Every year, judges from a wide variety of gaming media – including our own editor-in-chief, Russ Frushtick – vote on what they feel are the standout games on display at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Before those final votes are cast, however, the group releases their list of nominees. That list of hopefuls just went up, and though there aren't many surprises among the 17 different categories, it does serve as a nice snapshot of the industry's biggest upcoming games.
Leading the pack of nominees, of course, are "BioShock Infinite" and "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception." Both titles are the third outing for their respective franchises, and were easily two of the most talked-about games at E3 this year. "Infinite" and "Uncharted 3" both snagged four nominations each.
The "Best of Show" nominees are: "Batman: Arkham City," "BioShock Infinite," "The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim," "Tomb Raider," and "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception."
One of the more interesting developments in this year's nominees is the apparent comeback of Sony Computer Entertainment. In 2010, Sony received only six nominations; this year, they received 14. This ties the company for the highest amount of nominations this E3 with Electronic Arts. Obviously, "Uncharted 3" helped to raise Sony's nomination count, but it's nice to see the company doing well after the rough year they've had so far.
In terms of platform nominations, Xbox 360 leads the pack this year, closely followed by PlayStation 3 and PC. It's interesting to note that the Wii received only 2 nominations this year, down from 14 in 2010's Game Critic Awards. Obviously, this has a lot to do with the hardware slowly fading as the Wii U comes into focus. The Wii U received only one nomination; definitely a transitional year for Nintendo.
The winners of each category will be announced on June 28, but you can check out our very own "Best Of E3 2011" right now.