The winners for the "Game Critics Awards Best of E3 2012" have just been announced. The Last of Us snagged most of the awards, including "Best of Show". You can view all the winners from the website: http://www.gamecriticsawards.com/

I'll list the nominees and bold the winners, just in case for those who can't access the link for some weird reason.

Best of Show

• Assassin's Creed III
• Dishonored
• Halo 4
• The Last of Us
• Tomb Raider

Best Original Game

• Beyond: Two Souls
• Dishonored
• Quantum Conundrum
• The Last of Us
• Unfinished Swan

Best Console Game

• Assassin's Creed III
• Dishonored
• Halo 4
• The Last of Us
• Tomb Raider

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

• Assassin's Creed III Liberation
• Epic Mickey Power of Illusion
• Infinity Blade Dungeons
• Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
• New Super Mario Bros. 2
• Sound Shapes

Best PC Game

• Company of Heroes 2
• Hawken
• Planetside 2
• SimCity
• XCOM Enemy Uknown

Best Hardware/Peripheral

• Astro A50 Wireless Gaming Headset
• Rift VR Headset
• Wii U
• Wonderbook (Why was this nominated?)
• Skylanders: Giant Figures

Best Action Game

• Borderlands 2
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Crysis 3
• Halo 4
• Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

Best Role-Playing Game

• Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance
• Ni No Kumi
• Persona 4 Golden
• The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim - Dawnguard
• South Park The Stick of Truth

Best Fighting Game

• Dead or Alive 5
• Injustive Gods Among Us
• Persoan 4 Arena
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Best Racing Game

• F1 2012
• Forza Horizon
• LittleBigPlanet Karting
• Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed

Best Sports Game

• FIFA Soccer 13
• Madden NFL 13
• NBA 2K13
• NHL 13
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2013

Best Strategy Game

• Company of Heroes 2
• End of Nations
• SimCity (Does this even count as a strategy game?)
• Pikmin 3
• XCOM Enemy Uknown

Best Social/Casual Game

• Dance Central 3
• Game & Wario
• Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
• Nintendoland (Seriously?)
• Rock Band Blitz

Best Motion Simulation Game

• Dance Central 3
• Fable The Journey
• Game & Wario
• Just Dance 4
• Wii Fit U
• Wonderbook Book of Spells (honestly, really?)

Best Online Multiplayer Game

• Borderlands 2
• Call of Duty Black Ops II
• Halo 4
• Need for Speed Most Wanted
• Planetside 2

Best Downloadable Game

• Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit
• Quantum Conundrum
• Retro City Rampage
• The Cave
• Unfinished Swan

I agree with most of the choices even if I don't agree with some of the nominations. The Last of Us definitely deserved "Best of Show", Naughty Dog knocked E3 out of the park with that one. As for Halo 4 winning "Best Action Game" and "Best Online Multiplayer", all I have to say is haters gonna hate. So this was a pretty good awards show for the most part. And before anyone starts complaining about Watch_Dogs not receiving any nominations, let me say that unplayable demos aren't eligible for the awards.

Do you agree or disagree with most of the winners?

Dead or Alive 5 made it for best fighting game? that's cool, even if it's probably because there wasn't many fighting games at E3. hopefully Watch_Dogs is playable next year or something if it doesn't come out by then. i'd like to see if that would get best of show.

@AjayRaz said:

Dead or Alive 5 made it for best fighting game? that's cool, even if it's probably because there wasn't many fighting games at E3. hopefully Watch_Dogs is playable next year or something if it doesn't come out by then. i'd like to see if that would get best of show.

Whatever comes out for next year's E3, it'd be hard for it to top Watch_Dogs.

I never got the point of these awards, so they give out awards to whoever can make the best 5-10 minute demo.

How exactly did Wonderbook not win best hardware/peripheral? 
 
And SimCity has always been a strategy game to some degree even if it's always been classified as a simulation.

@Dalai said:

How exactly did Wonderbook not win best hardware/peripheral? And SimCity has always been a strategy game to some degree even if it's always been classified as a simulation.

I dunno, Wonderbook looked more gimmicky than the Kinect.

I still don't think SimCity quite counts as a strategy game. Its more of a sim than strategy game IMO.

Lack of Planetside 2 wins is disturbing.

@Vorbis said:

Lack of Planetside 2 wins is disturbing.

Halo 4 did deserve the award for "Best Online Multiplayer" dude. I know, I'm bias. :P

But XCOM did deserve the "Best PC Game" award. It looks like what that other XCOM game should've been.

Tomb Raider is up there a surprising amount of times. It's clearly far better than people are leading me to believe, looking at you most gaming websites. All I've heard is that it's a new Tomb Raider Game, may be open world, and is sexist and rapey?

On the other hand Wonderbook is nominated as a great peripheral, down goes all credibility I give to this list.

