So without further ado, let's get my 2012 Award Ceremony started.

Best 360 Game

Winner: Halo 4

I probably should have finished the first fight before starting up a new chapter in the series. I was never a big fan of Halo. The Last Halo I played was 2; however, Halo 4 grabbed my attention with it's Metroid Prime like aesthetics.

Runner Up: Witcher 2

Best PS3 Game

Winner: Journey

Journey is one of those interactive experiences only this form of media can bring you. The final sequence is breathtaking and traveling with a chirping companion is oddly joyful. Skating down dunes and gliding through the air while watching the breath taking sun set and dunes just makes me wish it lasted longer, yet the length also felt appropriate.

Runner Up: N/A

Best Wii Game

Winner: Xenoblade

A huge open world. I've barely evenscratchedthe surface of this game. It takes the Offline MMO approach that Final Fantasy XII did, but it expands the world 10x's. Great character interactions and a complex combat system make this one of the best RPGs this generation.

Runner Up: The Last Story

Best Multiplatform Game

Winner: Darksiders 2

This is a really hard award to give. I've played some really great multi-platform games this year, but the spectacular dungeon puzzles, art style and character design, and mixture of gameplay that takes from the greats (God of War, Prince of Persia, Legend of Zelda, and Castlevania) make this an amazing adventure.

Runner Up: Assassin's Creed III/Dishonored

Best 3DS Game

Winner: Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance

I have to give this award to something. The 3DS has really disappointed me this year, but Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance which is the umpteenth Kingdom Hearts game on a hanheld. Has some really improved aspects. Combat, Monster Collecting, and switching between protagonists are all neat features.

Runner Up: Paper Mario Sticker Star

Best Steam Game

Winner: Hotline Miami

A magnificent game that relishes in violence. It's not mindless slaughter however, it can actually be thought provoking as time goes on and you see some of the deeper themes. The bass bumping hits also lend some amazing character to this game.

Runner Up: Super Brothers: Swords and Sorcery EP

Best Artistic Design

Winner: Journey

Watching that sun set or soaring up the mountains are some of the most beautiful things I've done this year in a video game. The game almost looks like a painting at times. Even traveling into deep dark caverns can be beautiful if a little unnerving.

Runner Up: The Walking Dead

Best Technical Graphics

Winner: Assassin's Creed III

I feel like this will be a controversial award, but traveling through the huge open areas of Assassin's Creed III was no small feat. Whether in town with copious amounts of peoples and pets, on sea where currents changes, or in the frontier where I can watch a butterfly float past me. The game truly shocked me. On top of that they made winter too.

Runner Up: Halo 4

Best Soundtrack

Winner: Hotline Miami

The carnage of each level is back by memorizing tracks that make you want to kill to the beat. The repetitiveness of the tracks never get on your minds has you'll be restarting levels over and over again due to one hit kills. Almost all the tracks in this game are memorable. I even downloaded tracks onto my Ipod.

Runner Up: Super Brothers: Swords and Sorcery EP

Best Level Design

Winner: Dishonored

There are so many ways to approach a level in this game. You can approach a level in a stealthy fashion or go on a rampage or any where on that spectrum. To top it off there are probably 5+ ways to get to your goal and finish the mission. Replaying this game has led me down pathways I never thought of going the first and second time through.

Runner Up: Hotline Miami

Best Story

Winner: The Walking Dead

The first 3 episodes out of 5 of the Walking Dead Seaon 1 were pretty heartfelt. There was some great interactions between characters, and I literally yelled when some of my favorites were brutally murdered. It's a tale of Human brutality, but also of human compassion.

Runner Up: Assassin's Creed III

Best DLC

Winner: Dark Souls Abyss of Artorias

How to you expand your original title properly? Make DLC like Abyss of Artorias. This is some of the best crafted DLC expanding on the lore (in big ways), enemies, bosses, and even impacts and changes a scene in original game. It keeps the originals charm of finding things out by yourself too.

Runner Up: N/A

Biggest Surprise

Winner: Hotline Miami

One night I was browsing the forums, heard the soundtrack was pretty cool, heard how this game makes you feel like a badass, and heard it was inspired by the movie Drive. I looked up some reviews and footage, and although I was a little skeptical, it was on sale on Steam, so I spent the best $4.99 I have ever spent. Addictive, fast paced, and the music really isthat good.

