Editor’s Note: We recently asked you, our community to vote for your Games of the Year across a variety of categories. We received a fantastic number of votes, well surpassing last year’s entries, and well, this is just one of many results. Enjoy.

While we’ve seen some brilliant games on individual platforms, it’s really been a great year for the multi-platform side of things. Right from the beginning of January there have been superb releases for numerous consoles with all manner of developers and publishers seeing strong sales in all areas: between the surprise hits like Driver San Francisco, the expectedly excellent sequels like Arkham City and the small but mighty indie releases like Bastion we’ve really been spoiled for choice throughout the past twelve months.

It’s been the last few months of the year however that a stride was truly hit, and we were bombarded with consistently high-quality multi-platform titles; inevitably some great games like Rayman Origins and Goldeneye 007: Reloaded disappointingly got pushed to one side and lost in the madness, while Activision’s now behemoth franchise expectedly dominated November, beating strong competition and breaking records in the process… and yet I can confirm that Modern Warfare 3 wasn’t the MediaKick community’s Multi-platform Game of the Year.

Shocker? Not particularly. With so many games – both inevitable franchise sequels like Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and the aforementioned Modern Warfare 3, and new IPs like the creative zombie-survival game Dead Island and the “drunken stag do” of videogames Bulletstorm – all showing some quality and vying for sales and accolades alike, it’s no wonder that Modern Warfare 3 was hard-pressed to win everything it could.

There can only be one victor here: I think it’s safe to say that in spite of its problems this was always going to be the main contender for the title.

As voted for by the MediaKick community, the Multi-Platform Game of the Year is: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Raking in 30.5% of the votes, the fifth Elder Scrolls game takes the franchise to new heights and a new world pitting you against a veritable smorgasbord of quests and creatures while remaining true to the core gameplay that won people over nine years ago. For many it will be Oblivion that they remember fondly, and Skyrim ensures that homage is paid to both Morrowind and Oblivion which have paved the way for this, the biggest and most spectacular adventure yet – and one that has shipped a staggering number of copies.

Problems be damned, Skyrim is an enrapturing experience. As Dave notes in his review, Skyrim has “really has raised the bar for just about every RPG in existence”. Some may argue that it does not deserve the Game of the Year award it received at the VGAs – several of its bugs are game-breaking and not ones that can be laughed or shrugged off – yet its success and acclaim are due to what it does right. When the game works it becomes evident why this game is so lauded: as you step into the living, breathing, violent world of Skyrim and begin your adventure the presentation does what is expected and paints a wonderful picture.

Hours can be lost just by rambling the lands and taking in the atmosphere; as you go about your business working through the many, many quests received and fighting foes by the shed-load you realise that the game doesn’t revolve around you but instead you are just one part of a game that will go about its business whether you see fit to envelop yourself in it or not. As you divert from key quests – I can promise that this is an inevitability – you’ll find this lingering feeling that you’re missing something, that by doing one thing you’re not seeing something else take place.

This becomes the most apparent when you see a dragon in the skyline. You feel compelled to chase it yet at the same time you fear it: when engaging in a fight with one (absolutely the game’s pièce de résistance) you have to drop everything and pour all your efforts into the raging battle that ensues. Dragon fights aren’t the only moments like this mind; you’ll find that Skyrim is a dynamic game that throws things at you without warning but lets you do as you please.

Valve’s super puzzle-platformer Portal 2 took the silver with a respectable 22.9% of the votes, but Skyrim is a truly wonderful time-sink of an RPG and it’s the MediaKick community’s Game of the Year.