DAILY MANIFESTO

Best of 2012 Awards Preview: Nominees, Schedule, And Breakdown

Posted on Friday, December 14 @ 11:28:50 Eastern by Anthony Severino

Starting next week, all week, GameRevolution will be running our prestigious Best of 2012 Awards, honoring video game excellence during the calendar year. But today, we're giving you a preview of what's to come through our category breakdown, the schedule, and the nominees.

Don't forget to participate in all of the Community Choice voting for your chance to pick a winner for Community Game of the Year.

Without futher ado, here is our schedule, categories, and nominees for 2012.

Monday, December 17th, 2012 - Genre Day:

Best Action/Adventure Game

Mass Effect 3

Assassin's Creed III

Dishonored

Dragon's Dogma

Sleeping Dogs

Best RPG

Mass Effect 3

Persona 4 Golden

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition

Xenoblade Chronicles

Best Shooter

Halo 4

Spec Ops: The Line

Borderlands 2

Far Cry 3

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

Best Sports Game

Madden NFL 13

NBA 2K13

FIFA 13

SSX

MLB 12: The Show

Best Racing Game

LittleBigPlanet Karting

Mario Kart 7

wipEout 20148

Forza Horizon

Need for Speed: Most Wanted

Best Fighting Game

PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale

Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Skullgirls

Persona 4 Arena

Street Fighter X Tekken

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012 - Miscellaneous Day 1:

Best Mobile Game

Rayman Jungle Run

The Simpsons: Tapped Out

Pocket Planes

Angry Birds: Star Wars

The World Ends With You

Best Downloadable Game

Sound Shapes

The Walking Dead

Journey

Mark of the Ninja

The Unfinished Swan

Best Original Game

Dishonored

Sound Shapes

The Unfinished Swan

Fez

Journey

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012 - Miscellaneous Day 2:

Best Developer

BioWare

ArenaNet

Gearbox Software

Arkane Studios

343 Industries

Best Publisher

Sony Computer Entertainment of America

2K Games

Bethesda

Ubisoft

Square Enix

Biggest Disappointment

Medal of Honor: Warfighter

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Mass Effect 3

Diablo III

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Most Surprising Game

Sleeping Dogs

Spec Ops: The Line

Guild Wars 2

Rayman Jungle Run

Journey

Thursday, December 20th, 2012 - Exclusives Day:

Best 3DS Exclusive

Mario Kart 7

Final Fantasy Theatrhythm

Resident Evil: Revelations

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Best PS Vita Exclusive

Escape Plan

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Gravity Rush

Persona 4 Golden

Lumines: Electronic Symphony

Best PC Exclusive

Planetside 2

Torchlight II

Dustforce

Tribes: Ascend

Guild Wars 2

Best Wii U Exclusive

Zombi U

Nintendo Land

Scribblenauts Unlimited

New Super Mario Bros. U

Ninja Gaiden III: Razor's Edge

Best Xbox 360 Exclusive

Forza Horizon

Halo 4

Dance Central 3

Fez

Trials Evolution

Best PS3 Exclusive

PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale

Journey

The Unfinished Swan

Sports Champions 2

Starhawk

Friday, December 21st, 2012 - The Grand Finale:

Community Game of the Year

GameRevolution Game of the Year

Best of 2012 Awards Recap

No, I didn't forget the nominees in the Game of the Year category. We're just keeping them under wraps for now. Let us surprise you.

After that, we wish you a Merry Christmas, happiness, and good health leading into the New Year. Starting on the Christmas Day, we'll be running the following year-end specials:

A four-part series of the Biggest News Headlines of 2012
Top 25 Wii Games
Top 25 Xbox 360 Games
Top 25 PS3 Games
Top 25 PC Games

We look forward to continuing our efforts in elevating GameRevolution in 2013. We hope you stay and join us for the ride.

Tags: Best of GR

Comments

Kakulukia
Joined: Nov 2005

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 11:45 am
NEEDS MOAR WALKING DEAD AND TELLTALE.
And isn't it kind of weird to nominate Mass Effect 3 in *two* genre categories and then in biggest disappointment?

Other than that, cool lists.

0 1

Jobin_Wendy
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 11:55 am
Wait, who was surprised by Journey?

