Particularly for the UK-based lot amongst you, but maybe of interest to others as well.

Winners in the BAFTA Videogame Awards, which took place last night. Games from October 2007 included.

***

BEST ACTION / ADVENTURE
NOMINEES:
Call of Duty 4
Dead Space
Fable 2
Grand Theft Auto 4
Prince of Persia
Tomb Raider Underworld

WINNER: Fable 2

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
NOMINEES:
Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty 4
Dead Space
Gears of War 2
Little Big Planet
Metal Gear Solid 4

WINNER: Little Big Planet

BEST CASUAL GAME
NOMINEES:
Boom Box
Buzz! Quiz TV
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Little Big Planet
SingStar Vol. 2
WiiFit

WINNER: Boom Box

BEST GAMEPLAY
NOMINEES:
Call of Duty 4
Grand Theft Auto 4
Left 4 Dead
Mario Kart Wii
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

WINNER: Call of Duty 4

BEST HANDHELD GAME
NOMINEES:
Geometry Wars: Galaxies
God of War: Chains of the Olympus
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Patapon
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Soul Bubbles

WINNER: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

BEST MULTIPLAYER GAME
NOMINEES:
Buzz! Quiz TV
Call of Duty 4
Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead
Mario Kart Wii
Rock Band

WINNER: Left 4 Dead

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
NOMINEES:
Assassin's Creed
Dead Space
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Little Big Planet
Grand Theft Auto 4

WINNER: Dead Space

BEST SPORTS GAME
NOMINEES:
FIFA 09
Football Manager 09
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Pure
Race Driver: Grid
WiiFit

WINNER: Race Driver: Grid

BEST STRATEGY GAME
NOMINEES:
Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
Civilization Revolution
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Ninjatown
SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise

WINNER: Civilization Revolution

BEST STORY AND CHARACTERS
NOMINEES:
Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty 4
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto 4
Mass Effect

WINNER: Call of Duty 4

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
NOMINEES:
Assassin's Creed
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto 4
Little Big Planet
Spore

WINNER: Spore

BEST USE OF AUDIO
NOMINEES:
Call of Duty 4
Dead Space
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto 4
Little Big Planet
Super Mario Galaxy

WINNER: Dead Space

BEST GAME
NOMINEES:
Call of Duty 4
Fable 2
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto 4
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

WINNER: Super Mario Galaxy

***

COD4's year, then, and a good one for Dead Space as well. Very surprised to see Fallout and GTA4 failing to pick up any awards, despite being repeatedly nominated.

Main issue of disussion from all this seems to be the panel's absolutely apeshit decision to place COD4 above GTA4 and Mass Effect in terms of storytelling and characters. You know, those two games that were considered milestones in that regard, and a game that people only really liked 'cause of the multiplayer? Yeah. Hmm.

So Mario Galaxy is the best game of the year despite not having the best gameplay, story, audio, or winning any other category.

Seems that the BAFTAs, like most other awards-based enterprises, suck.

In all fairness, Super Mario Galaxy really was the best game of the year. It didn't dominate in any one category, but any weaknesses in all categories were minimal and that amounts to a game of the year in pretty much any year I've ever seen!

Call of Duty 4 really was a fantastic game and I'd rank it just a hair behind Super Mario Galaxy, though as far as story goes I agree that giving it such praise over the likes of the other games mentioned is a bit odd, to say the least.

The sad part is that I owned both Call of Duty 4 and Super Mario Galaxy, but financial issues forced me to sell them. I really miss both of them and many times since then would have loved to play them again. Someday they will be mine (again). Some day!

As Felix stated those awards suck, but I probably agree with the Call of Duty 4 storytelling and characters. Not that MW was so great but GTA4 and Mass Effect are super overrated in my opinion. I absolutely hated the characters in GTAIV (it's tough for me to like someone who is a sick bastard, why I don't like many mob movies) and Mass Effect had the presentation but the most boring characters ever. That and Bioshock were probably the biggest letdowns of the year since I had such high expectations for them and they flat out disappointed.

No, it wasn't Jason.

Sportsman: only you, though, it would seem. Everyone else thought they were fabulous. :)

Dead Space definitely deserved the sound awards it got. Dead Space had amazing sound.