Like XCOM’s Council when things go awry, the Golden Joysticks has an alien hand on its shoulder this year. That doughy, digitless blob belongs to PCGamesN chums Green Man Gaming, who’ve decided to tangibly reward voters this year with something other than a vague sense they’ve done right by their fave videogame. Vote, and they’ll give you a copy of Mafia II or Civ V.
Submit your nominations at the Golden Joystick siteand you’ll be able to register for one of the two over at GMG, while stocks last. Civ V would be the critic’s choice, but if you’ve spent any time enjoying the lower-key moments in GTA V lately then you’ll find a fairly open world to suit you in Mafia too. What’s more, 2K Czech’s gangland odyssey officially has more instances of the word ‘fuck’ in it than House of the Dead: Overkill, making it the sweariest game of all time. That’ll be something to see.
PC highlights awaiting your votes include The Walking Dead, Dishonored and DayZ in the ‘Best Newcomer’ category, Gunpoint and Super Hexagon in ‘Best Indie Game’, and Battlefield 4 in the Playfire-sponsored ‘Most Wanted’ section.
The ‘Online’ space is more or less a list of our Ns – Dota 2, Mists of Pandaria, Rift, LoL, World of Tanks, SimCity and Guild Wars 2 all feature.
“The Golden Joystick Awards is the only video game awards ceremony that is truly driven by gamers,” said GMG CEO Paul Sulyok of the giveaway. “Green Man Gaming wanted to reward those people who have turned great games into successful games, the gamers themselves.”
In 2012 the Joysticks garnered some four million votes – but I suspect they’ll grab a few more this year. They’ll be presented by GMG at the Westminster Park Plaza on Friday October 25. Do you have any potential winners in mind?