Fallout 3 irradiates Golden Joysticks

Postapocalyptic role-playing game earns two awards at annual UK awards ceremony; Modern Warfare 2 named One to Watch.

This year's Golden Joystick awards took place in Central London last Friday, where gongs were handed out according to public votes. Last year saw Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare take the Game of the Year award, with Call of Duty: World at War being the One to Watch in 2009.

This year, there were more than 1.2 million public votes across 15 categories, and despite Activision's Call of Duty franchise picking up three awards, it missed out on the Game of the Year. That prize went to Bethesda's Fallout 3, which beat Valve's Left 4 Dead and Treyarch's World War Call of Duty: World at War.

Fallout 3 also picked up the PC Game of the Year, while Gears of War 2 won the same award for the Xbox and Killzone 2 for the PlayStation. Other winners included World at War, for Nintendo Game of the Year, and newcomer Little Big Planet, for Family Game of the Year. Meanwhile, the hotly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was named this year's One to Watch. With some analysts predicting it to be the best-selling game this year with sales of 11.1 million copies in under two months, both fans and analysts alike have high hopes for the title.

A full list of the winners is below.

Family Game of the Year
LittleBigPlanet

Handheld Game of the Year
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Retailer of the Year
GAME

Mobile Game of the Year
Metal Gear Solid Touch

Nintendo Game of the Year
Call of Duty: World At War

Multiplayer Game of the Year
Winner: Call of Duty: World At War

Soundtrack of the Year
Guitar Hero World Tour

Xbox Game of the Year
Gears of War 2

PC Game of the Year
Fallout 3

UK Developer of the Year
Jagex

PlayStation Game of the Year
Killzone 2

Publisher of the Year
Activision Blizzard

Online Game of the Year
Left 4 Dead

One to Watch
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Ultimate Game of the Year
Fallout 3

214 Comments

  • insanitycheck10

    Posted Dec 2, 2009 4:04 pm PT

    nice story

  • treydawg1

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 10:24 pm PT

    @righteous300

    pc version after mods makes things MORE varied. especially creature adding mods. but to balence it out get a few weapon adding mods.

  • righteous300

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 4:28 pm PT

    you spend most of your time in fallout3 wandering the desert more than anything

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 6:16 am PT

    @method115, I said the same thing a few pages back. That with so few deep RPG's being released, RPG fans become very loyal to the genre, so are more likely to vote. For example, if you're a shooter fan, you have about 10 games coming out in the next 6 months - but as far as I know we only have Fallout: New Vegas as a possible deep RPG for the next YEAR!

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 6:14 am PT

    @ mine20000, I was trying to cut you down to size! LOL!

    Let's agree to disagree. I just don't care if it pause-action, like Dragon Age, or real-time like Oblivion or the system Fallout 3 uses. It's what goes on between the combat that makes it an RPG in my book. Can I sneak up to that enemy? Can I talk my way around him? Can I bribe him? Or is my only choice to take him on, full frontal? Is he always in the same place? Is it always the same number of enemies? How did I get to this point geographically? Through bribing another NPC? Finding a map? Or just brought here by a 'corridor' where I had little choice of where to go? it is all these 'non-combat' things that tell me if it's an RPG.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 6:14 am PT

    @ mine20000, I was trying to cut you down to size! LOL!

    Let's agree to disagree. I just don't care if it pause-action, like Dragon Age, or real-time like Oblivion or the system Fallout 3 uses. It's what goes on between the combat that makes it an RPG in my book. Can I sneak up to that enemy? Can I talk my way around him? Can I bribe him? Or is my only choice to take him on, full frontal? Is he always in the same place? Is it always the same number of enemies? How did I get to this point geography? Through bribing someone? Or just brought here by a 'corridor' where I little choice of where to go? it is all these 'non-combat' things that tell me if it's an RPG.

  • method115

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 5:32 am PT

    @kamizuka

    I think it has to do with the lack of RPG's in general. Honestly I feel there the perfect genre for GOTY awards because they pull you into the game and make you feel apart of it. I think Mass Effect and Fallout 3 both w on GOTY awards though.

  • mine20000

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 7:34 pm PT

    I do wish to see more rpgs out of the fantasy world though swords dwarves and mages are mighty fun. Something set in this era or recent ones would be interesting.

