BioShock Infinite, Uncharted 3 Lead Game Critics E3 Nominations

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.

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'sBatman: Arkham City, Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot, DICE'sBattlefield 3, Ubisoft's downloadable god game From Dust, Bethesda's latest Elder Scrolls sequel, BioWare'sStar 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'sJourney 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, notLuigi'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.

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)

Pfft, Skyrim all the way!

again! 
 
Thats quite an exhaustive list.

Curses

Neat

I hope Tomb Raider wins some awards, I really liked the demo and the trailer.

um... Are you missing the categories for these nominees?

2011 Should have been included in Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year". 

So many awards.

BioShock Infinite... Best Original Game? How insulting (to the other original games).

Why is Bioshock Infinite nominated for Best Original Game? Nothing against it, but uhh... it's not a new IP.
 
Also, I don't get why GB and other sites act like Infinite was the best of E3... did they even show anything new that wasn't behind closed doors? Give the love to the games that really put themselves out there and made good impressions. Like Twisted Metal, so many people walked away excited about that game, but no nominations?

How are they so fucking inept at coming up with lists that even make sense?

These lists are horrible. No Dark Souls or BF3 on Game of the Show?
 
Also, Bioshock Infite on the Best original game list? Why...? I'm guessing there were so few new IPs this year that the editors couldn't come up with a 5th game.

@alex said:

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)

I find these two list of games baffling.

I  am surprised there is no Far Cry 3. I thought that game had a pretty sweet reveal.

I do not understand why The Old Republic made the list.

@allofmyhate said:

These lists are horrible. No Dark Souls or BF3 on Game of the Show? Also, Bioshock Infite on the Best original game list? Why...?

How come four PC games made 'Game of Show' but only one of those four made the 'Best PC Game' shortlist? I think they just pulled some names out of a hat or something.

Also, not everything shown at E3 is representative what the judges saw.

Why the hell is Skyrim listed as a best console game, but not a best PC game?

These lists are horrible. No Dark Souls or BF3 on Game of the Show?  Also, Bioshock Infite on the Best original game list? Why...? I'm guessing there were so few new IPs this year that the editors couldn't come up with a 5th game.

Why is Bioshock not in the console category?

nintendo definitely doesn't have too much stuff on there.

Good choices, glad Uncharted 3 got lots of credit. But that was obvious. 

BioShock 3 is an original? And for that matter... a game? Thus far I've only seen some very well  orchestrated cut-scenes that mimic the notion of gameplay.

All excellent choices for Game of the Show.

Skyrim has a Best Console game nomination? Seriously? When has a Bethesda game ever been better on a console as opposed to a PC? This list has most of the right games in all of the wrong places.

@CrazyChris said:

Pfft, Skyrim all the way!

I came here to post this.

@sofacitysweetheart: there was a playable demo through pretty much everything we've seen in videos.  i realize it looks like a cut scene but its not.  hence the impressiveness

I think that wrestling games are totally fighting games. 

I still need to check out most of the stuff shown for these games at E3.

Where's my Social/Casual/Puzzle-category?

I only see Social/Casual...

Yes, I was listening to the 2008 E3 podcasts a few days ago...

@Dany said:

@alex said:

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)

I find these two list of games baffling.

Video game categories are the dumbest shit ever.

Here are the judges that actually matter: 
 

*sigh*. I mean, yay for Uncharted 3 and Bioshock 3 - they deserve it. It's just never exciting when we get an e3 like this. Sequels, sequels, sequels. No surprises. Not even all the rumored games actually came out. This was a pretty depressing e3, actually. We saw all these games last year too, y'know? 
 
Are we just at a point where it takes so damn long for multiple studios to put out ONE GAME ('cuz you know multiple studios are doing outsourcing for titles like Uncharted 3 and Bioshock Infinite) that we're just doomed to see the same game at 2,3 or 4 shows in a row? Because that is an awful prospect.

As they said in the live streaming shows - you are really just going on assumed potential from a short demo so it is very hard to make any reasonable decision.

Scribblenauts being a case in point in 2009. I guess someone was hoping the terrible controls would be fixed before launch. Great original concept but a little lacking in the final execution.

Seeing that list of judging publications makes me release how things like that Handheld/Mobile nominees list can exist.

Mario Kart. Come on.

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 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)

What i find baffling is that a few of these gaming sites/companies (i am looking at your G4) have picked their game of the show for E3... however, their picks didn't win their own category. By this I mean, i saw x-play's award show where they gave the game of the show to bioshock... but when bioshock was up in it's own genre(action/adventure, i think), it lost to another game... How can a game that is the best of the show, not win it own genre award... if another game outdoes what it is suppose to be, then isn't that other game thereby better, and should be the game of the show... Unless the reason it lost the genre award was because the game was put in the wrong grouping, but if that is the case, how can you trust any of their choices since they can't put games into the proper categories in their own award show....  
 
Blah... *walks off ranting*

Still disappointed that the Bioshock Infinite E3 2011 demo wasn't shown to the public, if I had to see another interview with Ken Levine again with no demo to show I was going to scream. No mention of Far Cry 3 anywhere, really?

"Best Demo We Saw At A Press Conference"
 
yeah, whoop-de-doo

Still confused as to how Skyrim isn't winning everything it's obviously going to get GOTY...I mean it's the ELDER SCROLLS people!!!

Looking over the nominees it seems that the dominance of the console exclusive is fading strong.  Uncharted 3 is the lone game to really stand out from the others.

It might be time to rethink genre categories.

I have played Super Mario 3DS and it doesn't deserve any award for crippling the tanooki suit

Pfft, Skyrim all the way!