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

DOA 5 surprised me

@Jace said:

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

Honestly, can you really say that without playing the two at E3? I'm looking forward to Halo 4 more than Planet Side 2 on a personal level because MMOs don't click with me. For all I know, if I had the chance to visit E3, I might've been more impressed by Planetside 2 than I'd be with Halo 4. Who knows?

@Jace said:

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

Have you played either of those games?

@CouncilorChief: @Jackhole: I've been through this with people so many times, from now on I'm just going to copy and paste the following to the knee-jerk "wull hav u played it yet?!?!" response.

Come with me on this magical journey. One in which left click/right trigger shoots, your thumb or wrist aims, and you press keys or move a stick to walk. Now imagine, if you can, a fantasy realm in which you've played one of these games before, one in which you might make a rough inference as to how it might "play", if you will. Imagine in this promise land that the companies making these games have enough experience to accurately create a FPS that plays well. Can you do it? I know you can. Great! Now imagine that TotalHalibut has done an insane amount of hyper detailed coverage of PS2 on youtube, and fathom that Halo 4 has been demoed to hell and back and has closely related series entries.

But you ask unto me, oh so intelligently: How, in this far-off land of magical farfetched mysteries, how might one even come to a conclusion without playing either game?

BEATS ME.

@Jace said:

@CouncilorChief: @Jackhole: I've been through this with people so many times, from now on I'm just going to copy and paste the following to the knee-jerk "wull hav u played it yet?!?!" response.

Come with me on this magical journey. One in which left click/right trigger shoots, your thumb or wrist aims, and you press keys or move a stick to walk. Now imagine, if you can, a fantasy realm in which you've played one of these games before, one in which you might make a rough inference as to how it might "play", if you will. Imagine in this promise land that the companies making these games have enough experience to accurately create a FPS that plays well. Can you do it? I know you can. Great! Now imagine that TotalHalibut has done an insane amount of hyper detailed coverage of PS2 on youtube, and fathom that Halo 4 has been demoed to hell and back and has closely related series entries.

But you ask unto me, oh so intelligently: How, in this far-off land of magical farfetched mysteries, how might one even come to a conclusion without playing either game?

BEATS ME.

Yeah, I don't care. If you haven't played a game you're not in a position to judge it or not. The people that voted on these awards have played these games, you have not.

Also, these awards are just for marketing purposes, so of course Halo is going to fucking win, what do you expect?

@Jackhole said:

Yeah, I don't care. If you haven't played a game you're not in a position to judge it or not. The people that voted on these awards have played these games, you have not.

Also, these awards are just for marketing purposes, so of course Halo is going to fucking win, what do you expect?

"Instead of a rebuttal, I will just make a statement I didn't back up, and then attempt to undermine the entire thread with a marketing accusation."

A+

@Jace: "attempt to" Are you really that naive? You seriously think these awards are anything more than just a sticker to throw on the back of box of these games? Do you also think games are made with magic pixie dust?

@Jackhole: So you think the award goes to the highest bidder, as opposed to people playing it and picking their favorite? Conspiracies baby, GB needed more of them. If you remember, playing it was part of your orginal argument by the way which you're now throwing away in lieu of "They're paid to give the award." I can't keep up. You win. Trying to argue with you is like trying to shoot Bugs Bunny with a nerf gun.

@Jace said:

If you remember, playing it was part of your orginal argument by the way which you're now throwing away in lieu of "They're paid to give the award."

This isn't true. My argument was, you never played either game, you don't which one is better. I am now adding onto that in saying, why do you even give a shit, this is all just marketing, and of course Halo is going to beat Planetside. That's just how this shit works, that's how it's always worked. Didn't Rage win Game of the Show or something comparable a few years back. Why? Not because it was the best game, but because is was made by fucking Id.

@Jackhole said:

@Jace said:

If you remember, playing it was part of your orginal argument by the way which you're now throwing away in lieu of "They're paid to give the award."

This isn't true. My argument was, you never played either game, you don't which one is better. I am now adding onto that in saying, why do you even give a shit, this is all just marketing, and of course Halo is going to beat Planetside. That's just how this shit works, that's how it's always worked. Didn't Rage win Game of the Show or something comparable a few years back. Why? Not because it was the best game, but because is was made by fucking Id.

Yeah I bet all those small indie devs and THQ threw a huge amount of cash at all those greedy judges. I thought we were over all these bribing conspiracies, guess not.

@kpaadet said:

@Jackhole said:

@Jace said:

If you remember, playing it was part of your orginal argument by the way which you're now throwing away in lieu of "They're paid to give the award."

This isn't true. My argument was, you never played either game, you don't which one is better. I am now adding onto that in saying, why do you even give a shit, this is all just marketing, and of course Halo is going to beat Planetside. That's just how this shit works, that's how it's always worked. Didn't Rage win Game of the Show or something comparable a few years back. Why? Not because it was the best game, but because is was made by fucking Id.