    Though I still must stay my ground on the ME argument. You started with 6 different classes, you chose character background, as you progressed you did level up and allocate skill points. I did however miss attribute points, though most of that was handled through equipment. Non linear worlds have been a recent development in all rpgs, however the choices you made throughout the game greatly affected the outcome.

    Though 'The Bard's Tale' was originally a computer game, released first on the Apple II. And I'm sorry where are the open worlds in that game, other than the maze of the dungeons they had, I did quite enjoy them thouhg. Also you could not finish the quests in multiple ways, you may have defeated different enemies because of the random encounter system but in now way did you complete quests with different strategies.

  • mine20000

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 7:33 pm PT

    @Humorguy_basic

    You put 2000 instead of 20000 so I didn't get the notification lol.

    I am not sure how but me and treydawg did begin speaking of tabletop rpgs, though your comment of the small minority I do not believe, my grandfather spoke of tournaments him and his friends would play, sometimes even city wide, they actually carved figurines out of wood and painted them just for this lol. The american comment was not supposed to be directed at you, it was the way he said western style rpgs are true rpgs gave me the whole " I am american, the world revolves around me" feeling. As we discuss this further and further I do see your points, and where you are coming from, we seem to have mis-communicated at one point or another whether western or easter, console or computer, I was more refering to combat in either style. I do not believe RPGs in which you are not selecting a character, a command, then selecting enemy and watching that command be carried out are true rpgs. I beleive those turn based rpgs were the first real rpgs, whether they came from the western or eastern world. Then of course there are real time, real time with pause then action, which I find most of the games you mentioned fall under such as fallout. I believe both fallout 3 and oblivion to be action rpgs.

    Also IMO the D&D reference to most rpgs is the dice rolling aspect that the player doesn't get to see, experience awarded whether you hit successfully, which creatures you fight when, etc etc.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:58 am PT

    @mine2000, yes RPG's were being played as board games going back to the 40's. But it was a very very small minority. I am talking about computer/console RPG's. The mass market for RPG's started with the Atari 800 and Commodore 64.With games like The Bard's Tale trilogy selling millions of copies.This was early 80's onward. Console gaming took off in the late 80's, but for quite a while console was platform gaming. No more no less. With the advent of the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST roleplaying took a bit of a backseat, but then grew again as the PC format grew in the early/mid 90's. I would actually say the majority of fantasy RPG's have been AD&D ripoff's. The Elder Scrolls series, even Dragon Age: Origins! The reason people think AD&D though is the Gold Box series, Pool of radiance, etc. This was such a major series of AD&D games over such a relatively long period, that any game with Orcs and Wizards is seen as AD&D.

    What I find frustrating is how few non fantasy RPG's there are, for every Sci-Fi Fallout there are 10 fantasy D&D style RPG's. We see so few non fantasy RPG's that when we get a pure RPG like Fallout 3 it gets called an RPG-Shooter! Oblivion and other fantasy RPG's are genrerally just called 'RPG's'!

    If you have played Baldur's Gate and NWN nights etc, I don;t understand why you insist Mass Effect is an RPG just like them! Where are the stats and attribute manipulation? Where is the open, non-linear world? Where are the multiple ways to complete quests?

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:42 am PT

    @mine2000 - and I am in the UK. So between the U.S. and UK, that's 65% of all PC game sales.....

  • treydawg1

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 12:34 am PT

    @mine20000
    yep i am american. if you want me to be more exact then i live in detroit, michigan.

  • mine20000

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 11:58 pm PT

    @treydawg1

    D&D may have been the first company to package and sell a roleplaying game but people were playing them long before 1974.

    I hadn't realized you had jumped into the conversation me and humor guy were having, your last post I thought was his, so I assume you are the american?

  • treydawg1

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 7:54 pm PT

    @mine20000

    technically rpgs came from dungeons and dragons.

  • mAD_ADaption

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 5:58 pm PT

    Back on topic, there seems to be a lot of irrational runescape hate in here, judging by the comments. Yeah it's not the greatest, but I don't think deserves to be hated. Have any of you actually played the game recently? Or are you just assuming it's horrible because it's popular to think that way?

