Portal 2 Crowned BAFTA’s “Best Game”

Portal 2, Battlefield 3, and Batman: Arkham City clean up at the 2012 BAFTA Awards, while Skyrim gets skunked.

The 2012 British Academy of Film and Television Arts recently wrapped, with Battlefield 3 taking home the award for Online-Multiplayer, and Batman: Arkham City winning for Action. Portal 2 took the … cake, however, beating out Batman: Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, L.A. Noire, and others, for both Best Game, and Best Story.

Battlefield 3 earned the most awards, claiming the prize for the GAME Award of 2011 and Audio Achievement in addition to Online Multiplayer, while Portal 2, Batman: Arkham City, and LittleBigPlanet 2 took two awards each. Perhaps most notably, Skyrim won absolutely nothing, though nominated for six separate honors, including Best Game. Here’s the full list of nominees/winners:

Action
? Winner: Batman: Arkham City
? Assassin’s Creed Revelations
? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
? Deus Ex: Human Revolution
? Portal 2
? Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Artistic Achievement
? Winner: Rayman Origins
? Batman: Arkham City
? L.A. Noire
? LittleBigPlanet 2
? The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
? Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Audio Achievement
? Winner: Battlefield 3
? Batman: Arkham City
? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
? Dead Space 2
? The Nightjar
? Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Best Game
? Winner: Portal 2
? Batman: Arkham City
? FIFA 2012
? L.A. Noire
? The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
? The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Debut Game
? Winner: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
? Bastion
? Eufloria
? L.A. Noire
? Monstermind
? RIFT

Design
? Winner: Portal 2
? Batman: Arkham City
? L.A. Noire
? LittleBigPlanet 2
? Super Mario 3D Land
? The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim

Family
? Winner: LittleBigPlanet 2
? Dance Central 2
? Kinect Sports 2
? LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean
? LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
? Mario Kart 7

Game Innovation
? Winner: LittleBigPlanet 2
? Bastion
? Child of Eden
? From Dust
? L.A. Noire
? The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Mobile & Handheld
? Winner: Peggle HD
? Dead Space iOS
? Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint
? Quarrel
? Super Mario 3D Land
? The Nightjar

Online – Browser
? Winner: Monstermind
? Gardens of Time
? I Am Playr
? Global Resistance
? Skylanders Spyro’s Universe
? The Sims Social

Online-Multiplayer
? Winner: Battlefield 3
? Assassin’s Creed Revelations
? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
? Dark Souls
? Gears of War 3
? LittleBigPlanet 2

Original Music
? Winner: L.A. Noire
? Assassin’s Creed Revelations
? Batman: Arkham City
? Deus Ex: Human Revolution
? The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
? Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Performer
? Winner: Mark Hamill (The Joker) – Batman: Arkham City
? Aaron Staton (Cole Phelps) – L.A. Noire
? Nolan North (Nathan Drake) – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
? Stephen Fry (Narrator) – LittleBigPlanet 2
? Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) – Portal 2
? Togo Igawa (Dipolomat, Advisor and Military General) – Total War: SHOGUN 2

Sports/Fitness
? Winner: Dance Central 2
? DiRT 3
? F1 2011
? FIFA 2012
? WINNER: Kinect Sports 2
? Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

Story
? Winner: Portal 2
? Batman: Arkham City
? Deus Ex: Human Revolution
? L.A. Noire
? The Elder Scrolls V – Skyrim
? Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

Strategy
? Winner: Total War: SHOGUN 2
? Dark Souls
? Deus Ex: Human Revolution
? Football Manager 2012
? From Dust
? Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital
? Winner: Tick Tock Toys
? Dreamweaver
? Joust!

GAME Award of 2011
? Winner:Battlefield 3
? Batman: Arkham City
? Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
? FIFA 2012
? L.A Noire
? Minecraft
? Portal 2
? The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
? The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
? Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception

The BAFTA Awards mean as much or as little as you want them to, but as an “arts” organization (opposed to a purely game-focused group) that only just elevated videogames to the status of film and television six years ago, it’s interesting to see its take on what worked and what didn’t. At the very least, amidst such an of-the-moment community as gamers, it’s nice to take a step back from what we all love and hate at this exact moment, and remember what we loved and hated last year as well.

Source: Joystiq