How are these awards decided?

3D Land should of took down Golden Abyss!!! Grrrrrrr....

Uncharted (any of them) are better than most of the newer mario games imo.

@SomeBitTripFan Sony bribes the judges.

Uncharted was a nice game from what I've seen, but in terms of actual fun factor and content I would go as far as saying all those 3DS games are better than it.

@Hyperstar96 Lies! I assure you nobody is clouding jack tretton's judgement!

At least Skyrim won, that game was really fun, love it..
I do hope that the next Elder Scroll game comes out for the Wii U,

These sorts of awards are based on graphical power and polygon counts anyway. pundits and industry ppl don't take Nintendo seriously but who cares. They have bad taste anyway.

Unchatered is clearly not as good as Super Mario 3D Land or Mario Kart 7. Generally worthy winners here. However, Nintendo games don't really stand a chance in these types of awards. Pointless really.

Angry Birds Space as best mobile/tablet game? Lol, no. _{Bastion? The Room? God of Blades? Hello?}

Quite disappointing that Nintendo didn't win anything over their vast selection of nominations, but better luck next year. I'm glad to see that Yogscast won a Golden Joystick Award for best YouTube gamer, though; they deserve it.

_{For the record, I do believe Uncharted: Golden Abyss does beat out most of the newer Marios, but with Kid Icarus: Uprising and Resident Evil: Revelations on the line-up, I'm very surprised.}

Best downloadable game: Minecraft (Xbox 360)
A stripped down, late port of a PC game, wow! That beats out all the great downloadable titles released this year!

YouTube gamer award: Yogscast
God no

Outstanding contribution: EA Sports & FIFA
Outstanding contribution to what? Ripping people off?

These awards are terrible! They're either run by frat boys with horrible taste in games, or they're accepting bribes!

@Collision_Cat - It isnt hard to see that it's just a popularity contest - not a reliable measure of quality. Minecraft is an extremely popular game, and the Yogscast are famous Youtubers who had the most subs out of the nominees. The awards are given based off user votes, not anyone taking bribes. -.-

I'm done with these stupid award contests. All of them, not just the golden joystick awards. And especially voter decided ones. As for game of the year... it seems that games these days are consistently getting the award that don't deserve it at all, and now game of the year has become a meaningless title to me.

The only awards that really count are the 2012 Nintendo Life Awards!

I never had any incredible moments worth remembering when I played skyrim. The devs tried so hard to make it an epic game but failed miserably especially with the dragon battles. Really it's just pulling L and R over and over until the enemy is dead. And the dragons look hilarious when their snapping their teeth at you! The game looks so weird in first person.

For GOTY I can agree...

But for handhelds... From what I heard the Vita Uncharted wasn't anything THAT special. Considering the rave reviews for RE: Revelations, and the overall greatness of KI Uprising, I'm surprised.

"Youtube Gamer: Yogscast"
Since GameGrumps is now a thing this is inexcusable.

As usual this kind of game awards are a joke!

Of course, this is a "most "harcore"/mainstream award" competition, so I didnt expected Nintendo to win anything, even though it does definitely deserve a pair of awards

Of course in a competition like this the amount of 3DS games divided the fanbase's votes, so there was no chance of winning with that many games.

Damn, I start too many comments with "of course"

@antdickens So what happens if no Nintendo games win any awards here?

This is pretty much my reaction...

Uncharted: Golden Abyss, over Kid Icarus: Uprsing and Resident Evil: Revelations? I'm laughing so hard it hurts.

Can't take it seriously when slender is on the list

Clearly this awards system is biased. I mean come on, not ONE SINGLE Nintendo game?

I think that awards like these are all garbage. Money, biased awards, all these dirty. It means nothing to me.

Now that makes me ANGRY, but I'm not going to let my anger out in a large paragraph in the comment section!

Nintendo deserved best downloadable (Pullblox), best handheld (SM3DL or KI:U) and GOTY (Zelda: SS)!

@PoshSnivy
Best Downloadable over Minecraft?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAt.

I've finished uncharted 1 and 2, good games but no 9+. Everybody says golden abyss is worse... funny awards.

So fans voted.

Oh, so that's why it's terrible. Good to know.

Sure, Skyrim's a great game, but these things should be based on technical achievement too, and based on the PS3 version, Skyrim shouldn't even be a contender.

And as good as Uncharted on the Vita is, it was hopelessly tacked with every single bell and whistle the Vita has.

Oh well.

The only game that won I would actually play and enjoy would be Civilization V.