  • mAD_ADaption

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 5:50 pm PT

    @ rann89

    Every single person I know who plays on steam, battlenet or nearly any other pc based system plays with people they don't know in real life. Almost every single person I know who owns xbl or psn plays with a lot of people they know in real life. I'm totally not trying to bash pc gamers or anything: it just seems like people who are casual gamers who like playing with their friends more than with strangers perfer xbl and psn, with it's maddens and halos, to pc based systems, with the rpgs and modable shooters. There are always exceptions, but it's just a trend I've seen.

    If you play on steam with ppl u know in real life, more power to ya

  • mine20000

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 5:19 pm PT

    btw I am a fan of both. I've had DA:O preordered for a while, picked it up yesterday, great game. Contender for the next Ultimate Game of the Year

  • mine20000

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 5:17 pm PT

    @Humourguy_basic

    I'm gonna take a wild guess here, you are american? Because if you think "Western Rpgs" are true Rpgs you are an idiot...again. RPGs or as you refered to them JRPGs have been around alot longer than any of the games you mentioned in your list. I have played plenty of Computer Rpgs in my day, including Baldur's Gate, original Fallouts, NWN, Elder Scrolls, however they came after the traditional RPG, a role playing game, where you take the role of a certain charcter, develop them, and play them through an amazing story. Whether level designs are linear or not, character development, quest strategies are not always. I am not downing Computer RPGs but they are not "true rpgs," they are fun in their own right. The Jrpgs or Console RPGs have been around longer, made the genre and will continue to be the definition of a real RPG.

    And stealth is not a weighing factor in whether or not a game can be given the title RPG

  • rann89

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 4:01 pm PT

    @mAD_ADaption

    Uh, I do the same thing you're talking about, while using Steam. I don't get it.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 2:14 pm PT

    mine2000, it's obvious you haven't played any PC RPG's, certainly prior to Oblivion, given your list. All RPG's have a story, hell all games have to have some sort of story. All RPG's have action, but what make a REAL RPG is whether the gameworld is non linear, that you have multiple options to change your character (at least a dozen stats and dozen attributes for your avatar) and that the gameworld can be played differently based on those stats (more stealth/more violence, more diplomacy/more arrogance, etc) All real RPG's allow for this. But if you want something simple so you can understand: 'If it doesn't have stealth it isn't an RPG'. OK? Now look at any REAL RPG and you see they have stealth, Fallout 3, The Witcher, Risen, Oblivion, Morrowind, the original Fallout's, Baldur's Gate and on and on. And what doesn't have stealth - oh yes, that's right - Mass Effect. If you own Mass Effect and plan on getting Dragon Age: Origins, just compare the two manuals and learn.....

    Let me close by saying I think ME is a good game. It;s just that it's not an RPG!

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 2:05 pm PT

    @ treydawg1 thanks for that- will check them out!

  • treydawg1

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 1:49 pm PT

    @Humorguy_basic

    dude if you still got fallout 3 installed check out some of saiden storms mods preferbly creature compendium. creature compendium addsat least 10 totally new monsters like the arachnid and the cloverfield parasite and its compatible with marts mutant mod. another suggestion is to get the battlefield2142 mod for Fo3.

    here are 2 vid links to the b42142 mod

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNAVSRjk-rs
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqyPVKSECJ8

  • treydawg1

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 1:45 pm PT

    @mine20000

    those a are a bunch of Jrpgs. still rpgs but a lil different. oblivion is a true rpg/ Wrpg (western/english style of rpg) but its also a action/adventure game as well.

  • mine20000

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 1:07 pm PT

    @Humorguy_basic

    When someone can't be bothered to reply because of an accidental double post it tells me they have no logical points or solid arguments. I have no idea how you can consider Fallout 3 and Oblivion true RPGs. They are in the fact Action Adcenture games with RPG elements at best. Again I played both games religiously but would never consider them true RPGs To name a few and I am sure there majority of people here will agree

    Suikoden

    Final Fantasy

    Chrono Trigger

    Chrono Cross

    Skies of Arcadia

    Phantasy Star

    Star Ocean

    Earth Bound

    Xenogears

    In no particular order
    And that is just naming a few

  • nitrouside

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 10:16 am PT

    Wait, Wait... Jagex? The RuneScape guys? REALLY?

