SCEA Announces PlayStation Network Gamers' Choice Awards

The PlayStation Network is home to many top-quality downloadable productions, and it's time the users rewarded those hard-working publishers.

Today, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) has announced the PlayStation Network Gamers' Choice Awards 2011, which is designed to recognize the very best titles on the PSN across four distinct categories.

Between February 22 and March 1, users will vote for their favorite game in each of those categories and the winners will be announced the following week on March 7. Those that are recognized as the best of the best will enter the PlayStation Store Spring Fever sale, where regular members can get them for 30% off and Plus members get 50% off. Five games have been nominated in each category; those nominees were chosen based on the highest-rated user scores on the PSN, and they are as follows:

Best PS3 Downloadable Game

Castle Crashers
Costume Quest
Death Spank
PAC-MAN Championship Edition DX
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

Best PSP Downloadable Game

God of War: Ghost of Sparta
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony
Phantasy Star Portable 2
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
Valkyria Chronicles II

Best PS3/PSP MINI

A Space Shooter for Two Bucks
Age of Zombies
Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess
Vector TD
Young Thor

Best PlayStation Network Exclusive Game

Dead Nation
Hustle Kings
Joe Danger
Sam & Max Ep. 1
Soldner-X 2

For the record, they intend to make this an annual thing, so all the games nominated came out in 2010. When the Awards roll around next year, that'll be for all titles released in 2011. Also, we spoke with PlayStation Network Director of Marketing Brandon Stander yesterday, before all this became public, and we have some additional coverage for you thanks to his comments:

"This is an opportunity for us to feature publishers who have created great content, and have made the favorites among our audience. It gives the users a chance to pick their favorite games and have the best face off against each other.

It's especially nice because there's such a breadth of entertainment options available on the PSN, and it's great to have users reward the best and brightest."

He also said that Sony will be open to feedback and suggestions from the community, so this Award formula isn't written in stone. In the future, maybe we'll see a longer voting period, more categories, more games in each category, etc. For now, though, we think it's a great addition to the PSN and gives users a fantastic way to "give back;" a lot of top publishers certainly deserve recognition.

Tags: psn, playstation network, psn awards, gamers choice awards

2/15/2011 11:09:51 AM Ben Dutka

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Comments (38 posts)

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SvenMD
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:47:48 AM
Reply

This sounds like a fun idea, but makes me realize I don't get enough PSN games - I only have Flower, Linger in Shadows, and Hoard.

Might have to try some of these in the future.
Great way to increase interest in the store too!

3 up, 0 down

ace_boon_coon
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:42:24 PM

you definitely need to try scott pilgrim and dead nation.

3 up, 0 down

Miggy
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 11:50:07 AM
Reply

That's pretty cool. The only games I have on that entire list though are Scott Pilgrim and Dead Nation.

1 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:04:37 PM
Reply

this is a good way to bring attention to psn. and it's content. i'm more into full budget games than downloadable titles. somehow i view dl titles as games that weren't good enough to be sold at retail. that's probably a narrowminded way of looking at it it, but i know that theese aren't full budget games. take i am alive for intstsnce. ubisoft said they weren't very pleased with it's progress so it was downgraded to a downloadable title. still, i think this is a good move for sony.

2 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:21:51 PM

I agree when it comes to the focus of the game, Dead Nation looks kind fun but I'm not in an arcadey place right now and I would like to play a full budget zombie game that is not the horrid RE5. But when the game is crazy innovative like Flower then I think PSN is the way for these titles to go.

2 up, 1 down

Underdog15
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:10:52 PM
Reply

I really like this! There are definitely a few gems on the PSN. Just another example of how there isn't enough time. lol

FYI, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is a great game for folks that played back in the SNES/Genesis era. It gives a little warm fuzzy feeling. ^.^

1 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:22:26 PM

I haven't played it, but as The World, I would whoop his monkey ass.

2 up, 1 down

Underdog15
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:31:31 PM

Lol nice!

