Drumroll, please…

We’ve tallied up the votes, slipped into our tuxedos, polished up the trophies and are now ready to reveal the winners of the second annual PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards. Votes were cast this year across 10 categories in the PlayStation Store, including the community award for Best PSN Indie, which was voted online by the community.

First off, we’d like to thank all of the nominees for being a part of this year’s PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards. All of the games that we showcased were some of the highest and most user-ranked games released in 2011, which is an honor in and of itself. Second and most importantly, we want to thank all of you for casting your votes both online and in the PlayStation Store to determine our winners.

We had an incredible turnout during the voting period this year, which made for an intense competition. Things got so heated, in fact, that the battle for Best PS Move Game literally came down to the last day between Dungeon Defenders and Dungeon Hunter: Alliance. But only one could come out with top honors.

Without further ado, here are your winners for the 2012 PSN Gamers’ Choice Awards:

• Best PSN Exclusive: inFAMOUS Festival of Blood (PS3)
• Best PSN Game: Resident Evil 4 (PS3)
• Best PSN Game Playable Online: Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition (PS3)
• Best PS3 Full Game: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood (PS3)
• Best PlayStation Move Game: Dungeon Hunter: Alliance (PS3)
• Best 3D Game: God of War: Origins Collection (PS3)
• Best PlayStation Classic: Chrono Trigger (PS3/PSP)
• Best Mini Game: Angry Birds (PS3/PSP)
• Best PSP Game: DISSIDIA 012 [duodecim] FINAL FANTASY (PSP)
• PlayStation Community Award – Best Indie: LIMBO (PS3)

The celebration continues as the award-winning titles will be discounted 30% in the PlayStation Store for one week, starting later today, with a 50% discount available to all PlayStation Plus subscribers. Don’t miss out on the chance to score these great games! And don’t forget to start rating the games that you’re playing throughout 2012 so your favorite games can get nominated next year.

Over the next week, Ubisoft will be profiling our upcoming portfolio of launch titles for the PlayStation Vita. All these titles will be available a week prior to launch, giving gamers the opportunity to build up their library prior to the launch of this highly anticipated PlayStation handheld or experience the games early if you are picking up the First Edition bundle on February 15th. Let’s kick off the week by stepping into the fantasy genre.

But first, a question for my fellow PSP launch owners. How much fun was exploring the fantasy world of Untold Legends? I remember going over to my friend’s house to sit side-by-side as we tackled different dungeons. With Dungeon Hunter Alliance, we’re bringing back that feeling of exploring a fantasy universe along with your friends.

You may already be familiar with the PS3 version of the game, but soon you’ll be able to take the experience with you, exploring the depths of Gothicus, facing off against evil creatures, and enhancing your character while you’re on the go. Dungeon Hunter Alliance will also enable PS Vita owners to team up with up to three friends locally and via WiFi — the game will adjust the difficulty dynamically according to the number of players in the game.

We’ve also added PS Vita-specific features, including touchscreen controls. Players can tap the front touchscreen to pick up items and zoom in or out. The back touch panel will control the fairy to perform spells (especially useful when providing spell support with friends). Finally, the accelerometer gives players the option to shake their device to counter rival curses.

PS Vita owners can look forward to exploring the immense world of Dungeon Hunter Alliance when the game releases on February 14th for $39.99. Look for more information, including exclusive content and social features that can only be found on the PS Vita version, as we get closer to launch.

In all honesty, we might have been able to release it sooner, but we really wanted to make sure this was a polished game, not just a run-of-the-mill hack ‘n slash. While the storyline is based on the original Dungeon Hunter, we wanted to re-imagine everything else for Alliance. So we rebuilt our game systems, graphics and engine from the ground up for the PlayStation 3.

Balance of Power

Just getting the classes balanced to the point we felt every player will be happy filling in a unique role for their party required extensive playtesting. To this end, we included some great abilities to unlock as your character progresses. Each class has a total of seven ability tiers and players unlock a new tier every few levels, so there’s always something to look forward to just around the corner.

You’re going to need all those powers, as monsters in co-op are noticeably beefed up (and drop better loot), so teamwork is important. This creates opportunities for players to complement each other, becoming a party that’s far more powerful than the sum of its heroes. We also have a system that allows players to reset their skills and explore different roles and customization paths.

On the Move

Though originally we only planned on players using the standard DualShock controllers, we started working on PlayStation Move motion controls in the spring of 2010. Even with a designer working full time on this for nearly half a year, we had to go through many iterations before finding exactly what we wanted: a new and refined experience with the peripheral – not some tacked-on feature.

The PlayStation Move motion controller allows players to experience Dungeon Hunter: Alliance in a somewhat more relaxed and casual manner, which is exactly what we had in mind for it. Even players inexperienced with the classic controller can easily pick up and play using the PlayStation Move. Personally, I love the fact that it allows you to play with a single hand – leaving the other hand free to grab chips or a cold one – but if you prefer, you can always use a DualShock controller instead.

Play United…Or Not

Still, the hardest part of the process has been making a fun, stable and engaging multiplayer mode that lets you switch seamlessly between single player, local multiplayer and online multiplayer, without having to switch your character. After all, the multiplayer experience really is the focus of this game, but we don’t want players to feel like they have to start back at level one when they feel like playing solo. If you feel like having friends over but don’t want to start a new character, the option is there. If you want to play with four players but can only get two real life allies, you can take your game online and invite a distant friend or a random player to join the party. How you play is up to you.

Naturally, we couldn’t include every single feature that came to mind, and player versus player is one such feature. It was tempting to do, but we opted to focus our effort on making the best possible cooperative experience and had no wish to throw in more game modes simply to make the features list longer.

We are very proud to offer PlayStation Network users the type of experience that has been lacking in this current generation of consoles. We hope they have as much fun playing Dungeon Hunter: Alliance as we had making the game.

Hello everyone! Just dropping in to see how the PlayStation community is doing with our newest PSN title: Dungeon Hunter: Alliance. This is the first action-RPG game that immerses you in the heart of a unique multiplayer experience, both local and online. Face the world of Gothicus and its horde of creatures either alone or with up to four other heroes. Push evil back to the depths of hell and stop the destructive ambitions of a tyrannical Queen!

Our dev team is quite focused on making sure the gameplay is engaging enough for the hardcore audience, while still accessible to newcomers. What does that entail? Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is focused on providing a real quest to complete either solo or with others. This unique campaign experience spans over 30 levels with an immense world of dungeons, villages and forests to explore, including areas that are randomly generated. You’ll be able to choose your class, optimize your hero’s development by assigning experience points. Expect one heck of an immersive game!

The immense world of Gothicus and the balance of your hero’s development results in gamers becoming more invested in the role he or she plays. Whether playing solo or with friends, there are strategies players have to consider when approaching each level. In this respect, our dev team is hoping fans experience an epic quest that you can revisit in intense local or online modes.

For those of you who like to explore a dark fantasy world, this is a refreshing take on the action RPG genre! Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is set to release April 2011, so check out our launch trailer for an inside peek into our upcoming game!