On Saturday, December 10th, 2011, Spike TV will air their annual Video Game Awards show. It began back in 2003, which Madden NFL 2004 won Game of the Year over games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker…

No joke.

But besides the blunder in 2003, they’ve been much better at selecting more reasonably qualified games. And with a strong group of releases for the year, the 2011 showing is shaping up to be pretty good.

I’ve taken the time to vote on their website for my picks of the nominees they’ve provided, and I will share more choices and some thoughts on each one. Please note that all choices I’ve made are based on my personal opinions and are based upon review scores or sales.

You can check out Wikipedia for current nominees and VGA history.

Game of the Year

Game of the Year is the most important category of them all, and even getting nominated for it is a huge honor. The nominees for GOTY this year are: Batman: Arkham City, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Portal 2, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

My vote goes to: Batman: Arkham City.

Simply put, it was the best game in a year full of great games. Arkham City built upon a solid foundation laid by Arkham Asylum in 2009 and improved it in almost every way. Solid story, great gameplay, plenty of side quests and collectibles, challenge maps, open world- this game had almost everything you could ask of it.

Studio of the Year

My vote goes to: Rocksteady Studios.

If you’re surprised, then you must not have read my choice above for Game of the Year. Rocksteady Studios are the ones responsible for crafting Arkham City, so it only makes sense that they are awarded as the Best Studio for 2011.

Best Xbox 360 Game

My vote goes to: Batman: Arkham City.

Once again, it shouldn’t be a surprise. If the Game of the Year is the best game of the year, then it’s only natural it wins out on all platforms it was released for. If you haven’t picked it up yet, I highly recommend you do. But buy it new, since you’ll have to purchase the Catwoman DLC separately, otherwise.

Best PS3 Game

My vote goes to: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

It felt kind of awkward putting another game other than Batman here, but it wasn’t nominated under PS3 for some reason. As a matter of fact, all the PS3 games were first party titles this year (Uncharted 3, inFAMOUS 2, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Killzone 3). All solid games, but I digress.

Uncharted 3 was definitely the best PS3 game listed here, and for me, it was a fairly easy decision. I’m not much into LBP2 or inFAMOUS 2, and, although solid, Killzone 3 isn’t beating Uncharted 3.

Best Wii Game

I’m afraid I’ll have to leave this one to you, as I didn’t play or even watch a single second of any 2011 games for the Wii. My personal interest in it was lost last year, and nothing has released to pique my interest in it. 2012 holds Xenoblade Chronicles, and I eagerly await that title.

The nominees for this category are: Epic Mickey, Kirby’s Return to Dream Land, Lost in Shadow and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Best PC Game

My vote goes to: Portal 2

Disclaimer: I do not play PC games. At all.

Now that that’s out of the way, I did play Portal 2 on consoles, so I know it was an excellent game. Add in the fact that it has a level editor to create your own near-impossible “tests”, and you’ve got a really great game for this category.

Subjectively, I don’t understand what people enjoy about Minecraft and no matter how you spin it, Battlefield 3 is still just a military shooter. The Witcher 2 does look good from what I’ve seen of it, but I’ll go with what I know for this category.

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

My vote goes to: Super Mario 3D Land

Another very easy and straightforward choice. A solid and lengthy platformer on the 3DS featuring the world’s favorite plumber. The other nominees should feel honored to be named in the same category.

Best Shooter Game

My vote goes to: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

This was a difficult decision for me. I was able to at least remove Gears of War 3 right away because of my well-documented dislike for it. I’ve seen RAGE played a bit in person and it looks very solid, but I didn’t have the pleasure of confirming that myself, so it all came down to a showdown between the Battlefield and Call of Duty titles this year.

I chose Modern Warfare 3 because, as a complete package, I feel it is superior. It’s got strong multiplayer and a better campaign, along with a few other modes that give it a bit more variety and overall appeal. Oh, and your entire friends list is playing it.

Best Action Adventure Game

My vote goes to: Batman: Arkham City

…should I get a stamp for this? Seriously though, it’s an excellent game with plenty to do and enjoy. Moving on…

Best RPG Game

I am not voting on this category this year. The only game I’ve played of the nominees was Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and although I loved it. I would definitely not consider it an RPG – not even under the looser, Western-style standards. I do plan on playing Dark Souls and possibly Dragon Age II (though I’d like to wait for a GOTY edition with all the DLC), but it won’t be this year.

For the record, Skyrim will probably win this category going away.

Best Multiplayer Game

My vote goes to: Battlefield 3

I know I gave Best Shooter to Modern Warfare 3, but that was primarily based on the strength of the overall package. If we’re looking at JUST the multiplayer, I think Battlefield 3 shines because of the more dynamic, strategy-laden approach. There are plenty of vehicles and building to blow up, and you actually get experience for performing your role – it gets more people to play under a team concept because they’re being rewarded for it.

