The Walking Dead and Far Cry 3 score big at BAFTA Video Game Award nominations

Far Cry 3 Vaas thumb

BAFTA have released the nomination shortlist for the upcoming 2013 round of their Video Game awards. PS3 exclusive Journey tops the nomination leaderboard - it's up for eight categories. But Telltale's The Walking Dead and Ubisoft's Far Cry 3 aren't far behind, receiving nods in seven and six categories respectively. There's also strong indie recognition. Dear Esther is nominated for five awards, Thomas Was Alone for three, and both Proteus and Super Hexagon both receive a mention.

The ceremony takes place on March 5th, and will streamed live on Twitch.tv. Tune in to find out if we live in a world where CoDBlOps2 can be given an award for "Game Innovation".

Full list below:

Action

Borderlands 2

Development Team

Gearbox/2K Games

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Development Team

Treyarch/Activision

Far Cry 3

Dan Hay, Patrick Plourde, Patrik Methe

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Halo 4

Development Team

343 Industries/Microsoft Studios

Hitman: Absolution

Development Team

Io – Interactive/Square-Enix

Mass Effect 3

Development Team

BioWare/EA

Artistic Achievement

Borderlands 2

Development Team

Gearbox/2K Games

Dear Esther

Robert Briscoe

Thechineseroom/thechineseroom

Far Cry 3

Jean Alexis Doyan, Genseki Tanaka, Vincent Jean

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Halo 4

Development Team

343 Industries/Microsoft Studios

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The Room

Mark Hamilton, Rob Dodd, Barry Meade

Fireproof Games/Fireproof Games

Audio Achievement

Assassin's Creed III

Mathieu Jeanson

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Beat Sneak Bandit

Simon Flesser, Magnus "Gordon" Gardebäck,

Simogo/Simogo

Dear Esther

Jessica Curry

Thechineseroom/thechineseroom

Far Cry 3

Dan Hay, Tony Gronick, Brian Tyler

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Halo 4

Development Team

343 Industries/Microsoft Studios

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Best Game

Dishonoured

Development Team

Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Far Cry 3

Dan Hay, Patrick Plourde, Patrik Methè

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

FIFA 13

David Rutter, Nick Channon, Aaron McHardy

EA Canada/EA

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Mass Effect 3

Casey Hudson

BioWare/EA

The Walking Dead

Development Team

Telltale Games/Telltale

British Game

Dear Esther

Daniel Pinchbeck, Robert Briscoe, Jessica Curry

Thechineseroom/thechineseroom

Forza Horizon

Development Team

Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios

LEGO: The Lord of the Rings

Development Team

TT Games/Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

Need for Speed Most Wanted

Development Team

Criterion Games/EA

The Room

Mark Hamilton, Rob Dodd, Barry Meade

Fireproof Games/Fireproof Games

Super Hexagon

Terry Cavanagh, Niamh Houston, Jenn Frank

Terry Cavanagh/Terry Cavanagh

Debut Game

Deadlight

Raul Rubio, Luz Sancho, Oscar Cuesta

Tequila Works/Microsoft Studios

Dear Esther

DanielPinchbeck, Robert Briscoe, Jessica Curry

Thechineseroom/thechineseroom

Forza Horizon

Development Team

Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios

Proteus

Ed Key, David Kanaga

Twisted Tree Games/Twisted Tree Games

The Room

Mark Hamilton, Rob Dodd, Barry Meade

Fireproof Games/Fireproof Games

The Unfinished Swan

Ian Dallas, Nathan Gary

Giant Sparrow/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Game Design

Borderlands 2

Development Team

Gearbox/2K Games

Dishonored

Development Team

Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Far Cry 3

Patrick Methè, Jamie Keen

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The Walking Dead

Development Team

Telltale Games/Telltale

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Development Team

Firaxis/2K Games

Family

Clay Jam

Chris Roem Iain Gilfeather, Michael Movel

Fat Pebble/Zynga

Just Dance 4

Alkis Argyriadis, Matthew Tomkinson, Veronique Halbrey

Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft

LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes

Jon Burton, Jonathan Smith, John Hodskinson

TT Games/Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

LEGO the Lord of the Rings

Development Team

TT Games/Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment

Minecraft: XBOX 360 Edition

Development Team

Mojang/4J Studios/Microsoft Studios Xbox LIVE Arcade

Skylanders Giants

Paul Reiche, Fred Ford, Scott Krager

Toys For Bob/Activision

Game Innovation

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Development Team

Treyarch/Activision

Fez

Development Team

Polytron Corporation/Microsoft Studios Xbox LIVE Arcade

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Kinect Sesame Street TV

Development Team

Soho Productions/Microsoft Studios

The Unfinished Swan

Ian Dallas, Nathan Gary

Development Team

Giant Sparrow/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Wonderbook: Books of Spells

Development Team

London Studio/ Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Mobile & Handheld

Incoboto

Dene Carter

Fluttermind/Fluttermind

LittleBigPlanet (Vita)

Tom O'Connor, Mattias Nygren, Lee Hutchinson

Tarsier Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

New Star Soccer

Simon Read

New Star Games/New Star Games

The Room

Mark Hamilton, Rob Dodd, Barry Meade

Fireproof Games/Fireproof Games

Super Monsters Ate My Condo

Development Team

Adult Swim Games/Adult Swim Games

The Walking Dead

Development Team

Telltale Games/Telltale

Online - Browser

Amateur Surgeon Hospital

Development Team

Mediatonic/Adult Swim Games

Dick and Dom's HOOPLA!

