Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare dominates the Golden Joysticks

by Stevie Smith - Nov 1 2008, 11:30

As the videogame world's end-of-year award ceremonies hove into view, the London Games Festival (LGF) has this week played host to the 26th annual Golden Joysticks, which resulted in a wealth of added renown for Activision and Infinity Ward's already well-established shooter Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

While perhaps not exactly the freshest action dish on the gaming menu, Modern Warfare‘s jarring authenticity and multiplayer appeal scooped a total of four awards, winning the Virgin Media Ultimate Game of the Year, the GamesRadar Online Game of the Year, and the ESA PC Game of the Year. It also snaffled the Nuts All-Nighter award.

And, adding yet more gloss to Call of Duty's reputation, upcoming series entrant Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch) gathered some more pre-release expectation after securing the Play.com One to Watch award.

Perhaps surprisingly, Rockstar Games' hugely popular Grand Theft Auto IV failed to dominate on the night, taking only the BBC 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year award and the Arvato Digital Services Xbox Game of the Year. British developer Rockstar North also took the CVG UK Developer of the Year gong for its bulging mantle piece.

Unusually, given its critical and consumer acclaim, Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was only successful in one category, winning the Official PlayStation Magazine High Definition PlayStation Game of the Year award.

Other notable winners included, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which took The Sun award for Family Game of the Year, while Super Smash Bros. Brawl walked away with the Official Nintendo Magazine Game of the Year award, and upcoming adventure epic Fallout 3 took the EDGE Most Wanted Award.

The full list of award winners is as follows:

Nuts All-Nighter Award -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

The Sun Family Game of the Year -- Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Bliss Handheld Game of the Year -- Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

4Talent Mobile Game of the Year -- Bejeweled 2

Mobile Game Pitch 2008 -- Tobias Rowe with Finders Keeper

Official Nintendo Magazine Game of the Year -- Super Smash Bros Brawl

ESA PC Game of the Year -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Activision-Blizzard Retailer of the Year -- Play.com

Official PlayStation Magazine High Definition PlayStation Game of the Year -- Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

BBC 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year -- Grand Theft Auto IV

Arvato Digital Services Xbox Game of the Year -- Grand Theft Auto IV

EDGE Most Wanted Award -- Fallout 3

GamesRadar.com Online Game of the Year -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

CVG.co.uk UK Developer of the Year -- Rockstar North

E4.com Grand Master Flash Award -- Stickman Madness

Play.com One To Watch -- Call of Duty 4: World at War

Future UK Publisher of the Year -- Activision-Blizzard

Virgin Media Ultimate Game of the Year -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

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