3DS and Rage are big winners of E3 2010 Game Critics Awards

by Christopher Grant on Jul 6th 2010 5:00PM

Just one week after revealing the nominees of the E3 2010 Game Critics Awards, the numbers are in and the big winner is ... Nintendo's look-ma-no-glasses 3D handheld, the 3DS. But wait, the 3DS is just the Best of Show and Best Hardware winner! If you're looking for software, look no further than id Software's look-ma-crab-hands mutant-infested shooter, Rage, which took home the most awards in the show: Best Console Game, Best Action Game and Special Commendation for Graphics.

If you think it must've been frustrating to be either Sony or Microsoft, both of which were busy showing off their newest motion-sensitive gadgetry, you'd be mostly right. Microsoft did have one small consolation prize: Dance Central, Harmonix's look-ma-no-coordination dancing game for Kinect, took the well-deserved Best Original Game and Best Motion Simulation prizes. None of Microsoft's first-party Kinect efforts and no PlayStation Move games, first-party or otherwise, made the list.

Find the entire list of award winners, with links into our game pages for all of our coverage, after the break.

Best of Show
Nintendo 3DS
(Nintendo)

Best Original Game
Dance Central
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Console Game
Rage
(id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Handheld Game
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
(Ready at Dawn/Sony Santa Monica for PSP)

Best PC Game
Portal 2
(Valve)

Best Hardware
Nintendo 3DS
(Nintendo)

Best Action Game
Rage
(id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Portal 2
(Valve for PC / Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Role Playing Game
Star Wars: The Old Republic
(BioWare Austin/LucasArts/EA for PC)

Best Fighting Game
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds
(Capcom for PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Racing Game
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
(Criterion Games/Electronic Arts for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Best Sports Game
NBA Jam
(EA Canada/EA Sports for Wii)

Best Strategy Game
Civilization V
(Firaxis/2K Games for PC)

Best Social/Casual Game
Rock Band 3
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Electronic Arts for PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii)

Best Motion Simulation Game
Dance Central
(Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)

Best Online Multiplayer
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
(Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Special Commendation for Graphics
Rage
(id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)

Source: Game Critics Awards
More coverage: Game Critics Awards "Fast Facts"

Tags: 3DS, Dance-Central, ds, E3-2010, Game-Critics-Awards, Harmonix, id-Software, Kinect, microsoft, MTV-Games, nintendo, pc, playstation, ps3, psp, Rage, wii, xbox

Reader Comments (75)

Best Everything: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Everyone else is immediately disqualified.

@(Unverified) Wow Sasuke, I thought you'd be all up for the Naruto game.

@(Unverified)
Deus Ex will be good, but I'm surprised at how well Rage did. Now I can't wait for it to come out D:>

Anyone know any specs of the 3DS? I hope it's not the DS with a 3D screen...

You really don't need specs, just look at the videos of it in action. It's at least comparable to the Wii visually. Very Impressive stuff.

@Mezstizo It's not another DS iteration. It's a successor.

@misterquin

Is it a...
*sunglasses*
...Star Successor?

@TRONdll

YEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-NQBKVlUBc

You can now change your pants.

Shame there isn't a best downloadable game category. A lot of fantastic ones announced this year and releasing soon too. Many of which, IMO, look better than most disc games.

I cannot wait to play Dance Central. I'm pretty sure at this point I'll play any kind of game Harmonix releases.

@Beatz
Why is this cooler than all the other dance games people hate?

Honestly?

@Giggman Because it detects your skeletal structure other than moving a remote in your hand.

@Giggman

Because it's mapped to your whole body, not just your hands. Also, it accurately tracks what you do, unlike Just Dance, which doesn't seem to do anything. It also has unique moves for each song, whereas Just Dance uses about 20 different generic moves for each song.

@Giggman; Because it actually requires you to dance. How many times do we have to go over this? It requires full body movement throughout, not just simple wrist flicks and stepping on giant buttons in rhythm. I love DDR as much as anyone and I wanted, purchased, and played Just Dance ... and Dance Central looks one billion times better than either.

@Giggman

Also, what are these "other dances games that people hate" that you speak of? Just Dance is the only one I can think of. DDR doesn't really count since it's something entirely different, and all the other dance games haven't come out yet.