Just watch out for Knives Chau!

1 up, 0 down

Snorge
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:00:07 PM

OMG I agree!!! No other game recently has given me that old school feeling with a BRAND NEW game....and just watched the movie for the first time last night!

Its a great valentines Day movie to watch with your wife (who just happens to play games as well). 5 minutes into the movie and I already loved it...the nerd in me was shouting out the sound effects in background ("Thats zelda. Thats Mario. Thats FF2" LoL)

I must recommend anyone of you gamers (Moreso old-school NES/Super NES/Genesis) to play the game AND watch the movie. Scott Pilgrim vs The World on Blu Ray FTW!!

1 up, 0 down

slugga_status
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:12:20 PM
Reply

This is cool and gives casual psn users an idea of what to get or what may interest them..

Also made me realize which games I missed out...smh

3 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:24:36 PM
Reply

Great idea, I haven't played hardly any of those though. Maybe I'll pay more attention now.

Question for Ben: When you do these phone interviews do you record them to get the quote perfect? Cuz I don't think I could write down the responses as fast as they speak.

Always great when PSXE gets it straight from the industry folks.

4 up, 1 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:15:18 PM

No, I just type. I do a good 90 WPM...haven't misquoted anyone yet. :)

3 up, 1 down

Snorge
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:27:21 PM

90 wpm!? WTF? Ben = Super-human (Thats how you get time in to play AND review all these great games for the PS3)

2 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:55:23 PM

Cool, I don't even know my WPM, it's probably good when I'm in a stream of thought of my own though. Otherwise I'd be too focused on the conversation, but maybe it's easier when you know you are in quote gathering mode.

Thanks for responding.

1 up, 1 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 3:45:06 PM

Anonymous downthumber, come out and face me!

1 up, 1 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 4:01:41 PM

To be honest, I make a lot of mistakes when doing it, but not enough for it to be indecipherable when I go to clean it up. In other words, I know "Sons compettion" is "Sony's competition."

2 up, 0 down

Shams
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 5:34:50 PM

90WPM is close to average talking a speed. You're a keyboard ninja. Don't your hands cramp up?

I think I'd rather just record a conversation first, then type it up after, otherwise my attention and thought might be diverted by my typos and stupid keys getting stuck.

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 5:51:20 PM

I know what you mean Ben, you should see the notes I take in lectures. Like a drunk man did em.

0 up, 0 down

Sir Dan
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:28:36 PM
Reply

Joe Danger hands down. Amazing replay value.

6 up, 0 down

0_o
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:35:22 PM
Reply

This idea rocks!

3 up, 0 down

Kiryu
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:39:38 PM
Reply

For me Best PSP Downloadable Game is Kurohyo Ryu Ga Gotoku Shinsho or Yakuza black Panther from the Japanese PS-Store.

0 up, 0 down

kevinater321
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:08:40 PM

I didn't realize they have different games from different stores. Does this mean you miss out on some of these games too, for example Joe Danger?

0 up, 0 down

RadioHeader
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 12:42:29 PM
Reply

I'd like to see Dead Nation and Castle Crashers make the discount list. Those two took my fancy but were too expensive, as is the way with lots of downloadable games.

I might sound like a cheapskate, complaining about a 10 or 12 quid price tag, but it just bugs me when all I can do is delete them when I'm finished. I'm old fashioned and this digital distribution seems like a jip.

2 up, 0 down

tridon
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:04:10 PM
Reply

This is very cool. I don't have a PSP so I don't think it'd be fair for me to vote in that category (even though I'd probably just choose GoW because Kratos is in need for some love).

As for the other three, my personal votes would be COSTUME QUEST for Best PS3 Downloadable Game, AGE OF ZOMBIES for Best Mini and JOE DANGER for Best Exclusive.

It was a toss up between Joe and Dead Nation for that final award but I have to give it to Joe for its originality. Dead Nation is amazing but it also doesn't seem too fresh considering Burn Zombie Burn and Zombie Apocalypse were released before it.

