BAFTA will be honouring GTA developer Rockstar Games with their highest honour for their video game awards, the Fellowship award. The Fellowship award has previously been awarded to people such as Shigeru Miyamoto, Gabe Newell, Peter Molyneux and Will Wright.

And now, Rockstar will receive the award on March 12 at the BAFTA awards ceremony for “creating intricately layered interactive worlds that have kept the company at the forefront of the gaming industry for over a decade, both critically and commercially.” The BAFTA awards panel highlighted the developer’s achievements with Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto, LA Noire and Bully.

Sam and Dan Houser, Rockstar North president Leslie Benzies and GTA art director Aaron Garbut will be accepting the Fellowship award for the development team.

“We have long believed in the potential for video games to become a new form of cultural expression and worked to show that in our games, so for us accepting the BAFTA Fellowship is incredibly humbling,” said Sam Houser, one of the founders of Rockstar. “This honor reflects the creative vision and dedication of a huge number of people over many years, and we look forward to accepting the Fellowship on their behalf.”

Rockstar’s GTA 5 is one of the games that have been nominated in the Game of the Year category. Watch this space for more news.

[Source]

In its pearl anniversary, the Golden Joysticks have been around longer than the vast majority of gamers, especially impressive in an industry still in the throes of infancy. This rare occasion to pay tribute to games is riddled with the tendrils of advertising from bow to stern; the Golden Joysticks are anything but about games.

Before the reasonably priced champagne had even been poured, the award winners were announced via press release, under embargo until after the winners had been announced. An utterly bizarre set of circumstances which means we knew who the winners were before they were officially announced and, yet couldn’t publicise this fact until they were, undermining the very form and function of a ceremony intended as a celebration of games. Such a sterile approach serves to allow press outlets to publicise a full list of winners at 4pm on the dot, in disgustingly uniform fashion, which seems utterly disrespectful to everyone involved in the creative process.

Presiding over the Joysticks was rent-a-joke Ed Byrne, awkwardly creaking along with lukewarm observational comedy slurry, interspersed by brief outbursts of video games. When Byrne wasn’t pitifully yammering on about the state of airline baggage, there was a series of distressingly obnoxious game trailers mid-ceremony. At some point there were some awards for achievements in video games, or something, but nobody was really paying attention. When Future Publishing’s Head of Entertainment Group Claire Porteous took to the stage, beginning the show, the audience were so disinterested, they had to be forcibly shushed into submission.

The various winners of the 19 awards weren’t even afforded so much as an audible ‘thank you’ to those who made the game in question possible, abruptly thrust to one side for an awkward photo opportunity with Byrne, then shoved off stage like stray dogs. Steven Fry’s vaguely embarrassing robot likeness was given more stage time than several award recipients combined, each sponsor’s name bellowed more proudly and boldy than the winners. Not only is this grossly disrespectful to the game makers themselves, the nature of the public vote makes it an even greater disservice to the fans.

The hotly contested Best Downloadable Game category was sponsored by the Official Xbox 360 Magazine and won by an Xbox 360 ‘exclusive’ Minecraft. Whilst one of the many categories voted for by the public, is this not, in any way, a conflict of interest? Not to mention hilarious if, say, a PlayStation 3 exclusive masterpiece like Journey would have won, a hypothetical which sadly only exists in my head.

Voted for by the consumers, The Golden Joysticks are unique in that exclusively through the official website. Fundamentally a fantastic idea at heart, especially when involving over 4,000,000 votes; truly representative of the man on the street. Well, the man in an Ikea desk chair at least.

Who’s fault is it? Future’s, perhaps, the Joysticks after all are a means of revenue foremost and a celebration of the medium second, or perhaps even third. This is the typical of an event devoid of an impartial board; set up initially with the purest of motives, financial constraints inevitably lead to the introduction of corporate sponsorship and from there a nauseating spiral into a hideous abyss. It’s a shame no other award ceremony of this magnitude takes the views of the public into direct consideration, but it’s ultimately toxic for the consumer. We simply shouldn’t stand for this car crash, simply don’t tune in and instead opt for something altogether more wholesome, like the British Academy Game Awards.

EA’s last year release, Mass Effect 2 bagged yet another award at the BAFTAs. Mass Effect 2 was titled as the Best Game of 2010, like it has been at so many sites and publications, including us.

Sony’s Heavy Rain was the only game that managed to bag multiple awards, winning in the Music, Story and Technical Innovation categories.

Given below is the full list of nominees and winners.

