2011 GAME British Academy Video Games Awards
Heavy Rain, Mass Effect 2, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Civilization V honoured at UK game awards.
Mass Effect 2 is crowned Best Game
Call of Duty: Black Ops takes public-voted GAME Award of 2010
London, 16 March 2011: HEAVY RAIN won three awards at tonight’s GAME British Academy Video Games Awards at the London Hilton, hosted by Dara O’Briain. The film noir-style thriller took home the BAFTAs for Original Music, Technical Innovation and Story.
MASS EFFECT 2 triumphed in the Best Game category. Lauded by the jury as a “combined achievement of technology, art, design [and] audio… a beautiful complete gaming experience”,
The“exhilarating chases [and] heart-thumping shadowing missions” of ASSASSIN’S CREED BROTHERHOOD were rewarded with the BAFTA for Action. CIVILIZATION V won the BAFTA for Strategy. This is the second BAFTA for the series: Civilization Revolutions won this category in 2009.
KINECT SPORTS, which uses a new technology to allow players to play ‘controller-free’ took home the Family BAFTA. SUPER MARIO GALAXY 2 won the BAFTA for Gameplay; the original game won the Best Game award in 2009.
CUT THE ROPE topped one million sales just nine days after its release: tonight the physics-based puzzle phenomenon won the BAFTA for Handheld.
The Social Network Game category - a new addition to this year’s ceremony - was won by MY EMPIRE, a Greco-Roman themed city-building game playable via Facebook.
The Sports BAFTAwent to F1 2010, an ultra-realistic simulation of the 2010 Formula One world championship. Another racing game NEED FOR SPEED: HOT PURSUIT won this year’s Multiplayer award.
The visceral and dramatic soundscape of BATTLEFIELD: BAD COMPANY: 2 won the Use of Audio BAFTA.Epic action-adventure GOD OF WAR III took home the Artistic Achievement award, the third for the series, which won two BAFTAs in 2007.
Three groups of students and recent graduates who had each designed a new game prototype contested this year’s BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital. The awardwas presented to TWANG!, designed by That Game Studio.
Sir Ben Kingsley presented the Fellowship, the highest honour that the Academy can bestow, to PETER MOLYNEUX, the creative force behind some of the world's most popular and enduring video games, inlcuding Populous, Powermonger, Theme Park, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper and the Fable series.
With over 110,000 votes The GAME Award of 2010, the only award at the ceremony voted for by the public, was won by Call of Duty: Black Ops, this is the 3rd year the Call of Duty franchise has picked up this Award.
For more information please contact:
Kristoff Clark
freud communications
Tel: 020 3003 6472
Email: kristoff.clark@freud.com
Notes to editors:
About BAFTA:
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public. In addition to its Awards ceremonies, BAFTA has a year-round Learning & Events programme that offers unique access to some of the world’s most inspiring talent through workshops, masterclasses, lectures and mentoring schemes, connecting with audiences of all ages and backgrounds across the UK, Los Angeles and New York. BAFTA relies on income from membership subscriptions, individual donations, trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support its ongoing outreach work. For further information, visit www.bafta.org.
About the judging process:
Games were entered by both developers and publishers into all the categories listed in this release and were initially voted on by BAFTA’s video games members and a carefully selected list of industry experts via a secure website.
The titles garnering the most votes went through to specialist juries who receive the games prior to making their nominations.
Each juror signs confidentiality papers and casts their votes on paper. The results in each category are not known until the envelope is opened on the night.
About GAME:
GAME is part of GAME Group plc, Europe's leading retailer of pc and video games, video game consoles and related accessories. We operate from over 1,000 GAME stores, concessions and franchises in the UK, Eire, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Portugal, France and Australia; and over 220 Gamestation stores in the UK. Together with our on-line and multi channel shopping services, our aim is to be the destination of choice for every consumer.