Runner Up: Dishonored

Best Boxart

Winner: Xenoblade

The simple grassyfieldwith a sword in the ground as the hulking mass of Bionis is seen in the background. It's simple. The Font of the title is nice, and doesn't get too flashy. It's pretty. It also has a reversible cover which looks pretty nice too. I'm a sucker for those reversible covers!

Runner Up: Journey Collector's Edition

Worst Boxart

Winner: Batman Arkham City GotY

This is how you don't do boxart. I don't really even know what the game is called. It could be,"10 out of 10" the Game, or "5 out of 5 One of the Greatest Games Ever. Period." the Game, or "5 out of 5... A Must Own" The Game, or "Game of the Year" the game. All of those are larger more prominent text than Batman: Arkham City.

Runner Up: N/A

BestGame Nobody played

Winner: Hotline Miami

People really need to talk about this game more. Nobody ever seems to.

Runner Up: Spec Ops the Line

Best New IP

Winner: Dishonored

What a refreshingly original game. The steam-punk atmosphere, the stealth game play, the super natural powers, the open endedness of the levels without actually being open world. The level of detail and affection that went into crafting this game is something I haven't seen in awhile. It's refreshing to see original IPs in the wake of blockbuster sequels.

Runner Up: Xenoblade

The One Game I Wish I played

Winner: Far Cry 3

I never got the chance to play Far Cry 3, and that is a shame because it looks like it could have been one of the best this year. It probably would have stolen a couple awards away from other contenders if I had played it.

Runner Up: Forza Horizon

Most Anticipated of 2013

Winner: Ni No Kuni

I've been waiting for this game for 2 years now. The Level 5 Stuido Ghibli collaboration is going to be out in the States in less than a month. It's looking like an incredible RPG.

Runner Up: BioShock Infinite/GTAV

Most Disappointing Game

Winner: The Walking Dead

There was a reason in the description for the Best Story award why I said "Episodes 1-3 out of 5." It's because that's all I've played of this game. It doesn't happen to everyone, but after looking at Telltale's help forum, it does seem to be a rampant issue. The game will randomly not carry over saved choices from previous episodes. This happened to me when I tried to access Episode 3, but I managed to fiddle around in my save files and fix it. It happened again when I tried to start episode 4, but I couldn't manage to figure out how to get it to read my choices, thus ruining the game for me. Sadly Telltale won't comment on this, and has no plans to fix it. Many people are stuck with a broken game because of this.

Runner Up:Kid Icarus/Mass Effect 3/Paper Mario Sticker Star

Worst Developer

Winner:Hammerpoint Interactive

Honestly I would give it to Telltale Games for completely ignoring their fans and not issuing a fix, but there are worse evils out there. The people behind the scandal that was War Z is Hammerpoint Interactive. There were so many things wrong with this. It being a rip-off of DayZ, requiring players to pay to respawn immediately instead of waiting a day to respawn, having booby traps weapon drops on the ground that perma-ban players, not being a finished product upon release, false advetising, the obnoxious Sergey Titov who was responsible for the glorious Big Rigs. Look at the reflection in the picture.

Runner Up: Telltale Games

Best Developer

Winner: Dennaton Games

The makers of Hotline Miami. Why are they the Best Developers this year? For their deeds. They released Hotline Miami and it had quite a few bugs. They then patched Hotline Miami. Nothing Special right? Well the lead developer went onto some torrent site, and gave a link to their patched version of the game for everyone who was pirating it. He'd rather have people play his game as it was meant to be played. He said, he appreciated them playing his game, and if they really liked it they should consider buying it.

Runner Up: From Software

Game of a Past Year

Winner: Dark Souls

Dark Souls is the best game not just of a previous year, but of all time.I bought it last year, but didn't get around to playing it until this Summer. I loved it so much that I went through NG, NG+, and then NG++. Hell I'm even thinking about going back to it early next year to play through again. The magic and mystery in the world of Dark Souls really defines it for me. Everytime I play I discover something new. The game makes me feel like an archaeologist. A mysterious world full of lore, stories is waiting, but one must find it through descriptions of items, obscure NPCs, and architecture. The combat has a challenging curve, but it can be mastered and when it is you can run through areas with little thought wacking baddies. 10/10

Hell I should probably even give this Game of THIS Year seeing as the PC version is eligible for the award.

Runner Up: Rayman Origins

Game of the Year

Winner: ???