Adam Clay

Team Cooper/CBBC

Merlin: The Game

Development Team

Bossa Studios/Bossa Studios

Runescape

Development Team

Jagex/Jagex

The Settlers Online

Christopher Schmitz, Guido Schmidt, Rainer Reber

Blue Byte Software/Ubisoft

SongPop

Olivier Michon, Thibaut Crenn, Daouna Jeong

FreshPlanet/FreshPlanet

Online - Multiplayer

Assassin's Creed III

Damien Kieken, Mathieu Granjon, Yann Le Guyader

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Borderlands 2

DevelopmentTeam

Gearbox/2K Games

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Development Team

Treyarch/Activision

Halo 4

Development Team

343 Industries/Microsoft Studios

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Need For Speed Most Wanted

Development Team

Criterion Games/EA

Original Music

Assassin's Creed III

Lorne Balfe

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Diablo III

Development Team

Blizzard Entertainment/ Blizzard Entertainment

Journey

Austin Wintory

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Thomas Was Alone

David Housden

Mike Bithell/Mike Bithell

The Unfinished Swan

Joel Corlitz, Ian Dallas, Peter Scaturro

Giant Sparrow/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The Walking Dead

Development Team

Telltale Games/Telltale

Performer

Adrian Hough (Haytham) - Assassin's Creed III

Danny Wallace (The Narrator) - Thomas Was Alone

Dave Fennoy (Lee Everett) - The Walking Dead

Melissa Hutchinson (Clementine) - The Walking Dead

Nigel Carrington (The Narrator) - Dear Esther

Nolan North (Nathan Drake) - Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Sports/Fitness

FIFA 13

David Rutter, Nick Channon, Aaron McHardy

EA Canada/EA

F1 2012

Development Team

Codemasters Birmingham/Codemasters Racing

Forza Horizon

Development Team

Playground Games/Turn10 Studios/Microsoft Studios

New Star Soccer

Simon Read

New Star Games/New Star Games

Nike+ Kinect Training

Development Team

Sumo Digital Ltd/Microsoft Studios

Trials Evolution

Development Team

Antti llvessup, Kim Lahti

RedLynx/Microsoft Studios

Story

Dishonoured

Development Team

Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks

Far Cry 3

Jeffrey Yohalem, Lucien Soulban, Jeffrey Yohalem

Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft

Journey

Development Team

That Game Company/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Mass Effect 3

Mac Walters

BioWare/EA

Thomas was Alone

Mike Bithell

Mike Bithell/Mike Bithell

The Walking Dead

Development Team

Telltale Games/Telltale

Strategy

Dark Souls: Prepare To Die

Development Team

From Software/Namco Bandai Games

Diablo III

Development Team

Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment

Football Manager 2013

Development Team

Sports Interactive/SEGA

Great Big War Game

David Moss, Steve Venezia, Paul Johnson

Rubicon Development/Rubican Development

Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai

Development Team

The Creative Assembly/SEGA

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Development Team

Firaxis/2K Games

BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

Pixel Story

Martin Cosens, Thomas McParland, Ashley Hayes, Benhamin Rushton, Luke Harrison

(Loan Wolf Games)

Project Thanatos

Hugh Laird, Andrew Coles, Thomas Laird, Alexandra Shapland, Thomas Kemp

(Raptor Games)

Starcrossed

Kimi Sulopuisto, Vili Viitaniemi, Minttu Meriläinen, Petri Liuska, Andrew MacLean

(Kind of a Big Deal)

Given that they've been recognising games for a few years now, shouldn't BAFTA update their acronym to reflect the fact? BAFTGA, maybe? BAGFTA? Perhaps not.

Phil Savage
Editor-in-Chief

Phil has been writing for PC Gamer for nearly a decade, starting out as a freelance writer covering everything from free games to MMOs. He eventually joined full-time as a news writer, before moving to the magazine to review immersive sims, RPGs and Hitman games. Now he leads PC Gamer's UK team, but still sometimes finds the time to write about his ongoing obsessions with Destiny 2, GTA Online and Apex Legends. When he's not levelling up battle passes, he's checking out the latest tactics game or dipping back into Guild Wars 2. He's largely responsible for the whole Tub Geralt thing, but still isn't sorry.