VGAs 2012: winners announced, get all the news here

By Stephany Nunneley

It’s that time of year again: December. When the nights are colder than your ex’s heart, and Spike TV broadcasts its Video Game Awards Show.

VGA 2012 Headlines and videos

The Last of Us release date announced as May 7

Dark Souls 2 announced at VGAs

The Phantom Pain announced, may be a new Metal Gear Game

Halo 4: Spartan Ops returns in January

South Park: The Stick of Truth VGA trailer introduces the new kid

Tomb Raider – video

BioShock Infinite – video

Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 – video

Gears of War Judgement – video

Assassins Creed 3: The Tyranny of King Washington – video

Metro: Last Light – live action video

It’s a night when A-Z list celebrities take the stage alongside video game luminaries; where exclusive video game videos are shown, and sometimes a new game is announced. Tonight, two games were revealed: The Phantom Pain from Moby Dick Studios – a game many on the Internet suspect has ties to Hideo Kojima; and Dark Souls 2.

A new live-action trailer for Metro: Last Light was shown during the first commercial break, and debut videos for Halo 4: Spartan Ops, The Last of Us, Tomb Raider, and more where shown.

The Last of Us was also given a May 7 release date, and the Spartan Ops missions for Halo 4 will start back up in January.

Samuel L Jackson hosted the show, and his pixilated self was tossed into various video games such as Mass Effect 3, Minecraft, Angry Birds Star Wars, Black Ops 2 and more.

Gabe Newell and 16 members of Valve took the stage to accept the Game of the Decade Award for Half Life 2, and Ken Levine introduced the new BioShock Infinite Video.

Gearbox won Best Shooter for Borderlands 2, and Claptrap won Best Video Game Character.

Dishonored won for Best Action/Adventure title, and The Walking Dead won for Best Adapted Video Game, Telltale for Best Studio, Best Performance by a Female Actress, Best Downloadable Game, and the coveted Game of the Year Award.

Musical guests were Linkin Park, and Tenacious D closed the show out, singing their song “Rize of the Fenix” and at the end, a giant inflatable dong appeared. We’re not lying.

Here’s the full list of winners for the 2012 Video Game Awards:

• Game of the Year: The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games)
• Studio of the Year: Telltale Games
• Best XBOX 360 Game: Halo 4 (Microsoft Studios/343 Industries)
• Best PS3 Game: Journey (Sony Computer Entertainment/thatgamecompany)
• Best Wii / Wii-U Game: New Super Mario Bros. U (Nintendo)
• Best PC Game: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2K Games/Firaxis Games)
• Best Handheld / Mobile Game: Sound Shapes (Sony Computer Entertainment/Queasy Games)
• Best Shooter: Borderlands 2 (2K Games/Gearbox Software)
• Best Action Adventure GameB: Dishonored (Bethesda Softworks/Arkane Studios)
• Best RPG: Mass Effect 3 (Electronic Arts/BioWare)
• Best Multi-Player Game: Borderlands 2 (2K Games/Gearbox Software)
• Best Individual Sports Game: SSX (Electronic Arts/EA Canada)
• Best Team Sports Game: NBA 2K13 (2K Sports/Visual Concepts)
• Best Driving Game: Need For Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts/Criterion Games)
• Best Fighting Game: Persona 4 Arena (Atlus/ARC System Works/Atlus)
• Best Adapted Video Game: The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games)
• Best Independent Game: Journey (thatgamecompany)
• Best Graphics: Halo 4 (Microsoft Studios/343 Industries)
• Best Song in a Game: “Cities” by Beck (Sound Shapes)
• Best Original Score: Journey (Sony Computer Entertainment/thatgamecompany)
• Best Performance By a Human Male: Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)
• Best Performance By a Human Female: Melissa Hutchison as Clementine (The Walking Dead: The Game)
• Best Downloadable Game: The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games)
• Best Social Game: You Don’t Know Jack (Jellyvision Games)
• Best DLC: Dawnguard – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks/Bethesda Game Studios)
• Most Anticipated Game: Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games)

Nominees for the awards show were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up game journalists from: Entertainment Weekly, Game Informer, Joystiq, Kotaku, Polygon, IGN, GameTrailers, Gamespot, Wired.com, USA Today and The Associated Press.