pair of nominations each.

The bulk of the nominations fall into the realm of the expected, with the biggest--and, honestly, many of the best--games getting proper recognition. A few weird picks certainly floated through the nominations process, such as the fighting games category, which is the only to feature six nominees, effectively encompassing every fighting game seen at the show. It's as if someone said, "Look, do you want to be the guy to tell Namco that Soul Calibur V is the only fighting game at the show not to get nominated? Or THQ that a wrestling game in this list kinda sticks out like a sore thumb? No? Okay then, let's just do six and be done with it."

Also slightly odd is the handheld game category, which features Super Mario and Mario Kart for 3DS, but in one of the great injustices of our time, not Luigi's Mansion 2. No love for Luigi? Really? Man, the world is full of haters.

Check out the full list of nominees below, if you're into that sort of thing.

== TEASER ==

Game of the Show

  • Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady/WB Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Original Game

  • Bastion (Supergiant Games/WB Games for PC, Xbox 360)
  • BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • From Dust (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Journey (Thatgamecompany/SCEA for PlayStation 3)
  • Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/SCEA for PSVita)

Best Console Game

  • Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady/WB Games for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Mass Effect 3 (Bioware/EA Games for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

  • Contre Jour (Mokus/Chillingo/EA for iPad, iPhone)
  • Mario Kart (Nintendo/Nintendo for 3DS)
  • Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/SCEA for PSVita)
  • Super Mario (Nintendo EAD Tokyo/Nintendo for 3DS)
  • Uncharted: Golden Abyss (SCE Bend Studio/Naughty Dog/SCEA for PSVita)

Best PC Game

  • Battlefield 3 (DICE/EA Games for PC)
  • BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC)
  • End of Nations (Petroglyph Games/Trion Worlds for PC)
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic (Bioware Austin/EA Games for PC)
  • Torchlight 2 (Runic Games/Perfect World for PC)

Best Hardware

  • PlayStation Vita (Sony Computer Entertainment)
  • Rocksmith (Ubisoft San Francisco/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Sony 3D Display (Sony Computer Entertainment)
  • Wii U (Nintendo)
  • Zoom for Kinect (Nyko)

Best Action Game

  • Battlefield 3 (DICE/EA Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer/ATVI for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Gears of War 3 (Epic Games/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Prey 2 (Human Head Studios/Bethesda for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
  • Rage (id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game

  • Assassin's Creed: Revelations (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
  • Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady/WB Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • BioShock infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Role-Playing Game

  • Dark Souls (From Software/Namco Bandai Games for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Big Huge Games/38 Studios/EAP for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
  • Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/EA Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin/EA for PC)
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Best Racing Game

  • Driver: San Francisco (Ubisoft Reflections/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Forza 4 (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Mario Kart (Nintendo/Nintendo for 3DS)
  • Need for Speed:The Run (EA Black Box/EA Games for PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
  • Wipeout 2048 (Studio Liverpool/SCEE for PSVita)

Best Fighting Game

  • Skullgirls (Reverge Labs/Autumn Games for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition (Iron Galaxy Studios/Capcom for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Street Fighter X Tekken (Capcom/Capcom for PS3, Xbox 360, PSVita)
  • Soul Calibur V (Namco/Namco Bandai for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Namco Bandai Games for Arcade)
  • WWE 12 (Yuke's/THQ for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

Best Sports Game

  • FIFA Soccer 12 (EA Canada/EA Sports for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Madden NFL 12 (EA Tiburon/EA Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • NBA 2K12 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • SSX (EA Canada/EA Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
  • UFC Undisputed 3 (Yuke's/THQ for PS3, Xbox 360)

Best Strategy Game

  • Age of Empires Online (Gas Powered Games/Microsoft Studios for PC)
  • End of Nations (Petroglyph/Trion Worlds for PC)
  • From Dust (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Skulls of the Shogun (Haunted Temple Studios for PC, Xbox 360)
  • Trenched (Double Fine/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)

Best Casual/Social Game

  • Dance Central 2 (Harmonix/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Disneyland Adventures (Frontier Developments/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Rocksmith (Ubisoft San Francisco/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Rhythm Heaven (TNX/Nintendo for Wii)
  • Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/SCEA for PSVita)

Best Motion Simulation Game

  • Dance Central 2 (Harmonix/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Fruit Ninja Kinect (Halfbrick/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster (Double Fine Productions/WB Games for Xbox 360)
  • The Gunstringer (Twisted Pixel Games/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo for Wii)

Best Online Multiplayer Game

  • Battlefield 3 (DICE/EA for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer/ATVI for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Gears of War 3 (Epic Games/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin/EA for PC)
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PlayStation 3)

Best Downloadable Game

  • Bastion (Supergiant Games/WB Games for PC, Xbox 360)
  • From Dust (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
  • Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (Fuelcell Games/Microsoft Studios for Xbox 360)
  • Journey (Thatgamecompany/SCEA for PlayStation 3)
  • Papo & Yo (Minority/SCEA for PlayStation 3)
Alex Navarro on Google+

55 Comments

Avatar image for ecks
Ecks

15

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Ecks

probably uncharted 3

Avatar image for geirr
geirr

4166

Forum Posts

717

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

Edited By geirr

Journay, The Old Republic and Tomb Raider for me.

I've seen enough of the other (likely better) games mentioned,

but these three for whatever reason have me extremely curious about how the end result will be.

Avatar image for sickvisionz
sickVisionz

1307

Forum Posts

39

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 4

Edited By sickVisionz

The Bioshock demo was completely hands off wasn't it? 
 
Anyways, these awards are always kinda funny to me.  They sometimes throw them on the game box but I always read them like, "People thought this game was awesome when they didn't really have a chance to play it!!" which seems pretty worthless.

Avatar image for xpgamer7
xpgamer7

2488

Forum Posts

148

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 12

User Lists: 5

Edited By xpgamer7

I find it weird that Rhythm Heaven is under casual/social. That game is hard as hell.

Avatar image for johnnydubbs
johnnydubbs

3

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By johnnydubbs

I have a few of these preordered begining with Gears 3  and MWF3 cant wait.