On December 7 an energetic (is he ever not) Samuel L. Jackson hosted the 2012 Video Game Awards, this year celebrating its 10th anniversary. The game that won the most Vector Monkey trophies this year was The Walking Dead: The Game from Telltale Games. In addition to being crowned Game of the Year (besting Assassin’s Creed III, Dishonored, Journey, and Mass Effect 3), it also won Best Adapted Video Game, Best Performance by a Human Female (Melissa Hutchison as Clementine), and Best Downloadable Game. Developer Telltale Games was named Studio of the Year for making the title. Borderlands 2 came in close second taking home four Monkeys for Best Shooter, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Performance by a Human Male (Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack), and Character of the Year (Clap Trap). Journey followed by winning Best PS3 Game, Best Independent Game, and Best Original Score (fun fact: the indie game’s composer Austin Wintory landed a Grammy nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media category).

For the full list of winners, jump after the break.

Now in addition to handing out awards, game developers use the show as a platform to introduce gamers to upcoming titles and this year’s bunch was exciting and exhilarating as ever. The following games debuted never-before-seen world premiere trailers: South Park: The Stick of Truth (Obsidian Entertainment), The Phantom Pain (Moby Dick Studios), “The Last of Us” (Naughty Dog, coming out May 7, 2013), Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (Konami), Dark Souls II (From Software), Assassin’s Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington (Ubisoft), Gears of War: Judgment (Epic Games), Tomb Raider (Square Enix), Halo 4: Spartan Ops (Microsoft Studios), and BioShock Infinite (2K Games).

Watch all the VGA exclusive trailers after the break.

VGA 10 Winners

Game of the Year
The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games)

Studio of the Year
Telltale Games

Best XBOX 360 Game
Halo 4 (Microsoft Studios/343 Industries)

Best PS3 Game
Journey (Sony Computer Entertainment/thatgamecompany)

Best Wii / Wii-U Game
New Super Mario Bros. U (Nintendo)

Best PC Game
XCOM: Enemy Unknown (2K Games/Firaxis Games)

Best Handheld / Mobile Game
Sound Shapes (Sony Computer Entertainment/Queasy Games)

Best Shooter
Borderlands 2 (2K Games/Gearbox Software)

Best Action Adventure Game
Dishonored (Bethesda Softworks/Arkane Studios)

Best RPG
Mass Effect 3 (Electronic Arts/BioWare)

Best Multi-Player Game
Borderlands 2 (2K Games/Gearbox Software)

Best Individual Sports Game
SSX (Electronic Arts/EA Canada)

Best Team Sports Game
NBA 2K13 (2K Sports/Visual Concepts)

Best Driving Game
Need For Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts/Criterion Games)

Best Fighting Game
Persona 4 Arena (Atlus/ARC System Works/Atlus)

Best Adapted Video Game
The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games)

Best Independent Game
Journey (thatgamecompany)

Best Graphics
Halo 4 (Microsoft Studios/343 Industries)

Best Song in a Game
“Cities” by Beck (Sound Shapes)

Best Original Score
Journey (Sony Computer Entertainment/thatgamecompany)

Best Performance By a Human Male
Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2)

Best Performance By a Human Female
Melissa Hutchison as Clementine (The Walking Dead: The Game)

Best Downloadable Game
The Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Games)

Best Social Game
You Don’t Know Jack (Jellyvision Games)

Best DLC
Dawnguard – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Softworks/Bethesda Game Studios)

Most Anticipated Game
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games)

Character of the Year

Clap Trap (Borderlands 2)

Video Game of the Decade

Half-Life 2

 

VGA 10 World Premiere Trailers

All ten trailers are included in this YouTube player. Click the Playlist button (next to the Annotations button) to view and scrub through each one.

[List of winners via PRNewswire]