Runners and Riders at the 2010 Golden Joystick Awards
Last Friday the Park Plaza Hotel in glamourous Westminster played host to the 2010 Golden Joystick Awards. The venue was overflowing with PR-types, developers, bloggers, a couple of page 3 girls and, somewhat inexplicably, Dane Bowers.
The Joysticks are often described, utterly incorrectly, as the ‘Oscars of Games’. The awards are actually voted for by the fans and 2010 saw a record number of votes cast across a range of categories. Award winners were a mix of absolute sure-things (the sun rose in the east, Super Street Fighter IV won the fighting game Joystick, the sun set in the west), room-silencing surprises (League of Legends won Online Game of the Year) and developers who clearly ran a three line whip on their communities (Jagex taking UK Developer of the Year).
It was an especially good day for the fine people at PopCap, with Plants vs. Zombies taking home two awards, one for best downloadable title and, even more impressively, the Joystick for Best Strategy Game, beating The Sims and Age of Empires III for the prize.
Ensconced inside the digital media room, the press were treated to a debate on the state of gaming with some of the magazine editors from Future Publishing (producers of the Golden Joysticks), a presentation from new console customisers ‘Aliens Stole my Console’, demonstrations of Big Match Striker and Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
Until next year, here are this year winners…
Action/Adventure Game of the Year
1st Place: Assassin’s Creed 2
2nd Place: Batman Arkham Asylum
3rd Place: Red Dead Redemption
Fighting Game of the Year
1st Place: Super Street Fighter IV
2nd Place: Tekken 6
3rd Place: Soul Caliber Broken Destiny
Downloadable Game of the Year
1st Place: Plants vs Zombies
2nd Place: Battlefield 1943
3rd Place: Call of Duty World at War Zombies
Music Game of the Year
1st Place: Guitar Hero 5
2nd Place: DJ Hero
3rd Place: The Beatles Rock Band
Portable Game of the Year
1st Place: Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
2nd Place: Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines
3rd Place: Plants vs Zombies
Racing Game of the Year
1st Place: Forza Motorsport 3
2nd Place: Need for Speed Shift
3rd Place: Colin McRae Dirt
Soundtrack of the Year
1st Place: Final Fantasy XIII
2nd Place: Brutal Legend
3rd Place: Assassin’s Creed 2
RPG of the Year
1st Place: Mass Effect 2
2nd Place: Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition
3rd Place: Final Fantasy XIII
Puzzle Game of the Year
1st Place: World of Goo
2nd Place: Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box
3rd Place: Scribblenauts
Sports Game of the Year
1st Place: Fifa 10
2nd Place: Wii Sports Resorts
3rd Place: Skate 3
Online Game of the Year
1st Place: League of Legends
2nd Place: Aion
3rd Place: Farmville
Strategy Game of the Year
1st Place: Plants vs Zombies
2nd Place: The Sims 3
3rd Place: Age of Empires III: Complete Collection
Shooter of the Year
1st Place: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2nd Place: Battlefield: Bad Company 2
3rd Place: Left 4 Dead 2
UK Developer of the Year
1st Place: Jagex
2nd Place: Rockstar North
3rd Place: Codemasters
One to Watch
1st Place: Call of Duty: Black Ops
2nd Place: Fallout: New Vegas
3rd Place: Star Wars: The Old Republic
The Ultimate Game of the Year
1st Place: Mass Effect 2
2nd Place: Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
3rd Place: Assassin’s Creed II