E3 is never officially over until the votes have been tallied for the annual Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 showdown. Anyone who spent a fair amount of time on the show floor this year probably heard one of two names being bandied about for the year’s big winner: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and BioShock Infinite. Both games look stunning in their own way, but only one can be named Best of Show. This year, that honor ended up going to BioShock Infinite.
That wasn’t the only award won by the in-development title from Irrational Games. Infinite was the top earner on the awards front, taking home four in all: Best of Show, Best Original Game, Best PC Game and Best Action/Adventure Game. These are notably the only four categories it was nominated in. Skyrim did well too, picking up Best Console Game and Best Role-Playing Game.
Battlefield 3 and upcoming PS Vita game Sound Shapes were the only other titles to nab more than one award; Best Action Game and Best Online Multiplayer for the former, Best Handheld Game and Best Social/Casual Game for the latter. Speaking of the Vita, Sony’s PlayStation Portable successor was the big winner on the hardware front, beating out Nintendo’s Wii U in the Best Hardware category.
Also of note on the Nintendo front, not a single 3DS game picked up an award. The console maker’s only win of the show went to the Wii game The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, for Best Motion Simulation Game. Despite announcing an innovative new console and unveiling a torrent of upcoming, highly anticipated 3DS games, Nintendo wasn’t able to shake the lingering dissatisfaction over the launch of its latest handheld device. Games like Kid Icarus Uprising and Super Mario were welcomed with open arms by fans, but those same fans also question why more of those games didn’t make an appearance when the 3DS launched in March.