    Sure it's better, but... it's RuneScape!

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 5:02 am PT

    @ treydawg1 That's a good point, I never thought of that. I had the Martigen's Monster Mod for Oblivion when it was in beta and about 2mb, by 3.7 it was 300mb! I got every update as soon as it came out as I felt without it I just wouldn't have still be playing Oblivion! When I got Fallout 3 and saw Martigen had moved across to it I was overjoyed!

  • treydawg1

    Posted Nov 4, 2009 12:20 am PT

    @Humorguy_basic

    fallout 3 PC version also was rebought by some console players that saw the pc version with mods and they decided to get the PC version. fallout 3 with is just crazy epic. favorite mods are marts mutant mod, saidens creature compendium, gears of war armor/weapons mod, UT3 armor, munkeenuts armory, deepeyes armor, halo masterchief armor mod and tons more. check out fallout3nexus (google it) for the mods.

  • mAD_ADaption

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 11:05 pm PT

    @rann89

    Or maybe we actually like playing with our actual real life friends who own consoles instead of sitting in front of a computer playing people online. Almost all of my friends, many of whom play for fun instead of getting serious about games, own consoles, and I would much rather play on xbl with them then on steam with people I don't know.

  • mAD_ADaption

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 10:47 pm PT

    Jagex is a UK developer. Jagex asked everyone on their websites to vote for them. Many thousands (millions?) of players visit the runescape website every day alone. Jagex made one of the most popular mmos in history, and made it playable in your browser. They stopped gold farming and scamming, and are working on developing a closer relationship with their community. They also killed and restarted the proposed spin-off of runescape, mechscape, when it had 10mil pounds worth of work put into it (dunno how much that is since I'm american. I know it's a lot though) because the developers felt it wasn't a game their players would like to play.

    Runescape may not be great, and you could easily make a long list of things wrong with it, but lately Jagex has really started to turn the game around and make it more accessible and fun. It's much more playable now then it once was. Kudos to them for getting the award, because god knows they deserve it.

  • rann89

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 9:54 pm PT

    @Humorguy_basic

    Of course console games are going to be more juvenile. Half of them are minors who can't afford graphics cards or laptops.

  • benboz

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 8:06 pm PT

    Fallout 3 is a really good game. I enjoyed it and I am still playing it sometimes. @dzfunk64 Runescape is the gayest game of all time.

  • dzfunk64

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 7:41 pm PT

    Wow, it's great to see Jagex's name on the list. I was kinda doubting they would win, since their compeition included Rockstar, Lionhead (Fable II), and a few other big names. It's nice to see Jagex is finally getting some attention, and they definitely deserved that award.

    It's really sad to see that GameSpot still refuses to acknowledge the second-biggest MMORPG (in terms of players), and, reading through the comments, it's even more sad to see so many people still won't give RuneScape a fair chance before they judge it.

    Yes, we all know RuneScape doesn't have the most advanced graphics, but that doesn't autmatically mean it's a bad game. I'm amazed at how much the graphics (and every other aspect of the game) have improved over the years, and Jagex is currently working on implementing DirectX, which will finally bring it up to par its competition. I hope that's enough to finally get people to stop being so ignorant, and actually give RuneScape a fair chance before they judge it (going by what you hear, or playing for one or two hours isn't a fair chance. It takes 30+ hours to fully get used to an MMORPG, and I mean 30+ hours of the MEMBERS version, not the free-to-play game).

    Jagex definitely deserved this award, though. Anyone who says otherwise obviously has no idea what Jagex has accomplished over the last few years.

  • h2k47

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 6:34 pm PT

    Was left 4 dead REALLY nominated for an award !!? LOL..did they play the utterly boring single player campaign???... Fallout 3 definitely deserved it.

  • Dav_id83

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 5:11 pm PT

    Take your two golden joysticks and stick them where the sun dont shine and fix the G.O.T.Y edition I have it on PS3 and it's seriously doing my head in with the constant lock ups.