@Dance Love Pop
I had no idea it's been "gone over" so many times. I just saw a dancing game in this article that won best motion simulation or what ever and I was wondering what was so special about it (beside being developed by Harmonix).

Well here's to hoping it doesn't have to be "gone over" again....

@Beatz

People are under the impression that this will actually make them dancers, but half-learning choreography that doesn't track your movement 1:1 is not that much of a step up from Just Dance.

We just have a lot of closet dancers who are gamers, is my guess.

@Wiizer

I can't say whether or not it will make me a better dancer, and that's not at all why I'm interested in the game. Maybe I'm crazy, but it looks fun. I can already imagine me and some drunk-ass friends doing our thang to Body Movin' and having a hell of a time. Doesn't mean we'll be out on the dance floor the next day, but as long as we had a good time, who cares?

And how do you know it's not a huge step up from Just Dance? Every preview has been positively glowing, while every review of Just Dance claimed it to be utter shit. How could that be so if it weren't a huge step up?

@Beatz
"Also, what are these "other dances games that people hate" that you speak of?"

Correction, I mean other "wave your hands in the air like you just don't care games"

@Beatz

Because when reviewers are put in an uncomfortable setting like dancing in front of people and they receive positive reinforcement from Harmonix's booth team while making a fool of themselves on the show floor, what impression do you think they'd walk away with?

"I dance badly, but I did really good on this game, so I love it!"

It's the same reason why you'll playing this game while you and your friends are drunk: Liquid Courage, in your case, but people want to believe they're good dancers.

Hell, how do you think Just Dance has sold so many copies? Do you think everyone cares about accuracy?

@Wiizer

Actually, we'll play it the same reason we play Halo, Madden, Gears 2, Boom Blox, etc etc while drunk: because it's damn fun. Again, not because we want to dance better or because we think we dance good. This is the same argument about Rock Band:

"You only play that game because it makes you think you're good at it (in this case, playing music." That's not the case. I play it because it's fun. And if Dance Central turns out like everything points to it being, then I will play it for the same reason.

@Beatz Yeah, I'm not getting the love for Dance Central over Just Dance, either.

The main argument for Dance Central seems to be that it looks fun.

I'm just wondering if that's supposed to mean that the people who bought and played Just Dance weren't having fun..

Hmm.

@Ezio Auditore da Firenze

It's a pretty subjective argument, but my guess is that the people that found Just Dance fun would probably find Dance Central more fun.

It's the same way you and I might think Dante's Inferno is a pretty fun action game, but God of War 3 is a way-more-fun action game.

maybe because Dance Cenral is doing something that cant be done on ANY other system is why its getting all the praise . . . dance central is forging new territory . . . .

This game is impossible on other systems . . . .

@BigFat

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/23/dance-central-could-bust-a-move-on-ps3-but-wii-put-in-a-corner/

I'd ask you to eat your words, but you're already so big! :o

@Wiizer

but even on the ps3 it wont be nearly as accurate as with kinect,

@Wiizer it seems lame to me and the moves in the game on the characters look pre-animated not reactant to what the player is doing, you seems to get points based on that, and while dancing CAN be turned into a form of gameplay doesn't mean it should, i see more value in a game like DDR simply because there's actually a measurable degree of challenge where in a game like dance central seems to give points for rhythm and stuff i'm sure but if i'm going to dance i would rather just make it up as go along, i have no wierd desire to be an extra in a music video

@Beatz "It's a pretty subjective argument, but my guess is that the people that found Just Dance fun ...."

Seriously think about what your saying for a minute and think about your comparison, feel free to slap your forehead and shout durr that was dumb once its clicked in ...

@BigFat IsBack

Think about it for a minute, sure kinect should be able to track in any lighting condition better than pseye on its own, but 2 move controllers and leg and head tracking via ps eye, pretty much full body tracking without needing skeletal modelling.. Kinect is also the laggier controller and has more overhead ...

I dont care either way, not my type of game ...

@Beatz

And I can't wait to watch the embarrassing YouTube video that your "friends" record!

