When I started playing video games they were all made of pixels. Tiny colored blocks stacked on top of each other to form shapes. The hero, the enemies, the background were all made of these blocks. Now games are made of millions of polygons and graphics have taken amazing steps toward realism. Our nominees for this award:
Rage
L.A. Noire
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Battlefield 3
It all started as a simple midi track. Then it evolved, it became an integral part of the game, and now you can get fully developed soundtracks for games that involve several disks. To not acknowledge that is to do the music injustice. Our nominees for best soundtrack are:
Saints Row the Third
Assasins Creed
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
It is you versus the world/galaxy/universe. You have to use what you have been given to build an army and find victory. The strategy game is another excellent genre to exercise the mind, and a true time sink if it is a good game. Our nominees this year are:
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II - Retribution
Orcs Must Die
Kingdom Rush
Frozen Synapse
The genre that most of us played during our childhood. Running, jumping, and falling into bottomless pits is how many of us game into gaming. While this genre has seen a slight fall in the number of games, it is still vital to gaming. Our nominees for Best Platformer of 2011 are:
Rayman Origins
Super Mario Bros 3D Land
Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One
Little Big Planet 2
Spyro: Skylanders
The Indie games, smaller games made by smaller groups, and the source of most of the innovation you can find the Video Game industry. There is where risks are taken, and those risks can mean great rewards. Here are the games we chose for our Best Indie Game of 2011:
Bastion
Sequence
Journey
Competition, it is ingrained in the human spirit. You always want to be the winner, and sports are one of the biggest examples of that. Here are our nominations for Best Sports game of 2011:
FIFA Soccer 2012
Madden NFL 12
NBA 2K12
NBA Jam
Another year has come and gone, and that means that a full years of games have been released, played, and measured. We have recently had a round table discussion of the games that we have played over the year and used it compile the Second Annual Gameslave Awards.
| Special Achievements | Genre Awards |
| Best Action/Adventure Game | |
| Best Driving Game | |
| Best Platformer | |
| Best MMO | |
| Best RPG | |
| Best Shooter | |
| Best Strategy Game | |
| Best Fighter | |
| Best Puzzle Game | |
| Best Sports Game | |
| Best Indie Game | |
| Game of the Year | |
The brain is an important tool, and like all tools it must be kept sharp and ready for action. Puzzle games are a great way to do this, and puzzle games are a fun way to do this. But some puzzle games are better then others, and here ware the ones that stood out the most for us:
Portal 2
Catherine
Professor Layton and the Last Specter
The action game; it is way to generic of a genre so we combine it with adventure to bring you the Action/Adenture award. This allows us to narrow it down a bit better, and add more awards later. Lets looks at what this years possible winners are:
Batman: Arkham City
Assasins Creed: Revelations
Infamous 2
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Saints Row the Third
Uncharted 3: Drakes Deception
The RPG, this is one of my favorite game genres. To me it embodies taking on the role of a character and truly making them your own. This year we selected the following games as our nominees for Best RPG of 2011:
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Dark Souls
Pokemon Black and White
Witcher 2
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