    My old save a new game, deleting the HDD data and re-installing nothing fixes it after 45mins play guaranteed a lock-up while walking through the wasteland or when I'm killing something

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 5:08 pm PT

    Look down these posts - positive 'console' type comments, and little in the way of thumbs down. Positive PC comments and you get tons of thumbs down! Sort of makes me think PC gamers are grown up and know if you praise something console that doesn't mean your dissing PC. On the other hand it makes me think console gamers are more juvenile and believe if you praise something PC you must be dissing their beloved console...... Don't believe me? Just look down this thread...!!! By the way, you're never going to beat a well produced console AND pc games that both markets like with a console only title or a PC only title or a console title with a bad PC port or a PC title with a bad console port... GTA IV on PC was badly optimized and had some problems because of the lack of attention Rockstar gave to the PC version, Bethesda, on the other hand produced a good console version and then took the time to do it on PC right. This combination of 100,000's of console AND pc gamer votes for Fallout 3 is what won it the awards. If GTA IV on PC had been done as well as GTA III, Vice City or San Andreas were for PC, I think GTA IV could have squeaked it.

    Nowadays, fail to do a conversion properly and you'll pay for it big time when it come to the year end awards!

  • penguins227

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 4:42 pm PT

    Don't flame me!!

    GO BATTLEFIELD BAD COMPANY 2!!

  • TerrorToaster

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 3:31 pm PT

    Didn't all of these games come out last year?

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 1:23 pm PT

    wow...no love for GTA IV?

  • facistinabag

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 11:49 am PT

    @ sircyrus

    Because a Top Down shooter is going to sell so well these days, Fallout 3 was infinitely better than the garbage Interplay was throwing out. No wonder why Bethesda won't let them make a Fallout game, it would have sucked anyway.

  • Dualmask

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 11:35 am PT

    Hmm. Almost every game up there with the exception of GH and LBP is some kind of shooter.

    I see what kinds of games these Golden Joysticks guys like.

  • mightEone

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 10:12 am PT

    I can see why Fallout 3 earned that title. It was a very good game in my opinion, I loved Oblivion so naturally I knew I'd like this. I think next Fallout should include more customizablility... is that a word? lol Anyway that and larger maps. And smarter A.I.

  • midwestedit

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 9:51 am PT

    Fallout 3 is cool. I never new about the Fallout series until this game. I just hated the long beginning part, as a vault 101 baby n crap I like killing people by shooting there head in slow motion

  • spencer_guitard posted Nov 3, 2009 6:22 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    spencer_guitard

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 6:22 am PT (hide)

    @righteous300 yeah, Fallout 3 was just a pretty boring game at best... guess its just not my style lol... considering if lame was a style lol

  • righteous300 posted Nov 3, 2009 5:30 am PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    righteous300

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 5:30 am PT (hide)

    im sorry but fallout 3 is a garbage game

  • smokeless_0225

    Posted Nov 3, 2009 4:46 am PT

    @shaksnet
    Just look at KZ2's build up and disappointment in the multiplayer realm. I was really looking forward to the release of the game because I loved part 1 and expected nothing less from the second one. I read "totally destructible environments" didn't happen, "explosive multiplayer" didn't happen. I'm just stating the facts man. I will give the single player credit though, it was pretty friggin awesome. But there were far better multiplayer fps games out there before the release of KZ2: CoD:MW, MGO (third person I know, but still better), BBC, CoD:WaW, the list just goes on and on. The maps were ok but the gameplay was sort of "blah" and I wasn't too crazy about the little light at the top of every players head so everyone can see the from across the map.

    And no, I'm not horrible at fps. I don't ALWAYS get top list but I've made it several times and can confidently say that I can hold my own no matter what the game.

advertisement

Hot Stories

Newsmakers

Featured Stories

Submit News

Got tips? Send them in!

Related Game

Fallout 3 Boxshot
Fallout 3

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    35 of 79,465
    (up by 2)
    PC Rank:
    13 of 12,650
    Highest Rank:
    1 in 2008
    Tracking:
    17,935 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    8,829 Wish It»
  • Users Now Playing:
    3,504
  • Number of Players:

    1 Player

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. fallout 3
    2. fallout
    3. rpg
    4. bethesda
    5. bethesda softworks
  • Mature Rating Description

    Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Related Games

Recent News

See All News »

Site Blogs