About the Awards
With the exception of categories such as Best Trailer, Best Stage Demo, and Best New Hardware, the majority of our game awards were limited to games that were playable in some form, hands-on or hands-off, either during the show proper or at pre-E3 events immediately preceding the show. In addition, our E3 awards are for distinguishing those games that made the biggest impression on us at the show--not necessarily those games that seem like they'll turn out to be great games to play later on.
Game of the Show
You can easily make the argument that this year's E3 was all about the hardware. With Nintendo unveiling the Wii U and Sony announcing lots of details about the Vita, headlines this year were all about systems and platforms rather than software. That doesn't mean that E3 didn't have any games to speak of. It most certainly did. We were very impressed by many new games shown at E3, but as is our custom, we've narrowed down the absolute best of the show to only 10 games...and will give our Game of the Show award to only one.
Editorial Nominees
Hitman: Absolution
A number of factors go into deciding which game wins this coveted award. It goes without saying that a game has to make a thoroughly impressive showing, which is something that each of these 10 nominees can claim. But what sometimes separates a winner from a nominee is the element of surprise.
We didn't know anything about Hitman Absolution going into E3. All we could say was that the series has been on hiatus for five years, which hopefully meant developer Io Interactive had something big in the works--but what it showed us was far more impressive than we could have predicted. What Io is doing with Absolution is taking a series traditionally lacking in personality, injecting it with a remarkable sense of style and a flair for the dramatic, and then wrapping it all up in a grim atmosphere perfectly suiting the game's ruthless antihero.
Absolution's E3 demo was a scene of calm desperation punctuated by those sorts of startling moments that linger with you long after the demo ends. From the blaring, Inception-style music that opened the demo, to the blinding searchlights of the helicopter Agent 47 was so frantically trying to outrun on a rainy rooftop, to the tension-riddled final stretch when it seemed like Chicago's entire police force was staring a hole through 47's impromptu disguise, what we saw of Absolution was equally impressive and memorable.
The whole package was a bold proclamation of where this series is headed. We didn't know what to expect going into the show, but now Hitman Absolution is easily one of our most anticipated games.
Readers' Choice Voting
- The Winner
- Voting Stats
Battlefield 3
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Developer: EA DICE
As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground, the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before. In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding single player missions and competitive multiplayer actions ranging across diverse locations from around the globe including Europe, Middle-East and North America.
| Title | Vote Result Graph | % of Votes | # of Votes |
|---|---|---|---|
Arma III |
1% | 288 | |
Batman: Arkham City |
7% | 1,724 | |
Battlefield 3 |
38% | 9,557 | |
BioShock: Infinite |
6% | 1,391 | |
Forza Motorsport 4 |
2% | 386 | |
Hitman Absolution |
5% | 1,198 | |
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword |
7% | 1,781 | |
Papo & Yo |
0.3% | 69 | |
Prey 2 |
1% | 225 | |
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception |
14% | 3,604 | |
Star Wars: The Old Republic |
5% | 1,181 | |
Gears of War 3 |
2% | 529 | |
Deus Ex: Human Revolution |
1% | 346 | |
Mass Effect 3 |
9% | 2,191 | |
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 |
3% | 634 |
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