I've grown to just not pay attention to most of these award shows, because they almost seem like they avoid the good Nintendo games released that year. Super Mario 3D Land and Skyward Sword deserved some recognition, fantastic games.

BEST HANDHELD GAME in association with T3
Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Ahahahahahaha, no. And did this game win just because it had the word "Golden" in it? If true, then Golden Stick awards must be so gullible to fall for that crud.

As much as I agree with Chunky – Golden Abyss was just a touch-this-a-thon – it was still a really good game. Can't be compared to the consoles, but it was a great handheld.

@ChunkyDroid I agree with you on the Skyrim thing, the 360 version was also very buggy and considered going back to Oblivion!

Only agree with a few of the winners here, like Battlefield 3.
Really don't think Skyrim deserves Game of the Year or even Best RPG, it was sorta fun, but also pretty boring combat-wise. General gameplay was nice, but not great. Judges must have received some VERY good "medical" incentives.

Angry Birds Space? Angry Birds isn't even a real game! It's fun but it's just not real

Skyrim winning awards is no surprise, but Angry Birds Space as the best mobile/tablet game is a sign these so-called awards should be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Only one I had a problem with was Uncharted for Best Handheld. Skyrim for GoTY doesn't surprise or offend me, everyone was going nuts for that game when I came out and it did look really fun. I can imagine there will be plenty of people angry at Mortal Kombat for best fighter, though there would have been people angry at that category regardless of who won.

These industry prizes (any industry), in general, are political. They are not judging the games themselves. They are judging them in context with industry. Nintendo has it's share of players, but, they are not the mainstream on the gaming industry. The so-called hardcore gamers like to think they are an elite of refined gamers, but in fact they are the mainstream of the gaming industry. The hardcore games are the games that often stay on the top of the charts. So, these prizes are focused on them.

On the 3ds/vita award. This year has been a great year to be a handheld gamer, both systems have had some fantastic games, and in the next couple of months it gets better (paper mario, AC3, tearaway,dark moon,need for speed, animal crossing, killzone, ... e.t.c.)
These awards should not matter to the normal gamer, If you played a game which you loved, but did not win an award, who cares you still had fun. There were loads of games I played across vita/3ds which I thought were great, but never even made the list ...... so what? still good games! so chill people, and remember why we play games ...... TO HAVE FUN not to get stupid awards.

Whoever voted in these awards wouldn't know good games if they kicked them up the ... I mean, how did zelda lose to Skyrim? I swear that is such an underrated game. I'll admit though Uncharted vita is pretty good, but still shouldn't of won.

Game awards are often the complete opposite of film awards such as The Accademy Awards. Whilst they often reward artistic integrity, games award seem to be limited by what's popular in the charts.

They also focus on genres too much. Imagine if they did that with movies? Best action film? Best horror film? No thanks. How about awards for best design, best artwork, best music, best original concept and, dare I say it, best gameplay? It'd be nice to have awards for the people who contribute to making these games what they are.

Awards are always given to the CG artists and musicians in the film industry, so why not with games where they are just as relevant?

Wow. This is a pretty bad list. I can understand Skyrim winning (though I prefer Skyward Sword, I can kind of understand Skyrim winning), but Uncharted Golden Abyss beating out all those 3DS games is just ridiculous. Now, I haven't personally played it, but it's scores weren't impressive, nor was the gameplay I've seen. There's no doubt in my mind that Mario 3D Land should have beaten it, not to mention Revelations, Mario Kart, and Kid Icarus. The fact that they chose such an undeserving title as portable game of the year discredits the whole list for me.

I'm surprised that Forza 4 took down Gran Turismo 5!

Seriously, GT5 is flippin' brilliant and so good that it's now proven that if you can drive at a competition level in GT5 (in the game), then you can (most likely) do it in real life, with Sony's GT Academy.

@TrueWiiMaster "Uncharted Golden Abyss beating out all those 3DS games is just ridiculous. There's no doubt in my mind that Mario 3D Land should have beaten it, not to mention Revelations, Mario Kart, and Kid Icarus. The fact that they chose such an undeserving title as portable game of the year discredits the whole list for me."

then you ruined what you said by saying this.

"Now, I haven't personally played it, but it's scores weren't impressive, nor was the gameplay I've seen."

Seriously, I get it. People like Nintendo games. But what's the point criticising games that you yourself haven't personally played. Every game experience is different to everybody, so basing an award, which is voted for by the public, on the opinions of a few people who write reviews is a bit silly now isn't it.

