Batman, Civilization V and Angry Birds Space were among the award winners at the 2012 Golden Joystick Awards, held earlier today.

Over four million votes were cast for this year’s HMV GamesMaster Golden Joystick Awards, making it was the most-voted for games awards in history. One of the highlights of the ceremony was the Best Handheld award being handed out by a robotic Stephen Fry. Hosting the show was comedian Ed Byrne.

Bethesda Games’ Skyrim picked up three awards in total, including Best RPG and Ultimate Game of the Year. It was a good awards for Edinburgh-based Rockstar North, who received the HMV One To Watch award for Grand Theft Auto V.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UK’s Golden Joystick awards, with the winners of that inaugural year including Manic Miner and Arcadia. This year’s nominees included blockbuster titles of the year such as Skyrim, Modern Warfare 3 and Batman: Arkham City. There were sixteen different categories, including new category ‘Best Downloadable Content’.

The results of the 2012 Golden Joystick Awards

• Best Action-Adventure Game: Batman: Arkham City
• Best Strategy Game: Civilization V
• Best Mobile/Tablet Game: Angry Birds Space
• Best Downloadable Game: Minecraft (Xbox 360)
• Best Fighting Game: Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition
• Best Shooter: Battlefield 3
• Best MMO: World of Tanks
• Best Handheld Game: Uncharted: Golden Abyss
• Best Gaming Moment: Skyrim – Climbing the throat of the world
• One To Watch: Grand Theft Auto V
• Best Downloadable Content: Portal 2: Perpetual Testing Initiative
• YouTube Gamer of the Year: YogsCast
• Best RPG: Skyrim
• Best Sports Game: FIFA 12
• Best Browser/Flash-based Game: Slender
• Best Racer: Forza 4
• Outstanding Contribution Award: EA Sports & FIFA
• Ultimate Game of the Year: Skyrim