Earlier this evening, the GAME British Academy Video Game Awards were held in London, and here at Game Rant, we’ve got the full list of winners and nominees for your viewing pleasure.

The show was hosted by the comedian Dara Ó Briain, with various C-list celebrities taking the stage to present individual awards. Ó Briain was in top form throughout the night, with hilarious geeky jokes keeping the crowd entertained throughout.

Without further ado, here are the categories and nominations, with the winners in bold and marked with asterisks:

A little while back, we had a post regarding the nominees of this year’s WGA “Best Video Game Writing” award. Certainly no surprise to anyone who played it, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves had some phenomenal writing. The dialogue was witty, scripted events were breathtaking, and the story moved along at a smooth pace with nary a dull moment. It shouldn’t be a surprise that Uncharted 2 (written by Amy Hennig) took away the bacon.

The game that just can’t seem to stop winning awards, Uncharted 2, has reached another milestone.  In a post on Sony’s PlayStation Blog, it was announced that the game has surpassed 3.5 million units sold worldwide.  This makes it the fastest selling first-party title for PlayStation.  Other information stated that 1.5 million users have played the game online, and that so far the title has won over 150 industry awards.

Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves stole the show at yesterday’s Interactive Achievement Awards, bagging Game of the Year and nine other awards.  Have a look at the full list of winners:

Sitting here looking at my shelf, I count no less than 15 games I currently want to play. My collection edges over 100 games, but those 15 I’ve identified as to-play (and, in some cases, to-play-again). This isn’t even counting games coming out in the next couple of weeks. Is there an overabundance of video games? You bet there is.

I can’t count on one hand the games I’ve started but just haven’t had the time to finish; there’s just too many of them. The game industry continues to produce at a breakneck pace, and games are just getting better and better. Recently finishing stellar titles like Mass Effect 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Dragon Age: Origins and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 showed me that.

Let’s look at some of the games I’m having a hard time finding time to play:

On February 15th and 25th, Nathan Drake fans will be getting a much needed DLC boost. On February 15th the Uncharted 2: Among Thieves title update 1.05 will come out that will add 12 multiplayer trophies and 12 new multiplayer medals.

Shortly after that update, on February 25th, as we said before,  there will be some new pay DLC. A $2.99 skin pack, so when you play multiplayer you can be the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune versions of Drake, Elena, Atog Navarro, Eddie Raja, Gabriel Roman and Javier, the enemy pirate. Separately, for $3.99 you can purchase a map pack containing boards based on Drake’s Fortune. The Facility, the submarine pens from the first game, and The Flooded Ruins, based on the customs house. You can save a dollar buy getting the bundle of maps and skins for $5.99.

Street Fighter: The Movie, Super Mario Brothers: The Movie, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, House Of The Dead, Postal, Resident Evil Apocalypse, Street Fighter Legend Of Chun Li and the list goes on and on. These were all extremely horrible films and, an abomination in the eyes of video gamers and movie goers alike. I have always been very optimistic about that one golden video game adaptation coming along and helping me to forget these blemishes on pop culture but this is fading fast.

I will admit that this summer’s Prince Of Persia is looking quite sweet but it just looks like Pirates of the Caribbean in Prince of Persia clothing and after the steaming pile that was World’s End this does not leave me hopeful. My dream job in the future is that of a screenwriter, so needless to say that when I hear horrible dialogue and truly terrible stories I want to throw up and scream “why!?” at the top of my lungs. So I started to wonder where could a good, if not excellent, video game adaptation could come from and it lead me to one form; the mini series.

It’s a busy week for Sony fans. So let’s not waste any time.

Uncharted 2 fans will be excited to see the recently announced “Hero Pack” add-on is now available. Play as Evil Cole from inFamous or a Helghan soldier from Killzone 2, among several others, as you complete in the online co-op or competitive modes. The price is a little steep for what you’re getting but this will certainly be a worthwhile purchase for fans of Sony’s other franchises.

Nathan Drake might pick up a bit more treasure next month.

Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves leads the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, netting 15 nominations including game of the year.

In the game of the year category, Uncharted 2 is up against Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2, Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum, Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins.

According to Siliconera, Sony will be releasing a series of intriguing Uncharted 2 DLC in the upcoming months.

The DLC mentioned will arrive in three installments starting January 28th with an Uncharted 2 demo (the article doesn’t specify any details as to what the demo will cover) as well as free multiplayer skins from Resistance 2, inFamous, and Killzone 2 characters.

One of the most important things for me in a video game isn’t how good it looks, how great the story is, or even if it has multiplayer. It’s the hero. Why? It’s just as important to have an interesting protagonist in a story as it is to have a story that drives the hero in the first place. From Super Mario Bros. all the way to Uncharted, the protagonist I play often has a large impact on how I enjoy the story.

Why is the protagonist of a video game important to my enjoyment? Because he is my (and I hate to use the phrase now) avatar that connects me to the world. And if the game I’m playing isn’t a RPG where I can customize most aspects of my player-character, I damn sure want to be able to manipulate somebody who’s interesting. I never really enjoyed playing games with boring heroes, cookie-cutter copies of that macho guy who has to save the world because he’s the only one who can.

The nominees are in for the 10th annual Game Developers Conference Awards and… they really aren’t all that surprising.

All of the big players are there: Uncharted 2 with seven nominations, Assassin’s Creed II with four, and other recognizable titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Dragon Age: Origins, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and Borderlands also receiving nominations.

Coming soon is the Writer’s Guild of America award for excellency in “Videogame Writing” and you know, actual movies. The nominees are:

• Assassin’s Creed 2 – Story by Corey May, Script Writers Corey May, Joshua Rubin, Jeffrey Yohalem
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Written by Jesse Stern, Additional Writing Steve Fukuda, Story by Todd Alderman, Steve Fukuda, Mackey McCandlish, Zied Rieke, Jesse Stern, Jason West, Battlechatter Dialogue, Sean Slayback
• Uncharted 2: Among Thieves – Written by Amy Hennig
• Wet – Written by Duppy Demetrius
• X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Script Writer Marc Guggenheim

Linear gameplay. Sometimes it can mean an excruciatingly simple and trudging story that you can do little to make fun. Other times, it can be one of the most thrilling experiences you can have playing any video game at all. In recent times, some of the best games to be released were largely linear experiences. I speak of course of titles such as Modern Warfare 2 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, games that were not focused on giving you a whole-wide world to trudge through and wreak havoc upon, but rather very engaging set pieces with simple goals. I, for one, enjoyed the campaign of Modern Warfare 2 immensely. If I described it to someone, I would call it “the best summer blockbuster you’ll never see in a theater,” and I think that held true for one reason: Linear gameplay.

Linear gameplay, that is to say, gameplay that nudges you along in the right direction with no allowance of real exploration, can be a real benefit for game developers because they can concentrate on immersing the player in the story they crafted. One of my favorite parts in the MW2 campaign was the first portion of the mission in Brazil where you had to find the right-hand man of a target you were after, from that opening where you were sitting in the car, to pursuing the contact, and then to shooting him in the leg. Not a complicated gameplay segment at all, but very engaging and definitely thrilling. Why? Because YOU were there and YOU had to shoot that guy in the leg.

In a recent interview with G4, Evan Wells, co-president of Naughty Dog, offered his opinion on the potential implementation of Sony’s upcoming “Motion Controller” in future Uncharted franchise titles.

In his response, Wells asserts that if Naughty Dog were to enter the motion control market, they’d more likely create a new gameplay franchise built around the capabilities of motion controls than simply add the controls to future installments of already-existing franchises such as Uncharted:

2009 saw a lot of great games come out and Uncharted 2 was definitely one that stood out among the greats (It was our 2009 GOTY) and with good reason: It’s one of the best games out there and an absolute must-play. Recently, Evan Wells, co-president of Naughty Dog, gave a huge interview to G4 regarding all things Uncharted 2 including the inclusion of multiplayer, figuring out the game’s ending, and the general design process. Some interesting points Wells made include:

With the 2009 coming to its end, I’ve been incredibly impressed with how the games released this year presented cinematic experiences that feel so organic, and it only looks like it’s going to get better. Major blockbuster hits such as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Assassin’s Creed 2 (Guess things get better the second time around, huh?) definitely drive this point home and in a very big way. From the literal birth of an assassin in Assassin’s Creed 2 to a harrowing snowmobile chase after destroying a Russian military base in Modern Warfare 2, games are becoming more immersive and hugely cinematic in how they deliver their stories. Where the gamer is able to actually be in an interactive movie where you get to do all the cool things you’ve watched all before.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has won by a slim margin in our “Game of the Year” poll, barely beating out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II rounding out the top four.

When Uncharted 2 received the award for “Game of the Year” at the Spike Video Game Awards, internet message boards exploded with praise and frustration. Less than a week later, the Inside Gaming Awards gave “Game of the Year” top honors to Modern Warfare 2 reigniting the fiery subject matter.

The 2009 Spike Video Game Awards are over with, and we’ve been covering a lot of announcement and trailer information coming out of the show, but in case you missed the actual awards themselves, we haven’t forgotten about you – we’ve put together the official list of 2009 VGA winners in each category (as well as the nominees).

Don’t forget to check out our own 2009 Game of the Year Round-Up for a more extensive discussion on the most critically acclaimed titles of the year.

After all of the talk about which system was dominating Black Friday sales, and which system was about to become ancient history, NPD’s release of its November report for the United States almost seemed anticlimactic. I mean, when has Michael Pachter ever been wrong?

But, lo and behold, there was quite a surprise awaiting all of us in the November 2009 report:

The Nintendo DS sold 1.70 million units? Take that PSP!

Given the economy, it’s hard for some gamers to get what they want – and with the prices of most games, who can blame them? That’s why, here at Game Rant, we thought we’d share a good Christmas bargain with you:

As Kotaku reported, Wal-Mart has announced that if you buy a $199 Nintendo Wii Bundle from their US stores next week, you’ll get a $50 Wal-Mart Gift Card for your patronage. Convenient, seeing as that about covers the cost of a new game for your new system! And just to tip you towards using the gift card on another game, Wal-Mart has also stepped up and knocked $10 off the prices of several top games until December 24th.

Every year, publishers push to get their high-profile titles into gamers’ hands before Black Friday, leaving a quality-title dead zone until the beginning of Quarter 1. The end of release season also signals the official beginning of Game of the Year speculation. Every big-budget, large-scale, game is now available on store shelves which means players should have a pretty good idea about which 2009 title they enjoyed the most – unless you are holding your breath for James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, which most of us aren’t.

Instead of relying on the outcome of the upcoming Spike VGAs, which in 2005 nominated 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game for awards, Game Rant has decided to put together a list of our nominations, along with a bit of commentary, for our Game of the Year choices. As usual, we’re interested to hear what our readers think, so make sure to vote in the poll on the home page, as well as sound off in the comments.

In the interest of avoiding favoritism, our nominees are listed in alphabetical order:

If you’re a gamer and a follower of industry news, you need to check out the Inside Gaming Awards, a huge new gaming awards show from Machinima.com.  If you watch trailers and previews online, then you’ve no doubt come across Machinima’s widely popular YouTube channel for which we’ve used ourselves here at Game Rant to share trailers with you.

Up until December 7th, voting will open for everyone for the Gamers’ Choice awards.  It’s a very unique and cool (if not first of its kind) voting mechanic: there is one video for each nominee, and each video view counts as a vote.  Each video contains clickable links to easily navigate around all the categories and nominees.

The awards will take place on December 11th 2009, the night before the Spike TV Video Game Awards, and offer another way for gamers to participate and celebrate a great year in gaming. Machinima’s new awards program is the first of its kind and we have the nominees for the awards listed below.