(That also goes for everyone else who hasn't played it and is critcising it.)

Are people getting the home console version of Unchatered confused with the Vita one? "Seriously I get it" , you lot love psbox gaming like its your own child.

BEST MOBILE / TABLET GAME in association with Edge
Angry Birds Space
That's merely disappointing, when Bastion was on the list. Are people still raving over Angry Birds, or can we move on?

BEST BROWSER/FLASH-BASED GAME in association with CVG
Slender
Wait, seriously? Don't get me wrong, I love the whole concept of 'Slenderman' but the game was awfully developed. Clunky controls, HORRIBLE framerate, barely any textures, only some trees and a couple buildings. I like Slender, but It's nothing that deserves any awards. It's just for fun if your afraid of Slenderman.

Also, I own Skyrim and Skyward Sword and I must say they are both equally gorgeous games, but since more "Hardcore gamers" are voting on the Joysticks rather then Nintendo players and casual gamers, I can see why Skyrim won.

You lost me at Angry Birds Space winning the best tablet game award. I LIKE Angry Birds, but I don't think it could be said to be the "best" when there's so much going on in the app store world.

@Aviator But some times (most) you can tell what a games like from there cover, therefore if he didn't like the looks it's quite logical he wouldn't touch, that's why I don't touch games like Skyrim, Uncharted, and COD

@Aviator
If not by scores and gameplay, how do you expect someone without a Vita and the game to even begin to judge it (and only a pretty small number of people actually have both)? And what's the point of reviews if people can't use them unless they've already bought and played the game themselves? I haven't played Uncharted: Golden Abyss, nor do I want to. I watched some fairly in-depth gameplay, and the game just didn't look fun. It told you where to go with lights. It had awkward mandatory motion and touch controls (from what I've seen and heard far worse than most of what Nintendo's done). Supposedly it's story and environment were also lacking compared to other Uncharted games. What I'm saying is a game like that, where the general opinion seems to be relatively negative, shouldn't have beaten Super Mario 3D Land, heralded as one of the best portable Mario games ever. Mario outscored GA by a significant margin (critic and user scores), outsold it by an enormous amount, and was just plain better received. It was kind of a clear winner. That it didn't win, and in fact lost to such an underwhelming/disappointing competitor, is what I find suspect.

"Every game experience is different to everybody, so basing an award, which is voted for by the public"
I just had to address this. If this is a public contest then, based on your logic, wouldn't everyone have to have played every game in order to make a fair vote? I mean, you're telling me not to state my opinion without having played Uncharted, but do you really think everyone who voted had played all the options and voted accurately? Otherwise, people would be saying a certain game is better than other games without having any experience with the games they're voting against.

Award shows are rigged because some company didn't win anything? Nothing new here

Why do you even cover this? These curds don't give Nintendo games a fair shake. When was the last time they won ANYTHING of substance from these awards? They're as bad as the Spike TV Video Game Awards. I mean that.

How did uncharted beat those games? Especially Kid Icarus?!? And that's just sad that freaking angry birds won best mobile

I'm very curious how many years Minecraft's going to win some form of game of the year. Yes it's a different version, but it's still the same game (actually less).

Not surprised Skyrim beat it, it's an ocean as deep as a puddle but there's a lot of freedom in it.

Angry birds is still not anything more than a distraction meant for 5 minutes at a time or when you're doing something boring and mundane. I think it's insulting to everything else in that category that it won.

None of these gaming awards shows are ever accurate. Its almost always just the most mainstream games getting the awards whether they deserve it or not and games on Nintendo consoles never get awards either.

And Revelations goes unnoticed by the masses as usual.
It was the most survival-horror the series has ever been since the classics,
and I feel my heart ache every time I see someone complain that every game starting with 4 have emphasized more and more on action and they hope a game with the creeps and atmosphere of old will come around one day.

Minecraft wins best downloadable game... sigh

@Aviator Sorry, but I just have to ask. Why are you on a nintendo-based website if you're so negative about nintendo and their games usually. I'm just determining that based on all the comments you've posted before that criticize nintendo.

@fredtoy

" The so-called hardcore gamers like to think they are an elite of refined gamers, but in fact they are the mainstream of the gaming industry"

Is there a "LIKE" button here?

Going mainstream is Going Noob. People playing noob games thinks they are Cool, but falls short of a true gamer. And yes, If Game Awards are based on Fan Votes, then most probably Noob (mainstrem) games would win. Not to put down great games who won.