;D

@Beatz

I don't think Dance Central should be a game to play drunk, could be dangerous lol

I love me some Need for Speed as much as the next guy, but it is unanimously better than GT5? Most of the major sites seem to think so.

Well anyway I'm looking forward to a lot of stuff on that list.

@Giggman to be fair gt5 was meant to be released 2 yrs ago..

Really guys? 3DS.. *sigh* I have to say that in the hardware category. I do agree but best of the show? No way. Its the DS with 3D... if you move you head you have NO D. Nintendo has been shoveling crap down everyones throat and everyone tries to tell themselves it taste like chocolate. My son has a DS and a Wii and even he tells me they suck. He is only 4. Not hating on Nintendo. They still got a few bright spots but the 3DS is not one of them.

@EchoX Get outta here.

@EchoX
not to sound like a douch but your son sounds like a ass

Screw you. Prick.

@ticklefist PC fan much?

@EchoX

Or you know, your kid is 4 and easily impressionable by the world around him. Despite what you're saying, you do seem to be hating on Nintendo so maybe he is developing his opinions based on your own.

As for your opinion of the 3DS. You're an idiot. You can spend two seconds checking it out to instantly know that it isn't a "DS with 3D". The 3DS IS NOT a reiteration of the DS hardware like the Lite/i/iXL. It IS completely new, and vastly stronger hardware than the current DS. Go on YouTube and search Resident Evil Revelations. That video is running completely in real time on the 3DS hardware. The original DS would never have been able to do that.

Biggest Disappointment: No Batman AA2 news :(

@(Unverified)

I'd rather wait to see the game when its almost ready for release than see it 18-24 months or more before. That really annoys me.

@(Unverified)

What about Half Life Episode 3?

No BG&E2 news!

Where's LittleBigPlanet 2?

August 1995: Nintendo launches the Virtual Boy. It's discontinued the following year.

@mikemaj82

Well, the obvious caveat here is the backwards compatibility and the slider that turns the "ThreeDees" off.

You sure you want to predict imminent doom for 3-D now?

@mikemaj82: Nintendo is re-releasing all their old ideas, but with a new twist.

People like gimmicks now!

@mikemaj82

July 2010: mikemaj82 hasn't noticed yet that we're not living in 1995.

As well as 3DS (anybody who doesn't think that looked impressive, with the announced game lineup and all, is frankly delusional)... Dance Central looked awesome too. What's with the haters?

@jynxycat i like how you compare a graphical powerhouse with glasses-less 3D to a red and black 8-bit 3D facebox...

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Rage

3DS and Rage are big winners of E3 2010 Game Critics Awards

Reader Comments (75)

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:09PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:10PM Juri said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 6:00PM Special Agent Steve said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:09PM Mezstizo said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:12PM Dance Love Pop said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:31PM misterquin said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:35PM TRONdll said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:38PM The Nth Doctor said

Posted: Jul 7th 2010 6:16AM Unvrfd said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:10PM Dance Love Pop said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:10PM Beatz said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:14PM Giggman said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:16PM Juri said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:18PM Beatz said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:18PM Dance Love Pop said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:18PM Beatz said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:24PM Giggman said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:24PM Wiizer said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:28PM Beatz said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:31PM Giggman said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:33PM Wiizer said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:38PM Beatz said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:40PM Ezio Auditore da Firenze said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:43PM Beatz said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:51PM BigFat IsBack said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:56PM Wiizer said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 6:04PM BigFat IsBack said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 6:12PM haPr said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 6:46PM McDuckScrooged said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 7:04PM McDuckScrooged said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 7:09PM Cypher FDP said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 8:00PM Nekki said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:12PM Giggman said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 9:17PM McDuckScrooged said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:13PM EchoX said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:17PM Juri said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:18PM Special Agent Bob said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:34PM AutobotIronhide said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 6:13PM Lagunamov said

Posted: Jul 8th 2010 4:06AM Suichimo said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:15PM InDurdenWeTrust said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 6:22PM Lerkero said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 9:31PM 343 Guilty Fart said

Posted: Jul 7th 2010 6:23AM Unvrfd said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:22PM Wiizer said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:24PM mikemaj82 said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:28PM Wiizer said

Posted: Jul 6th 2010 5:29PM jynxycat said

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