ACTION

• WINNER: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Gaëlec Simard
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
  Patrick Bach, David Goldfarb
  Electronic Arts/DICE
• BioShock 2
  Jordan Thomas, Zak McClendon
  2K Games/2K Marin
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Dave Anthony, Corky Lehmkuhl, Jason Blundell
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch
• God of War III
  Stig Asmussen, Todd Papy, Steve Caterson
  Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Santa Monica Studio
• Halo: Reach
  Marcus Lehto, Joe Tung, Alex Cutting
  Microsoft Games Studios/Bungie

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Mohamed Gambouz
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Colin Whitney, Brian Anderson, Dominique Drozdz
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch
• WINNER: God of War III
  Stig Asmussen, Ken Feldman, Cecil Kim
  Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Santa Monica Studio
• Heavy Rain
  David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• LIMBO
  Arnt Jensen, Morten Bramsen
  Xbox Live Arcade/Playdead Games
• Mass Effect 2
  Development Team
  Electronic Arts/BioWare

BEST GAME

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Vincent Pontbriand
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
• FIFA 11
  David Rutter, Kaz Makita, Gary Paterson
  Electronic Arts/ Electronic Arts Canada
• Heavy Rain
  David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• LIMBO
  Arnt Jensen, Dino Patti, Mads Wibroe
  Xbox Live Arcade/Playdead Games
• WINNER: Mass Effect 2
  Development Team
  Electronic Arts/BioWare
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
  Koichi Hayashida, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takashi Tezuka
  Nintendo/Nintendo

FAMILY

• Dance Central
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios & MTV Games/MTV & Harmonix
• Kinect Adventures
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios/Good Science Studio
• WINNER: Kinect Sports
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios/Rare
• Kinectimals
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios/Frontier Developments Ltd
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
  Development Team
  Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment/TT Games
• Toy Story 3
  John Blackburn, Jonathan Warner, Jeff Bunker
  Disney Interactive Studios/Avalanche Software

GAMEPLAY

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Patrick Plourde
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
• God of War III
  Stig Asmussen, Todd Papy, Adam Puhl
  Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Santa Monica Studio
• Heavy Rain
  David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• LIMBO
  Arnt Jensen, Jeppe Carlsen, Peter Buchardt
  Xbox Live Arcade/Playdead Games
• Mass Effect 2
  Development Team
  Electronic Arts/BioWare
• WINNER: Super Mario Galaxy 2
  Koichi Hayashida, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takashi Tezuka
  Nintendo/Nintendo

HANDHELD

• WINNER: Cut the Rope
  Efim Voinov, Semyon Voinov
  Chillingo/Zeptolab
• God of War: Ghost of Sparta
  Development Team
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Ready at Dawn & SCE Santa Monica Studio
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
  Development Team
  Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment/TT Games
• Professor Layton and the Lost Future
  Akihiro Hino
  Nintendo/Level 5 Games
• Sonic Colours
  Development Team
  SEGA/Sonic Team
• Super Scribblenauts
  Joseph M Tringali, Marius Fahlbusch, Jeremiah Slaczka
  Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment/5th Cell

MULTIPLAYER

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Yann le Guyader
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
  Patrick Bach, David Goldfarb
  Electronic Arts/DICE
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Mark Gordon, Dan Bunting, David Vonderhaar
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch
• Halo: Reach
  Marcus Lehto, Joe Tung, Alex Cutting
  Microsoft Games Studios/Bungie
• WINNER: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
  Development Team
  Electronic Arts/Criterion Games
• Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
  Development Team
  Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment

ORIGINAL MUSIC

• Alan Wake
  Petri Alanko
  Microsoft Games Studios/Remedy
• Fable III
  Russell Shaw
  Microsoft Games Studios/Lionhead Studios
• WINNER: Heavy Rain
  Normand Corbeil
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• James Bond 007: Bloodstone
  Richard Jacques
  Activision Blizzard UK/ Bizarre Creations
• Mass Effect 2
  Jack Wall
  Electronic Arts/BioWare
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
  Koji Kondo
  Nintendo/Nintendo

SOCIAL NETWORK GAME

• Bejeweled Blitz
  Jon David, Heather Hazen, Jason Kapalka
  Popcap Games/Popcap Games
• Farmerama
  Tobias Reisberger, Jan-Michel Saaksmeier, Marten Schröder
  Bigpoint/Bigpoint
• FIFA Superstars
  Development Team
  EA Sports/Playfish
• WINNER: My Empire
  Development Team
  Playfish/Playfish
• Zoo Mumba
  Tobias Reisberger, Eduard Röhrich, Jan-Michel Saaksmeier
  Bigpoint GMBH/Bigpoint GMBH
• Zuma Blitz
  Isaac Aubrey, Jon David, Jason Kapalka
  PopCap Games/PopCap Games

SPORTS

• WINNER: F1 2010
  Development Team
  Codemasters/Codemasters Birmingham
• FIFA 11
  David Rutter, Kaz Makita, Gary Paterson
  Electronic Arts/ Electronic Arts Canada
• Football Manager 2011
  Development Team
  SEGA/Sports Interactive
• Gran Turismo 5
  Development Team
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Polyphony Digital Inc
• International Cricket 2010
  Development Team
  Codemasters/Trickstar Games
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
  Shingo Takatsuka, Naoya Hatsumi, Jon Murphy
  Konami/Winning Eleven Productions