Back in June, Screen Rant reported that an adaptation of the successful and awesome Sony PS3 exclusive game, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was underway and that Kyle Ward would be writing the script.

According to our friends at Latino Review, this is no longer the case and Sony isn’t interested in waiting on Ward and his other contractual commitments (Ward is currently working on the script for Kane & Lynch as well as the in-development sequel to the not-good movie, Hitman).

To replace Ward, Sony is having their hit video game franchise written into a movie adaptation by Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, the partners who also worked together on the Conan reboot.

According to IGN, God of War 3 will not have online co-op play, dispelling previous rumors that had been floating around the web. When asked about whether or not the rumors were true, a Sony representative had this to say:

“This news is false.”

Short and to the point. Once again, another single player game is coming out for the PS3. Don’t get me wrong, the game will be amazing, but how much better would it have been if it was two player? That’s right, even better. How great would it have been to perform co-operative attacks against huge mythological enemies? We can only dream now.

Spike announced today on the VGA 2009 website, the nominees for this year’s program. Voting is now open so be sure to stop by and vote for your favorite games! Something a little more interesting though is the announcement of the first of several world exclusive premieres for the VGAs; The first being the world exclusive premiere footage of Halo: Reach that will air on their annual award ceremony.

While the other world exclusive premieres have yet to be announced, this is certainly one of the biggest games they could have grabbed an exclusive from! As for all the nominees and categories, you can check them out below (thanks to 1up).

With Naughty Dog already hinting at upcoming Uncharted 2 DLC, it’s no surprise that they’ve whipped up another goody for the fans:  last night the official Naughty Dog Twitter Account posted something rather interesting:

Working late tonight, got a ton of things that need to get done…

While that alone doesn’t reveal much other than they’re working on something, there was also a link to the picture shown above. In what is clearly the Uncharted 2 Train Crash scenery, there appears to be… Skeletons? Undead Helghast? Unbeknownst Forces of Badassery? Nothing else has been revealed yet, and it’s unknown whether this will be a Halloween Weekend treat or future DLC.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has climbed, pun intended, into the busy Fall release season surrounded by rays of sun light, chirping song-birds, and angels with golden harps, crooning in a flurry of praise. If you listen closely, you might even hear Sony firing up the presses for the inevitable Uncharted 2: Game of the Year Edition. Naughty Dog knows how to sell the Uncharted franchise, always surprising potential players, as anyone whose seen the announcement trailer can attest. But is this level of praise truly deserved?

Is Uncharted 2: Among Thieves worthy of 10/10 reviews or a 96 on Metacritic? Did it really deliver improvements over the core-gameplay issues that prevented Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune from drawing the same level of critical praise? Read Game Rant’s review of the Uncharted sequel after the jump.

In an online Q&A with the Official Playstation Blog, Naughty Dog’s Lead Game Designer, Neil Druckmann, has revealed that Uncharted: Drakes Fortune trophy information unlocks $100,000 in spendable in-game cash for Uncharted 2 items.

You’ve probably been enjoying Uncharted 2 for a couple days: climbing through warzones, over mountain cliffs, scavenging for hidden treasures, not to mention all that time on trains. You’ve watched the final credits and are now ready to journey online, excited to tackle the various online modes. Throughout the story, you racked up in-game cash for spending in the Uncharted 2 store, where you can unlock various bonuses in both single player and multiplayer campaigns.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves just arrived on store shelves  surrounded by a halo of critical praise. Even though most people have yet to actually get their hands on the game, Naughty Dog is already talking possible DLC opportunities.

In a recent interview, Naughty Dog’s multiplayer designer Justin Richmond spoke with Eurogamer about DLC for Uncharted 2: “What you’ll probably see is more of the competitive type: more maps, more modes, stuff like that. The co-op stuff is hugely time-intensive and the size of it – the physical download size – is huge, so that’s probably not an option.”