The Gadget Helpline’s Gaming Weekly is your 7-day run-down of some of the most talked about topics within the gaming community online. We aim to deliver the week’s top gaming gossip, discuss future release news and the share the latest trailers – spanning the whole console market from Xbox 360 to Wii, as well as mobile devices packing Android and iOS – and more!
VIDEO GAMES AWARDS 2011:
One of the biggest dates in the gaming calendar is the annual Video Games Awards (VGA) which was this again hosted by Spike TV. It’s been an epic year for gaming and the cream of the crop were issued with the prestigious awards on Sunday 11th December after the gaming public made their votes through the VGA website.
Game of the Year was owned by The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. After only being released several weeks ago on November 11th the Bethesda developed fantasy title still had the advance and took the top spot from keen competition which came in the form of Batman: Arkham City and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword which took 2nd and 3rd places respectively. Skyrim’s creators Bethesda also came up trumps in the Studio of the Year awards category once again keeping the Dark Knight well in the shadows, with Arkham devs Rocksteady Studios only able to secure the 3rd place spot.
Batman: Arkham City did however manage to claim the title of Best Xbox 360 Game, holding Forza Motorsport 4 and the market successful trilogy concluder Gears of War 3 in the trailing positions.
One the dark side, the Best Playstation 3 Game award was dominated by sequels but finally granted to the adventure title Uncharted 3: Drakes’s Deception. Infamous 2 made 2nd, with post-apocalyptic Killzone III came up 3rd.
Nintendo’s Wii has been experiencing a slow year, with the Japanese co. focusing much of its attention on transforming its ugly duckling the 3DS into a credible platform, so it was pretty evident that The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, in such short time (it was released just three weeks ago) it was able to take the Best Wii Game awards without drawing a sword.
In other “Best” categories: Portal 2 took it for PC and the much-anticipated Super Mario 3D Land took a shiny golden coin for Mobile/Handheld. No top spots for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Gutted!
Moving into the genres now: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III gunned down all rivals in the Best Shooter category, with Battlefield 3 taking second and Gears of War 3 taking a leg shot, managing to limp into 3rd place.
Batman returns to claim the Best Action / Adventure award for Arkham City and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations parried off a close challenge from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword to take 2nd.
Best RPG went to life-owner Skyrim. Best Multiplayer belonged to Portal 2. Best Individual Sport was KO’d by Fight Night Champion. Best Team Sports was netted by NBA 2K12, surprisingly scoring above FIFA ’12. Best Driving went to Forza Motorsport 4. Best Fighting was harpooned by the Mortal Kombat reboot (#GETOVERHERE!).
Heading into the lesser categories (bear with us!): Best Motion Game goes to Wii’s The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Best Indy Game was taken by imaginative builder and LEGO’s new pal Minecraft. Best Adaptation belonged to Batman: Arkham City (from DC comics).
Other categories included Best Song, Best Score, Best DLC and Best Human Performance (which was sadly not a swansong for Mark Hamill’s last stint as the Joker. The Arkham villain did however, win Best Character!). These can be reviewed at the VGA official website – Here.
BATMAN: ARKHAM CITY SKINS DLC:
With Batman not only cleaning up the streets of Gotham and the VGAs with Arkham City it’s about time he got some new threads, right? That’s just what Warner Bros and Rocksteady Studios have offered in the past week with the latest DLC for the Dark Knight’s latest crusade on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 with a frankly geektastic DLC package which delivers no less than 7 iconic cowls from Bruce Wayne’s vast wardrobe!
The outfits include: 1970s, Animated Series, Year One, Batman Beyond, Sinestro Corps. And the legendary aged Batman from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns. For a closer inspection check out the Gadget Helpline’s feature from the DLC’s launch last week!
SHIGERU TO STEP DOWN?:
There’s been word from legendary Nintendo games designer and the man behind The Legend of Zelda series, Shigeru Miyamoto that he plans to step down from his position within the company. Miyamoto informed Wired that he had been toying with the idea, but in response Nintendo issued a statement saying he’s staying right where is. Read more on this story in our recent feature – Here.
Shigeru Miyamoto was last night honoured with a Hall of Fame induction at the Video Games Awards.
PS VITA ROOMS UK TOUR:
Sony has announced that it will be taking the PS Vita handheld on a UK “hands-on” tour ahead of its European release in early 2012. The Vita Rooms Tour kicks off on December 13th until January 18th at Manchester’s 63 Deansgate. Following this the PS Vita travels up to Glasgow, Birmingham between January and February, presumably leading up to the gaming gadget’s anticipated launch which is billed for February 22nd. (The PS Vita first surfaces in Japan this Saturday, December 17th).
On the tour gamers will be able to get to grips with the Sony PS Vita console itself, as well as a selection of playable games including Uncharted Golden Abyss, FIFA ’12, MotorStorm RC, Little Deviants, Escape Plan, Super Stardust, Wipeout 2048, Road Trip, ModNation Racers (*takes a breath*) and augmented reality beat ‘em up, Reality Fighter. Quite a line-up!
DJ DEADMAU5 LOSES UNRELEASED PS VITA?
In a footnote, VGA attendee and Canadian DJ Deadmau5 reported to his Twitter following that he had actually left Sony’s gift of an unreleased PS Vita in the back of a taxi on leaving the gaming event. The DJ was playing with his new Vita, in advance of the gadget’s worldwide launch, but left it in the cab – leading him and his agent allegedly and desperately trying to find the Sony offering the morning after.
The tweet from @deadmau5 read: “F**K! I left my PSP Vita in a f**kin cab, calling cab company and they say they have like 500 dispatched now. Gunna be a long night… :(”
Sometime later the DJ tweeted again saying it was all a prank to see how his management would react.
Dick.
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