0 2

cheesegod99
Joined: Jun 2007

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Pretty sure this category exists solely so they can give Spec Ops an award. Which it deserves! But still.

0 4

Jobin_Wendy
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Supposed to be a reply to your comment... see below.

0 2

Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Dec 16th, 2012 at 3:59 am
I was.
People saying something is good isn't enough for me to expect it to be good -- not when you're as jaded as I am.

Though, if we're talking about being my degree of jaded, then virtually any game being good qualifies it as surprising to me....

0 0

Jobin_Wendy
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Dec 16th, 2012 at 8:40 am
Haha, I meant more of a "it's thatgamecompany, how could it be bad?" But now that I think about it, I didn't expect it to be anywhere near as amazing as it is.

0 0

Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: Dec 16th, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Wow, i can't imagine having such low expectations.

0 0

Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Dec 17th, 2012 at 7:10 am
Oh, it's great. Very rarely does anything disappoint me.

And all I had to trade in were my childlike joy and sense of wonder.

0 0

Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
Although it has RPG mechanics, XCOM is not at all an RPG. Black Ops is more of an RPG than XCOM, really.

0 2

Jobin_Wendy
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Agreed!

Not spam.

0 2

cheesegod99
Joined: Jun 2007

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Really? Fez and Soundshapes for best original game but not TWD? Eh, I guess it's not technically a new IP, but it IS a new game franchise.

0 1

cyberjim2000
Joined: Feb 2010

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Wait! Wait! You guys are forgetting the strategy games genre. Also, XCom isn't a RPG, is it? Sure, it has RPG elements but I thought it's more like a strategy game... I mean there's Tropico 4, Endless Space, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, and...

0 1

Nick_Tan
Joined: Jul 2006

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
We were loose on the definition of the RPG. X-COM could be considered a TRPG, in the way that other Final Fantasy Tactics is. We also didn't have a specific strategy game category, but we still wanted to recognize it, so it was placed in the RPG category.

0 2

Anthony_Severino
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 3:18 pm
This. It's incredibly difficult to give recognition to every genre and every game. We did our best and are extremely proud with the outcome.

1 1

Stickyellowsock
Joined: Oct 2009

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
How is Resident Evil 6 not under Biggest Disappointments?

1 2

Anthony_Severino
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I actually talk about that being my personal biggest disappointment in this week's podcast, going up later today. Such a let down for me.

We have a voting process, and unfortunately (or fortunately, if you're Capcom), it didn't make it.

0 1

Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Because it was an awesome game.

0 0

usaglory
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Looking forward to those "Top 25" lists.

0 4

Anthony_Severino
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Dec 14th, 2012 at 3:24 pm
These will be VERY controversial and very fun to read. The voting process involved the entire staff, including extended staff members. So it's all mathematically correct, but damn, there is some randomness on there. I was even scratching my head on one or two entries. But hey, who am I to say what anyone should or shouldn't enjoy? What I do know is that it was all done in good fun, and with a genuine love for the games on each list.

The good thing is that we plan on keeping a dynamic list and re-releasing the feature each year around this time. Each year the top 25 should feature at least some variation in the games listed, and the order in which they're in. The only one we're putting to bed this year, is the Wii. Next year it'll be the Wii U instead. And next year we'll introduce categories for 3DS and PS Vita. We're a forward thinking bunch.

0 4

Masterwabbit
Joined: Mar 2009

Posted: Dec 16th, 2012 at 4:56 pm
I'm rooting for Sleeping Dogs all the way. It's my personal Game of the Year for 2012. I'm sure there are others who would disagree, and that's fine by me. But Sleeping Dogs was the absolute most fun out of any game I've played this year.

0 1

MarcioTheGreat
Joined: Jan 2007

Posted: Dec 19th, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Agreed, Sleeping Dogs is a gem of this generation! ACIII was a glitch fest and disappointing overall

0 1

BigTruckSeries
Joined: May 2006

Posted: Dec 21st, 2012 at 4:36 am
Best Xbox Exclusive: Halo 4
Best Shooter: FAR CRY 3
Best publisher/producer - everyone behind FAR CRY 3

the PS3 exclusive list looks like SHIT - I let my cousin borrow my PS3 and I don't miss it AT ALL.

0 0