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Awards Calendar

Dec 15
  • Categories Revealed
  • Readers' Choice Voting Begins
Dec 19
  • Editors' Choice Winners Revealed
Dec 30
  • Readers' Choice Voting Ends
  • Readers' Choice Winners Revealed
Jan 4
  • Editors' Choice Most Anticipated Games of 2012 Revealed
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The Best of 2011 Awards

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The Best of 2011 Awards

Looking back at 2011, the overall quality of the games released was possibly better than it has ever been. Developers pushed the boundaries in almost every genre, and as a result, narrowing down the selection to a handful that would be honored in our awards was more difficult than ever. We spent hours and hours locked away in the basement of GameSpot HQ debating the relative merits of everything we played. We argued, we fought, we poked fun at each other, and we debated everything released throughout the entire year. The results can be seen in the short lists of nominees that you see in each of the categories here, and ultimately the winners in each category, along with additional insight into the thought process behind each choice.

No doubt some of you will think some of our selections are crazy, while others will think we're right on the money. Whether you think we're nuts or not, we want to honor your choices for the best game in each category too. Your votes are very important to us, so as you're looking through each of the categories, please take the time to cast your vote in the ballot box at the bottom of each page. Rather than preselecting games for you, we've opened the whole thing up this year, and you can vote for any game released between December 1, 2010, and December 5, 2011, by typing it into the box. (Just so you know, Star Wars: The Old Republic will be eligible for next year's awards instead.) Voting closes on December 30, which is also when we'll reveal your selections.

Best of 2011 Emblems

By participating in this year's awards show, you can earn the following emblems. Please note that only registered users are eligible to vote or earn these, so be sure to sign in or sign up!

Readers' Choice Chooser

Take that, not-democracy! This user took the system into their own hands by voting in at least one category in Best of 2011.


Readers' Choice Clairvoyant

It's just like in that one movie with Nicky Cage. This user voted for a game in a category in which that game also won the Readers' Choice award. This award will be handed out on January 3rd to all eligible users.

538 Comments

  • Arch-Stanton

    Posted Jan 9, 2012 2:12 am GMT

    @IRoxxorUrSoxxor
    @wardog68

    Stop complaining, it was a given, that Duke Nukem would have won the dubious honors.

  • IRoxxorUrSoxxor

    Posted Jan 8, 2012 10:39 pm GMT

    Could not have said it better than wardog. The omission of dubious honors is an obviously stupid move, let alone giving us a wall of text with a vague description of the award's nominees.

    The previous awards had a great video showing all of the nominees and then discussing the eventual winner (or loser) at some length. This is piss poor.

  • wardog68

    Posted Jan 6, 2012 5:21 pm GMT

    Terrible job this year Gamespot. Dubious Honors was the most fun part of the awards in the past years.... and it's a totally amateur move putting the winner before the list of nominees. Come on guys, you're better than that. Why such a step backwards?

    Most Disappointing Video Game Awards = Gamespot.2011

  • Arch-Stanton

    Posted Jan 6, 2012 4:31 pm GMT

    @Nosnitsttam

    You got me.Duke did have a few good points but the dated graphics and clunky game play stopped it from being a average game.(it just sucked regular 4 me) I enjoyed Red Faction and Rage(but graphic's problem's in Rage did spoil it).Haven't gotten round too S/Sam 3 yet.(Haven't seen it in the bargain bin yet, maybe it's steam only?)

  • Nosnitsttam

    Posted Jan 6, 2012 9:48 am GMT

    @Arch-Stanton - god i hope that's sarcasm. serious sam 3 and rage were FUN, i didn't play red faction. but duke sucked hard. "hey let's make fun of modern games while trying desperately to be just like them" no thanks, duke.

  • Arch-Stanton

    Posted Jan 5, 2012 3:58 am GMT

    @Payasoplas
    Duke lousy ? next thing you'l be saying Serious Sam 3, Rage and Red Faction where lousy too.

    @Mogzsnet
    @gramnok I think, you 2 should look harder.

  • Payasoplas

    Posted Jan 4, 2012 6:21 pm GMT

    Where's Duke Nukem Forever's prizes for Most dissappointing game and worst game everyone played? Oh, yes! Those were part of the defunct "Dubious Honors Awards" wich by the way was the reason why more than 50% of the readers readed this article... Way to go GS!

  • Mogzsnet

    Posted Jan 4, 2012 11:15 am GMT

    @gramnok No you're not.

  • gramnok

    Posted Jan 3, 2012 10:36 am GMT

    Am i the only one who doesn't receive the "Readers' Choice Clairvoyant" award yet?

  • Arch-Stanton

    Posted Jan 1, 2012 6:00 pm GMT

    @eyerok

    "not disappointed at all GS" Yeah it's good that they didn't vote for crap like Mortal Combat at least.

  • crazyintheface

    Posted Jan 1, 2012 4:13 pm GMT

    Gamespot should not let whoever is at 29 seconds to ever speak. His voice combined with his super plain Jane look makes me want to smash my monitor. Oh and Battlefield 3 is number one.

  • jamiebevster

    Posted Jan 1, 2012 3:08 pm GMT

    Haha I love the beginning part: "When the GameSpot editors give up their social lives... ", if you're a GameSpot editor your social life must be non-existent

  • abbasazam

    Posted Jan 1, 2012 12:35 pm GMT

    skyrim looks iffy, i m not into fantasy, sr3 is epiic though WHOOOO!!!

  • eyerok

    Posted Jan 1, 2012 9:51 am GMT

    not disappointed at all GS, good job guys, you did much better than I expected, and certainly much better than the readers (no offence to the crybaby community waaaaa!)

  • Hermiro

    Posted Dec 31, 2011 6:13 am GMT

    @kuro-shinigami - NIER was released in 2010 so that's probably why

  • kos_maverik

    Posted Dec 31, 2011 3:10 am GMT

    Someone loves Skyrim

  • kuro-shinigami

    Posted Dec 31, 2011 3:06 am GMT

    Where's nier?! It's a great game but so underrated.

  • Lokar

    Posted Dec 31, 2011 12:00 am GMT

    I still haven't played Portal 2. Maybe I will.

  • Arch-Stanton

    Posted Dec 30, 2011 6:40 pm GMT

    @darkanimne

    "I want those emblems +-+" Or what ? You shold have got readers choice emblem as soon as you finnished voting and the clairvoyant award is awarded on the 3rd Jan.(if you where clairvoyant enough)

  • Pierce_Sparrow

    Posted Dec 30, 2011 6:35 pm GMT

    A disappointing year. Portal 2 picked up so many awards, it's ridiculous. And Deus Ex wasn't even nominated for some inexplicable reason. The only refrain I can find is that To The Moon was nominated several times, and it rightfully deserved to be. But beyond that, it was a very disappointing awards this year.