Yeah I bet all those small indie devs and THQ threw a huge amount of cash at all those greedy judges. I thought we were over all these bribing conspiracies, guess not.

That's not what I'm saying. It's all marketing, they do it so that it has the stickers on the back of the box that says it won an award. Nobody is getting bribed. I'm just saying that these awards exist solely for the purpose of promoting games. They're giving awards to unfinished products for chists sake! That's like giving out awards to movie trailers. Of course it's for marketing, what other purpose would giving awards for demos serve?

Alright injustice wins that is so awesome. Very glade that NRS is back on top.

are there seriously awards for E3? that's just an award for best marketing. so marketing on top of marketing for the best game pimping at E3 .. at some point the BS gets too deep.

@Jackhole said:

@Jace said:

If you remember, playing it was part of your orginal argument by the way which you're now throwing away in lieu of "They're paid to give the award."

This isn't true. My argument was, you never played either game, you don't which one is better. I am now adding onto that in saying, why do you even give a shit, this is all just marketing, and of course Halo is going to beat Planetside. That's just how this shit works, that's how it's always worked. Didn't Rage win Game of the Show or something comparable a few years back. Why? Not because it was the best game, but because is was made by fucking Id.

If you'll refer back to my first post, you'll find I said I don't care. Your original argument was that because I had not played either game, I could not have a valid opinion on which I think is better in a respective category. I hope my elaborate post confirmed otherwise, because if that didn't do it for you, nothing will. You're welcome to expand on what holding a controlled does for someone's judgment, but honestly I don't want to even go down that slippery slope.

My favorite part is that you're using two mutually exclusive arguments. You can't have it both ways. So pick:

A- Award shows give out awards based on external factors (marketing, company name, etc.) and are not based on critic play experience.

B- Award shows give out awards based on what the critics think.

You can't argue with both, and I hope you see why. So if you want to discuss this further, you have to pick a path.

@Jackhole said:

@kpaadet said:

@Jackhole said:

@Jace said:

If you remember, playing it was part of your orginal argument by the way which you're now throwing away in lieu of "They're paid to give the award."

This isn't true. My argument was, you never played either game, you don't which one is better. I am now adding onto that in saying, why do you even give a shit, this is all just marketing, and of course Halo is going to beat Planetside. That's just how this shit works, that's how it's always worked. Didn't Rage win Game of the Show or something comparable a few years back. Why? Not because it was the best game, but because is was made by fucking Id.

Yeah I bet all those small indie devs and THQ threw a huge amount of cash at all those greedy judges. I thought we were over all these bribing conspiracies, guess not.

That's not what I'm saying. It's all marketing, they do it so that it has the stickers on the back of the box that says it won an award. Nobody is getting bribed. I'm just saying that these awards exist solely for the purpose of promoting games. They're giving awards to unfinished products for chists sake! That's like giving out awards to movie trailers. Of course it's for marketing, what other purpose would giving awards for demos serve?

So.... effectively... you're proposing that the critics pick the game they want to sell the best... for free... and under no influenc- NOPE. I'm out. You're not even a good conspiracy theorist. I apologize to the OP for the derail, at least I got a good laugh.

@Jace said:

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

lol wut?

Stop starting stupid arguments.

You're missing my point, twisting my words around, and taking what I say out of context. This is just silly.

If you really think these awards are more than just a circle jerk hype wagon, that's fine, it doesn't bother me. I'm just done arguing with you, you sound like a 12 year old, I mean comon', "I got a good laugh" "NOPE" "Point A Point B" Grow up.

Also, you shouldn't be surprised Halo 4 won, that was a dumb thing to say in the first place.

@big_jon said:

@Jace said:

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

lol wut?

Stop starting stupid arguments.

So stating my opinion which was directed towards no one is starting an argument?

"lol wut"

Stop saying stupid things.

@Jace said:

@big_jon said:

@Jace said:

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

lol wut?

Stop starting stupid arguments.

So stating my opinion which was directed towards no one is starting an argument?

"lol wut"

Stop saying stupid things.

Saying that one game you never played is better than another game you never played in a public forum is starting an argument. Dammit, stop saying stupid things and starting arguments.

@Jackhole: Trying to get you to concisely summarize your point of view and getting a laugh out of it when you made conspiracies hardly seems immature to me. Not that I have to validate myself. I was just paid to post here by marketers.

@Jackhole said:

@Jace said:

@big_jon said:

@Jace said:

Giving Halo 4 the MP win over Planetside 2 is a fucking joke. Not that it matters or that I care, but there is no logical path what-so-ever that would say Halo's MP looked better than PS2's.

lol wut?

Stop starting stupid arguments.

So stating my opinion which was directed towards no one is starting an argument?

