Well what do you know? EA has topped the publisher list for the most high rated games published in 2012. The info was gathered by Metacritic and it’s rather nice to see the company actually getting credit for publishing some good games.

We also have other data on the publishers and while it’s understandable that Sony had a bad 2012 since most of their big games were scheduled for 2013, it’s also surprising that they have ended up at no. 3 in the listing.

They have a 72.3 score over 45 games. EA was at no. 1 with 75.2 score over 37 games. Microsoft came at the number 2nd spot with 73 score over 42 games. Most of them are quite similar when you take the average but it was a dull year overall.

 Nintendo as at fourth with 72.2 over 37 games, followed by Capcom with 70.4 over 16 titles.

Warner Bros. Interactive, Ubisoft, Konami and Sega followed and Activision Blizzard was at the number 10th spot surprisingly, but when it comes to overall revenue they should be at the top.

Namco was at 11th but we love Ni No Kuni, right?

Via VG247.

Metacritic has revealed that Telltale’s The Walking Dead was the highest rated game of 2012, winning the aggregate site’s game of the year award.

The game had an aggregate score of 95 on the Xbox 360- we’re talking about the complete retail collection. It is notable that it had 9 reviews, while the game that came in second- Persona 4 Golden- had over twenty reviews. The third and fourth ranking titles- the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Mass Effect 3 respectively, had 30 and 74 critic reviews.

The Walking Dead joins previous Metacritic GOTY winners Batman: Arkham City’s PS3 version in 2011, Super Mario Galaxy 2 in 2010, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2009 and GTA 4 in 2008.

Metacritic also noted that this year saw the least number of games having titles that had average scores of 90+, with a total of 18 games -14 console releases, others on the PC and handhelds and other platforms- being less than what we have seen in the last 4 years. It was especially low compared to 2011, when we saw 32 games- 23 of which were console titles- hit the 90 mark.

What’s more, of the 18 games that made it into the 90+ aggregate region this year, there were a few repeat entries as well- both versions of Mark of the Ninja made it into the region, as did the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of both, Mass Effect 3 and Far Cry 3.

Here’s the list of all the games that had an aggregate of 90 or higher:

1. The Walking Dead: The Game – Xbox 360 – 95
2. Persona 4 Golden – Vita – 94
3. Mass Effect 3 – PS3 – 93
4. Mass Effect 3 – Xbox 360 – 93
5. Journey PS3 – Sony – 92
6. Xenoblade Chronicles – Wii – 92
7. Dishonored – PC – 91
8. Mark of the Ninja – PC – 91
9. Borderlands 2 – PS3 – 91
10. Far Cry 3 – PS3 – 91
11. Far Cry 3 – Xbox 360 – 90
12. Trials Evolution – Xbox 360 – 90
13. Okami HD – PS3 – 90
14. Mark of the Ninja – Xbox 360 – 90
15. FIFA Soccer 13 – Xbox 360 – 90
16. Guild Wars 2 – PC – 90
17. NBA 2K13 – PS3 – 90
18. XCOM: Enemy Unknown – Xbox 360 – 90

You can check out the entire report here.

Have a look at our very own Game of the Year awards here. Some of the results may surprise you.

[VG247]

Metacritic has named the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham City (Metascore 96) their Game of the Year, narrowly edging out the Xbox 360 version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Metascore 96) “by a few decimal points to take top honours”.

Both the console versions of Arkham City, the PC and Xbox 360 version of Skyrim, all three versions of Portal 2 were in the top 10. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D was also featured. The PS3 version of Mass Effect 2 and Minecraft rounded off the top 10.

On the Xbox 360, Skyrim was the highest reviewed game (96) and Blackwater the worst (32). Zelda: Skyward Sword was the top rated Wii game (93) and Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Stealth Force Edition the worst (33). On the PS3, Batman: Arkham City topped (96) and Kung Fu Panda 2: The Video Game was at the bottom (31).

2011’s top reviewed games

1. Batman: Arkham City (PS3, 96)
2. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, 96)
3. Portal 2 (PC, 95)
4. Portal 2 (Xbox 360, 95)
5. Portal 2 (PS3, 95)
6. Batman: Arkham City (Xbox 360, 94)
7. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS, 94)
8. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (PC, 94)
9. Mass Effect 2 (PS3, 94)
10. Minecraft (PC, 93)

[Metacritic]

Metacritic had plans to begin assigning scores to developers, but these plans have since been cancelled.

According to Metacritic co-founder and games editor Marc Doyle, the firm has decided not to implement developer scores on the site because developer resumes are not as detailed as the site would like, and also because it believes the games industry doesn’t credit staff on projects the way it should. The site will still build a database of developers, but will not be assigning them ratings or scores.

Doyle said “we have no plans to bring [developer ratings] back. Right now we just want to see if we can build the database, take a shot at it, see what we can do.”

“If [developers] worked on 30 games and we can only show four and then we take on this score, which is really just an average of those games in our database for them, then that’s not fair. We discussed it as a team and it made sense to just drop that overall number whilst still trying to build this database which will be difficult, but we’re going to give it a shot. It’s needless to put that number on it though.”

Scores for individual developers have been live since last summer, but the addition was only recently noticed by developers. Some complained details regarding their development history was not included, or Metacritic didn’t cite specific releases.

“We’ve found it very tough in some cases to say who has been responsible for a game,” admitted Doyle. “I think that is an issue, of the industry not needing or not wanting to put that information out there. I don’t know exactly what’s behind that, I haven’t discussed that with too many publishers.”

“If by this issue coming about in the last week all of a sudden the publishers and developers are like: ‘Yes, let’s standardise this whole system’, and everyone wanted to go out there and in every game attach their credits, then we could hire someone to simply input that into our system. But… I don’t necessarily see that happening and I don’t think you see that happening.”

“That’s ultimately the goal of Metacritic: What should I watch, what should I play? Not necessarily to fuel some larger discussion over what person is more worthy than some other person.”

If it prevents people from incorrectly judging developers, then a lack of developer ratings can only be a good thing.

Thanks to VG247 for the info.