My feedback for Sony would be to run with this Gamers' Choice Awards a little more. Add awards for Best Graphics, Best Sound, Most Innovative, Best Bang for Your Buck, etc. Once a more complete set of awards is lined up, film it as an award show and release it on the PSN just like The Tester. I think that needs to be the next step.

1 up, 0 down

Ole_Gunner
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:15:20 PM
Reply

Fantastic!! Glad to see Sony give it's customers a say in this. Great stuff

2 up, 0 down

Quincho
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:23:20 PM
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No pixel junk nominees!!!! WHAT!! WHYYY!! those are the best PSN games, and thats just is!

1 up, 1 down

jimmyhandsome
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:34:46 PM
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If the winner of each category goes on to be sold at a reduced price wouldn't it make sense for me to vote for a game I don't have? I like the concept though!

BTW- has anyone on here played the subway contest that they have going on right now? I just won an infamous 2 "mission pack". I thought I won the game when the icon came up, but I'll settle for that!

2 up, 0 down

kevinater321
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:10:11 PM

Yeah it would be better if all the nominees were at a discount price and they just advertise the winner more than the rest.

2 up, 0 down

DjEezzy
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:38:03 PM
Reply

I'm really confused as to why Metal Gear Solid: PeaceWalker isn't on that list. I loved GoW: Ghosts of Sparta. It was a ridiculous game from beginning to end. But MGS:PW was super deep as are all MGS titles. And the way they made the game with bite size missions was fantastic for a portable device. Shame on PSN for this. LOL

3 up, 0 down

TheHighlander
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 4:59:39 PM

I think that it's only PSN games that are eligible. MGS:PW is a PSP title that can be downloaded or bought on disk.

0 up, 0 down

BikerSaint
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:57:55 PM
Reply

This is a very good idea to start out with, but I really think that Sony should expand the categories.

Also, if we gamers are going to be the ones to pick the winners, then please include all the titles that came out in 2010, not just those Top-5 that Sony picked. Or at least allow us have a write-in vote too.

I mean, come on now....why is MGS Peacewalker missing from this list????

2 up, 0 down

jimmyhandsome
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 1:59:16 PM

they say that the top 5 in each category are based off of the PSN users ratings. Which may or may not be the best way to do it

1 up, 0 down

Alienange
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 2:42:02 PM
Reply

The time I spend checking out the PS Store has greatly reduced over the past year. I too find I just want to play the retail games I bought and can't really be bothered by the little cute diversions of the Store. I mean Joe Danger is fantastic, for sure, but my gaming time is all used up by retail games.

Even so, I'll be checking out these awards. Not only to see what games are popular but to see how the PS crowd votes.

2 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 4:19:01 PM
Reply

this is off topic, but does anybody know if the the ps3 can use email? i can't even compose email with yahoo classic. i created a gmail acoount which at least let's me compose email, but it all gets bounced back to me. i was hoping maybe the highlander can help. what's sad is sony support can't even answer this question. they said they heard of people doing it, but it depends becuase the internet is always changing.

0 up, 0 down

RadioHeader
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 7:07:17 PM

I created my yahoo email with the PS3 browser, so their "internet is always changing." excuse seems valid.

0 up, 0 down

Ignitus
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 4:28:59 PM
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Of that list I have only played Castle Crashers. It's a very good game!

0 up, 0 down

DjEezzy
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 @ 7:27:31 PM
Reply

That would make sense Highlander, but GoW can be bought at retail stores too. I mean it's not that big of a deal but man that's a huge game to just leave off of there. I mean it was one of the most anticipated psp games of 2010.

0 up, 0 down

___________
Wednesday, February 16, 2011 @ 3:05:36 AM
Reply

+1 for joe danger and GoS.
love joe danger, by far the best most fun downloadable game!
good enough to be a retail game!

0 up, 0 down

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