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