I’d love to see these two series fore-go single player and just package the multiplayer and co-op portions and sell them at a reduced price of say, $40.

Best Individual Sports Game

My vote goes to: Fight Night Champion

Well, not much to say here other than I like punching people in the face. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel here, but the competition is fairly weak.

Best Team Sports Game

My vote goes to: NBA 2K12

Color me biased here, but the other nominees didn’t even have a chance when they put this game in with them. Simply put, it is the best basketball game ever made, even going as far as to stomp on and spit in the face of its predecessor, NBA 2K11. If you like basketball games and you don’t have this, please head to your nearest retailer now.

Best Driving Game

I am unable to choose for this category. I’m not into realistic racers, so Forza Motorsport 4 and DiRT 3 were out from the get-go. I planned on picking put copies of the other two, Driver: San Francisco and Need for Speed: The Run, but it didn’t work out.

Best Fighting Game

My vote goes to: Marvel vs Capcom 3

I’m kind of bummed that they’re not including Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 instead of the original, and they can’t use the release date as an excuse since The King of Fighters XIII didn’t release until November 22nd. Regardless, I love the crossover games because they’re the most fun to play.

I believe Mortal Kombat will win, though. Great reboot for the series and it looks better than ever, but I’m just not into the series anymore.

Best Motion Game

My vote goes to: Dance Central 2

Although Skyward Sword has a strong chance at winning, I hope Dance Central 2 takes it. It’s just a really fun experience, embarrassing yourself in front of family and friends from the comfort of your own home.

Best Independent Game

My vote goes to: Bastion

Considering I didn’t even know what two of the games were (The Binding of Isaac and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP) and the other I don’t understand the popularity of (Minecraft), it was an easy choice. But really, Bastion would have won just off of its narrator alone.

Best Adapted Game

My vote goes to: Batman: Arkham City

*stamps*

Captain America: Super Soldier was nominated here as well, and I’ve heard they tried to copy the Batman model and to found some success. I’ll be playing it this weekend and I’ll find out for myself.

Best Song in a Game

My vote goes to: “Want You Gone” from Portal 2

I listened to each song, and “Want You Gone” was the only one I could ever see myself listening to outside of the actual game it’s from. Plus, it’s pretty funny.

Best Original Score

My vote goes to: Portal 2

Once again, it’s the only music I could find myself listening to outside the game. It fit’s the game well, and it’s comical. I love things that can make me laugh.

Best Graphics

My vote goes to: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

I thought a lot about this one. L.A. NOIRE was easy to rule out because the graphics in that game aren’t that great – I don’t even know why it was nominated for this category. RAGE is very nice, and I was tempted to use my stamp and pick Arkham City, but then I realized that you’ll spend so much time in Awesome Vision (read: Detective Mode) that you’ll barely even see them. So, Uncharted it is.

Best Performance by a Human Male

My vote goes to: Mark Hamill as The Joker in Batman: Arkham City

All the performers here were excellent, but I’m going with The Joker here. He’s been doing it for years, and it shows. He’s got the Joker’s personality down and brings that cynical spirit to his character. But I can understand if anyone else is chosen, I can understand.

Best Performance by a Human Female

My vote goes to: Ellen McLain as GlaDOS in Portal 2

For me, it was between Harley Quinn and GlaDOS. I ended up choosing Ellen McLain because she has a much more prominent role in her game and more varied dialogue. She performed admirably in the game, but also did some excellent additional work, as well.

Best DLC

I choose not to vote in this category. I don’t like Fallout and didn’t get around to Mass Effect 2 yet (although I own it and the DLC). Freddy Krueger was cool, but I’m not into Mortal Kombat anymore. I guess I’d choose Peer Review since it was free, but I’m very disappointed that The Missing Link from Deus Ex: Human Revolution was not nominated here.

Most Anticipated Game

My vote goes to: Bioshock Infinite
I plan on playing through all the games in this category aside from Diablo III, but it wasn’t too hard of a choice. Although I love Halo, I haven’t been into it as much as I was a few years ago. So I went with Bioshock Infinite, which seems to be going in a great new direction. I’m surprised there were so few nominees here, though – 2012 is shaping up to be another strong year for gaming like 2011 has been.

GameTrailers.com Trailer of the Year

My vote goes to: Tomb Raider

I gave Dead Island some serious consideration here since it was such a beautifully executed trailer. But the reason I changed my mind on it was because it was not truly indicative of the game it was representing and didn’t feature even a second of gameplay in it. While Tomb Raider doesn’t have any gameplay either, I felt it more accurately portrayed the game that it belongs to (it should, since it looks like part of the intro for the game).

So there you have it – my personal choices for the Spike Video Game Awards for 2011. But, I only represent one of the many people out there, and I’m interested in what your choices might be. Let me know in the comments.