STORY

• Alan Wake
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios/Remedy
• BioShock 2
  Jordan Thomas, Zak McClendon
  2K Games/2K Marin
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Dave Anthony, Craig Houston
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch
• Fallout: New Vegas
  John Gonzalez, Eric Fenstermaker, Travis Stout
  Bethesda Softworks/Obsidian Entertainment
• WINNER: Heavy Rain
  David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• Mass Effect 2
  Development Team
  Electronic Arts/BioWare

STRATEGY

• WINNER: Civilization V
  Jon Shafer, Dorian Newcomb, Brian Wade
  2K Games/Firaxis
• Fallout: New Vegas
  Josh Sawyer, Frank Kowalkowski, Justin Reynard
  Bethesda Softworks/Obsidian Entertainment
• FIFA Manager 11
  Gerald Köhler, Cord Westhoff, Bernhard Maiberg
  EA Sports/Bright Future
• Napoleon Total War
  Development Team
  SEGA/Creative Assembly
• Plants vs. Zombies XBLA
  George Fan, Matt Lee Johnston, Ty Roberts
  PopCap Games/PopCap Games
• Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
  Development Team
  Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment

Technical Innovation

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Stéphane Girard, Stephane Assadourian
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Adam Rosas, Dominique Drodz, Scott Bean
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch
• Halo: Reach
  Marcus Lehto, Joe Tung, Alex Cutting
  Microsoft Games Studios/Bungie
• WINNER: Heavy Rain
  David Cage, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, Scott Johnson
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• Kinectimals
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios/Frontier Developments Ltd
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
  Koichi Hayashida, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Takashi Tezuka
  Nintendo/Nintendo

Use of Audio

• Alan Wake
  Development Team
  Microsoft Games Studios/Remedy/14.05.10
• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
  Mathieu Jeanson
  Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal/19.11.10
• WINNER: Battlefield: Bad Company: 2
  Stefan Strandberg
  Electronic Arts/DICE/05.03.10
• Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Brian Tuey, Chris Cowell
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch/ 09.11.10
• DJ Hero 2
  Development Team
  Activision Blizzard UK LTD/Freestylegames/22.10.10
• LIMBO
  Martin Stig Andersen
  Xbox Live Arcade/Playdead Games/21.07.10

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital

• Mush
  Henry Hoffman, Ahmed Zaman, Matthew Dennis, Katherine Killick, Greg O’Brien
  (Angry Mango)
• Sculpty
  Druhin Mukherjee, Fabien Roussot, James Long, Fraser Littlejohn, Ronan Suess
  (Team Tickle)
• WINNER: Twang
  Jocce Marklund, Annette Nielsen, Linus Nordgren, Marcus Heder, Thomas Finlay
  (That Game Studio)

GAME Award of 2010
(The only award to be voted for by the public)

• WINNER:Call of Duty: Black Ops
  Activision Blizzard UK Ltd/Treyarch
• Dance Central
  Microsoft Games Studios & MTV Games/MTV & Harmonix
• FIFA 11
  Electronic Arts/ Electronic Arts Canada
• Halo: Reach
  Microsoft Games Studios/Bungie
• Heavy Rain
  Sony Computer Entertainment/Quantic Dream & XDev Studio Europe
• Limbo
  Xbox Live Arcade/Playdead Games
• Mass Effect 2
  Electronic Arts/BioWare
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
  Electronic Arts/Criterion Games
• Red Dead Redemption
  Rockstar Games/Rockstar San Diego
• Super Mario Galaxy 2
  Nintendo/Nintendo

Here are the winners from the video game BAFTAs earlier today:

Action: Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood

Artistic Achievement: God Of War III

Best Game: Mass Effect 2

Family: Kinect Sports

Gameplay: Super Mario Galaxy 2

Handheld: Cut The Rope

Multiplayer: Need For Speed: Hot Pursit

Original Music: Heavy Rain

Social Network Game: My Empire

Sports: F1 2010

Story: Heavy Rain

Strategy: Civilisation V

Technical Innovation: Heavy Rain

Use of Audio: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital: Twang

GAME Award of 2010: Call Of Duty: Black Ops

The results were taken from the BAFTA website.

At the Bafta office in London earlier today the nominees for the 2010 Bafta game award were announced by TV presenter Michael Underwood. We were lucky enough to be invited to the event and can now give you the full list of the ten nominees. The games are all titles from last year that were put forward by a panel of thirteen judges for their excellence and success.

The games are:

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Dance Central

Fifa 11

Halo: Reach

Heavy Rain

Limbo

Mass Effect 2

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit

Red Dead Redemption

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Diversity to seems to be the key in the nominations and it appears that there is a game for everyone. The award is being announced at the Baftas on the 16^th March and the show will be hosted by Dara o’ Briain. It’s important to note that the Bafta game award is the only award where public votes decide the winner. The voting polls are now open, so make sure you vote for your favourite game at the Bafta game awards site.