"lol wut"

Stop saying stupid things.

Saying that one game you never played is better than another game you never played in a public forum is starting an argument. Dammit, stop saying stupid things and starting arguments.

So again, stating my undirected opinion is to be guilty of starting an argument? If you can not immediately see the blatant logical fallacy within that statement, there is no hope for you.

@Jace said:

@Jackhole: Trying to get you to concisely summarize your point of view and getting a laugh out of it when you made conspiracies hardly seems immature to me. Not that I have to validate myself. I was just paid to post here by marketers.

That's fucking hilarious dude, why don't you call up all your gal pals and giggle til' your tummies hurt.

You are an idiot if you think these awards are more than just a circle jerk hype wagon. Is that concise enough for you?

@Jace: This is a public forum! What you say is directed at anybody that can read. And yes, saying stupid shit is starting an argument. If you can't see that, there's no hope for you.

@Jackhole:

Why Is This Wagon So Sticky: A Complete E3 Award Analysis.

By: Jackhole

The marketers said they felt it worked better as a book title, as opposed to an argument. Your call, I'm just the messenger.

I'm happy to see The Last of Us, XCOM and Halo 4 taking most of the awards. Those are certainly the games I'm most interested in.

Apropos of nothing, screw Beyond. If that game turns out to not be a stinker just like Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy, I will eat a bug. Sony ought not to be financing Quantic Dream's games. There are far more capable adventure game developers out there making great games on a tiny fraction of their budget. But then again, I'm talking as if these games exist for a reason other than to make people go, "Oooo! GRAFFIX!"

@Jackhole said:

@Jace: This is a public forum! What you say is directed at anybody that can read. And yes, saying stupid shit is starting an argument. If you can't see that, there's no hope for you.

By your "logic" @chrissedoff just started an argument by saying who he liked to see get awards. Because what if I deem it "stupid shit?" Well then I guess he started it!

There, a live example showing the absurdity of your proposal. That's the best I can do. God speed on your future intellectual endeavors.

@Jace: Yeah, I'm so stupid for calling you out on saying one game you haven't played is better than another game you haven't played. I'm glad that your so happy about how this all turned out. All your witty quips and whips makes the scoreboard You-100 Me-0, right?

I'll just go back to urinating on my computer screen and rubbing rocks together while you expound your magnificent opinions about online FPS's to the world at large. Good night, my friend.

Lol, this thread. Anyway, nice to see Sound Shapes is still kicking ass and taking names.  
 
And if none of you realize, these particular awards are a sort of aggregate of the 'awards' given by 30 or more publications, including Giantbomb.com - a website, about videogames!

Jesus, guys...

@chrissedoff: Eh, better to have an eye on developers trying to do something different than ones keeping the status quo. Never played Indigo, but I found some of the moments of Heavy Rain, like crawling through the glass, cutting off the finger, and looking after Shawn after Jason's death, acutely moving the first time through. That alone gives Cage and co. free reign in my book.

And these are just awards for "I liked playing this small part of this game more than that game," but that's informative, too. Just like podcasts are informative with their hours of commentary and write ups try to make that coherent, awards give a meta-narrative to it all. It's all just different data to give us an impression of feelings. Less hype and more exactly what we want for games we haven't played--facts and impressions.

@Kierkegaard: Cool name.

@Jace: Dude really, stop trying to sound smart by overly flourishing your words, you sound like a tool.

You literally said that there was no "logical" reason for someone to chose Halo 4 over Planetside 2, which is in it self putting down others for having their own opinions. I could give two shits about the award but the way you talk rubs me the wrong way a lot of the time. You ever wonder why you get in so many arguments? Maybe it's because you act like a pompous ass all the time.

Lastly, you know what? BadCompany 2 was multiplayer game of the year 2010, did any major site recognise that? No, I still didn't bitch and moan about it.

@big_jon: Overly flourishing? You realize that that's a completely relative statement and that to more sophisticated people, I probably type like a caveman. So if you're going to pick something to swing at, swing at something you can hit. But on to the meat of the issue.

I am immensely regretful to the up-most degrees that the voicing of my lowly opinion has inflicted such horrific trauma upon your rubbing surface. Alas, I fear there is not a sonnet in the world I could manifest to ever repeal my infractions. Good day, sir.

@Jace: Man, you sure do know how to make my point for me.

@big_jon: (thatsthejoke)

This is just like the Oscars: I couldn't care less.

Did I miss the memo about shooters becoming action games? I feel so out of touch.

Good call on The Last of Us, though; definitely deserved all the accolades.

I hate awards like these.

These need to be playable, right?

In that case, all that matters here is PEOPLE ARE ENJOYING THE SOUTH PARK GAME. I could not be any more fucking stoked for that.

@Tylea002: The Southpark tower defence game was awesome too, so I am looking forward to this.