UK Golden Joystick Awards Winners Announced

Bethesda Softworks epic role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has come away with the Game Of The Year award, plus the PC Game of the Year and Xbox Game of the Year awards, as part of the consumer-voted Golden Joystick Awards held in London by dominant UK print magazine firm Future Publishing. The awards, held at the Hilton hotel in Park Lane, London, and hosted by Bristolian radio and television personality Justin Lee Collins, drew votes from 540,000 UK participants across the event's 16 separate award categories. While the 2005 awards saw developer Rockstar's controversial Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas drive off with the coveted Game of the Year nod, this year the company's PSP series iteration, GTA: Liberty City Stories, came away with the award for Handheld Game of the Year. Other notable awards to be announced at the annual ceremony include Nintendo's handheld title New Super Mario Brothers taking top honors from company as the award winner for Nintendo Game of the Year, while fan favorite vixen Lara Croft was honored as with the Favourite Character Award. Sony's PlayStation 3, which is expected to debut in Europe in March 2007, was bestowed with the The One to Watch for 2007 award at the event, while the popular Xbox Live Marketplace service, which, according to Microsoft, has been used by 70 percent of connected Xbox 360 consoles, was given the Innovation Award. Elsewhere, Nintendo's Touch Generations labeled Nintendo DS title Nintendogs walked away with a pair of Golden Joysticks from the event, getting the Family Game Award and the Girls Choice Award. The full set of award winners is as follows: - PlayStation 2 Game of the Year – Resident Evil 4 - Xbox Game of the Year – Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - PC Game of the Year – Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Handheld Game of the Year – GTA: Liberty City Stories - Best Game Soundtrack of 2005 - Need for Speed: Most Wanted - Nintendo Game of the Year - New Super Mario Brothers - Online Game of the Year – Age of Empires III - Publisher of the Year - Electronic Arts - Retailer of the Year – Game - Girls Choice Award – Nintendogs - Family Game Award – Nintendogs - Gaming Innovation of the Year - Xbox Live Marketplace - The One to Watch for 2007 – Sony PlayStation 3 - Favourite Character Award - Lara Croft - Ultimate Game of 2005 - Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion