2012 BAFTA Video Game Award nominations list

By Tom Phillips Published 16 February, 2012

And the awards could go to...

BAFTA has announced its shortlist for the 2012 British Academy Video Games Awards and Batman: Arkham City and L.A. Noire lead the pack with eight nominations each.

Other blockbusters in line for prizes include Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception and LittleBigPlanet 2, both with six nominations, while Portal 2 and Skyrim each have five award nods.

Brilliant Xbox Live Arcade game Bastion has two nominations - for Debut Game and Game Innovation - although no acknowledgement for its music or voice performance.

Fellow downloadable delight From Dust also claimed nods in the Innovation and Strategy categories.

Stephen Merchant is nominated for his portrayal of demented robot sidekick Wheatley in Portal 2, as is Luke "Mark Hamill" Skywalker for Batman: Arkham City's Joker and Mad Men star Aaron Stanton for shouting at innocent witnesses in L.A. Noire.

Will Nolan North attend to claim the prizes for every game? Will Brendan McNamara give a funny acceptance speech? Can anything stop Skyrim from winning the public vote?

BAFTA will roll out the red carpet and announce this year's winners on Friday 16th March. Vote here.

Action

  • Assassin's Creed Revelations
  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • Portal 2
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Artistic Achievement

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • L.A. Noire
  • LitteBigPlanet 2
  • Rayman: Origins
  • The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Audio Achievement

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Battlefield 3
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  • Dead Space 2
  • The Nightjar
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Best Game

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • FIFA 2012
  • L.A. Noire
  • Portal 2
  • The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Debut Game

  • Bastion
  • Eufloria
  • Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
  • L.A. Noire
  • Monstermind
  • RIFT

Design

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • L.A. Noire
  • LittleBigPlanet 2
  • Portal 2
  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim

Family

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

Game Innovation

  • Bastion
  • Child of Eden
  • From Dust
  • L.A. Noire
  • LittleBigPlanet 2
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Mobile & Handheld

  • Dead Space iOS
  • Magnetic Billiards: Blueprint
  • Peggle
  • Quarrel
  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • The Nightjar

Online - Browser

  • Gardens of Time
  • I Am Playr
  • Monstermind
  • Resistance 3
  • Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
  • The Sims Social

Online - Multiplayer

  • Assassin's Creed: Revelations
  • Battlefield 3
  • Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
  • Dark Souls
  • Gears of War 3
  • LittleBigPlanet 2

Original Music

  • Assassin's Creed: Revelations
  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • L.A. Noire
  • The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Performer

  • Aaron Stanton (Cole Phelps) - L.A. Noire
  • Mark Hamill (The Joker) - Batman: Arkham City
  • 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

  • Dance Central 2
  • DiRT 3
  • Fl 2011
  • FIFA 2012
  • Kinect Sports 2
  • Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012

Story

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  • L.A. Noire
  • Portal 2
  • The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
  • Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

Strategy

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

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

  • Dreamweaver
  • Joust!
  • Tick Tock Toys

GAME Award of 2011 (voted for by the public)

  • Batman: Arkham City
  • Battlefield 3
  • 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: Drake's Deception

L.A. Noire.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 3 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bats #1 3 months ago

    Deus Ex HR not even a choice for the user choice award, but Minecraft is..

  • TheBiGW #2 3 months ago

    How are Dark Souls and Deus Ex strategy games? Sure, you have to employ a strategy to beat them, but then you could say that about most games!

  • spazmo #3 3 months ago

    Video game awards just as shit as other awards then.

  • smoothpete #4 3 months ago

    Are Grainger Games invited to this one?

  • RaZmataZ13 #5 3 months ago

    Action - Batman: Arkham City.

    Artistic Achievement - Rayman Origins.

    Audio Achievement - Batman: Arkham City.

    Best Game - Batman: Arkham City.

    Debut Game - Bastion.

    Design - Portal 2.

    Family - Blergh.

    Game Innovation - Bastion.

    Mobile & Handheld - Dunno.

    Online - Browser - Don't know.

