Skyrim wins IAA Game of the year.

Yet more praise for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim this week in what is becoming an avalanch of news stories surrounding Bethesdas massively successful game.  At the 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Skyrim took home five awards, including Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction.

It beat out a some tough competition in the top category, including Batman: Arkham City, Portal 2, Uncharted 3, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  With the exception of Skyward Sword, the above titles all won other awards at the ceremony, with Uncharted picking up a trio of gongs for various visual categories, not exactly weak competition then.

Not all of the award recipients were revealed at the event.  The organizing Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced that Asteroids and Centipede designer Ed Logg would be receiving the annual Pioneer Award, while Epic Games co-founder Tim Sweeney would be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame.

The IAA show is a highlight of the D.I.C.E. Summit (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain), a yearly conference dedicated to exploring approaches to the creative process and artistic expression as they uniquely apply to the development of interactive entertainment.

A full list of nominees follows below. Winners have been italicized.

Game of the Year
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
Portal 2–Valve
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim–Bethesda Game Studios
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword–Nintendo
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Little Big Planet 2–Media Molecule
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog
InFamous 2–Sucker Punch
Portal 2–Valve

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Battlefield 3–DICE
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3–Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Need for Speed: The Run–EA Black Box
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Achievement in Story
Bastion–Supergiant Games
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Portal 2–Valve
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim–Bethesda Game Studios
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Character Performance
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Adam Jensen)–Eidos Montreal
L.A. Noire (Cole Phelps)–Team Bondi
Portal 2 (Wheatley)–Valve
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Nathan Drake)–Naughty Dog
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Victor Sullivan)–Naughty Dog

Downloadable Game of the Year
Bastion–Supergiant Games
Drawn: Trail of Shadows–Big Fish Games
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet–Fuel Cell
Ms. Splosion Man–Twisted Pixel Games
Orcs Must Die!–Robot Entertainment

Casual Game of the Year
Fruit Ninja Kinect–Halfbrick Studios
Tiny Wings–Andreas Illiger
Jetpack Joyride–Halfbrick Studios
Monsters Ate My Condo–Adult Swim/PikPok
Where’s My Water?–Creature Feep

Social Networking Game of the Year
Army Attack–Digital Chocolate
CastleVille–Zynga
Gardens of Time–Playdom
The Sims Social–Playfish
Triple Town–Spry Fox

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
Dark Souls–From Software
Deus Ex: Human Revolution–Eidos Montreal
Star Wars: The Old Republic–BioWare Austin
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim–Bethesda Game Studios
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings–CD Projekt

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Bastion–Supergiant Games
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Portal 2–Valve
Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure–Toys for Bob
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim–Bethesda Game Studios

Sports Game of the Year
FIFA 12–EA Canada
Madden NFL 12–Tiburon
MLB 11: The Show–SCE San Diego
NBA 2K12–Visual Concepts
NBA Jam: On Fire Edition–Firemint

Racing Game of the Year
Forza Motorsport 4–Turn 10 Studios
Mario Kart 7–Nintendo
Real Racing 2 HD–Firemint

Fighting Game of the Year
Fight Night Champion–EA Canada
King of Fighters XIII–SNK Playmore
Mortal Kombat–NetherRealm Studios
Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition–Capcom
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3–Capcom

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Iron Brigade–Double Fine
Orcs Must Die!–Robot Entertainment
Total War: Shogun 2–The Creative Assembly
Toy Soldiers: Cold War–Signal Studios
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II – Retribution–Relic Entertainment

Family Game of the Year
Dance Central 2–Harmonix
Just Dance 3–Ubisoft Paris
Kinect Disneyland Adventure–Frontier Developments
Little Big Planet 2–Media Molecule
Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure–Toys for Bob

Mobile Game of the Year
Contre Jour–Chillingo
Dead Space–EA Mobile
Infinity Blade II–Chair Entertainment
Tentacles–Press Play
The Dark Meadow–Phosphor Games Studio

Handheld Game of the Year
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective–Capcom
Kirby Mass Attack–Hal Laboratory
Mario Kart 7–Nintendo
Professor Layton and the Last Specter–Level 5
Super Mario 3D Land–Nintendo

Adventure Game of the Year
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Portal 2–Valve
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword–Nintendo
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play
Battlefield 3–DICE
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3–Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games
Gears of War 3–Epic Games
Little Big Planet 2–Media Molecule
Star Wars: The Old Republic–BioWare Austin

Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity
Battlefield 3–DICE
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3–Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games
Dragon Age II–BioWare Edmonton
Portal 2–Valve
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Action Game of the Year
Battlefield 3–DICE
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3–Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games
Dead Space 2–Visceral Games
Gears of War 3–Epic Games
Saints Row: The Third–Volition

Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Assassin’s Creed: Revelations–Ubisoft Montreal
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Rayman Origins–UbiArt Montpellier
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
Battlefield 3–DICE
Portal 2–Valve
Rayman Origins–UbiArt Montpellier
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
Crysis 2–Crytek GmbH
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Rage–id Software
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
Portal 2–Valve
Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure–Toys for Bob
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim–Bethesda Game Studios
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword–Nintendo

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Batman: Arkham City–Rocksteady Studios
L.A. Noire–Team Bondi
Portal 2–Valve
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim–Bethesda Game Studios
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception–Naughty Dog

Source: Gamespot