    Online - Multiplayer - Battlefield 3.

    Original Music - Batman: Arkham City OR Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Cannae choose).

    Performer - Stephen Merchant (Wheatley) - Portal 2.

    Sports/Fitness - FIFA 12.

    Story - Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

    Strategy - Dark Souls.

    BAFTA ... - I just don't know, okay?!

    GAME Award of 2011 - Batman: Arkham City.

    There it is. That won't be the winning list though... because there are a couple of 'Don't knows' in there.

  • Komino #6 3 months ago

    I'm not sure about award ceremonies that you have to pay to be considered. Which is probably all of them.

    However, i did just go and purchase Ghost Recon on 3DS as the nomination reminded that the game is supposed to be quite good.

    I guess i'm just a hypocrite :)
    Edited by Komino at 16/02/12 @ 09:51

  • kirinnokoshin #7 3 months ago

    Why have special award for 'Action Game' but then no special award for any other genre? (as if action is a 'genre' in the first place)

    And how is Skyward Sword any less of an action game than AC Revelations or Deus Ex?

    And L.A. Noire, the only award you should be up for is 'Biggest Budget'
    Edited by kirinnokoshin at 16/02/12 @ 09:57

  • MaybeLater #8 3 months ago

    Have they announced who's on the judging panel?

    I wonder who'll sponsor the GAME award in 2013.
    Edited by MaybeLater at 16/02/12 @ 10:05

  • MattRobson #9 3 months ago

    My Picks for the catagories i have played the games. this is my opinion, im sure others will disagree.

    Action
    • Batman: Arkham City
    Artistic Achievement
    • L.A. Noire
    Audio Achievement
    • Battlefield 3
    Best Game
    • The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim
    Game Innovation
    • L.A. Noire
    Online - Multiplayer
    • Battlefield 3
    Sports/Fitness
    • FIFA 2012
    Story
    • Deus Ex: Human Revolution
    GAME Award of 2011 (voted for by the public)
    • Batman: Arkham City
    Edited by MattRobson at 16/02/12 @ 10:13

  • JoeGBallad #10 3 months ago

    No Yakuza 4 do the list is unreliable at best.

  • Jay-ITFC #11 3 months ago

    BAFTA doing awards for games can only be a good thing for the industry. Stuff like this shows gaming as a viable entertainment medium that should be taken seriously and puts it on a par with movies and music. Plus BAFTA has a whole lot more credibility and merit than the American 'VGAs' will ever achieve...

  • ZizouFC #12 3 months ago

    No FPS nominated for best game?

    Success!

  • Acrid #13 3 months ago

    Having Mobile and Handheld as one category is just fail, as if you can compare the amount of effort and budget put in to a real handheld game with the throwaway toss that rams the app store and marketplace

  • kadooosh #14 3 months ago

    Battlefield 3 and Skyrim deserve more nominations.

    Not sure out of the 2 should get game if the year.

    Considering the amount of time I've spent on each suppose battlefield should win though Skyrim set the record for amount of time over spent on a singleplayer.
    Edited by kadooosh at 16/02/12 @ 11:02

  • sega #15 3 months ago

    I often wonder how games awards work. Does a panel of people really play through all of these games to decide? For a dedicated gamer that's months of gameplay just with those on the list. Infact I'd say it's probably almost impossible to finish all of those in a year. It's not like films which just require two hours to watch - how do they do it?

  • jonfon #16 3 months ago

    Stephen Merchant for Portal 2 but no JK Simmons?

    Boo!!

    Sad to see that Orcs Must Die didn't get a Strategy nomination.

  • LudusSolers #17 3 months ago

    Astonished that Skyward Sword wasn't nominated in the Design category. Asides from a couple of fetch quests that bordered on tedium, I thought it's design, pacing and ingenuity - particularly in some of the dungeons - were almost flawless.

  • Markusdragon #18 3 months ago

    We should all vote for Minecraft in the voted category for the sheer irony of the category's sponsor being completely unable to capitalize on it's success.