Geoff Keighley's second annual The Game Awards event just concluded, live from the Microsoft Theater in Log Angeles. Previously, the biggest annual celebration of video games was hosted on Spike TV, also organized by Keighley, until they parted ways and he launched its much improved successor.

This year's award ceremony ran tightly, clocking in at exactly two hours, and while several industry celebrities took to the stage to present key awards, the majority of other categories were mentioned as side notes to make room for live performances and a few memorable tributes.

First let's take a look at what the judges (and fans in applicable categories) selected as the best of the year for The Game Awards 2015.

The Witcher 3 Wallpaper

Game of the Year

  • Bloodborne
  • Fallout 4
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  • Super Mario Maker
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Developer of the Year

  • Bethesda Game Studios
  • CD Projekt Red
  • From Software
  • Kojima Productions
  • Nintendo

Best Independent Game

  • Axiom Verge
  • Her Story
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rocket League
  • Undertale

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

  • Downwell
  • Fallout Shelter
  • Lara Croft Go
  • Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate
  • Pac-Man 256

Best Narrative

  • Her Story
  • Life Is Strange
  • Tales From The Borderlands
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Until Dawn

Best Art Direction

  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Bloodborne
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Best Score/Soundtrack

  • Fallout 4
  • Halo 5: Guardians
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Best Performance

  • Ashly Burch as Chloe Price (Life is Strange)
  • Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft (Rise of the Tomb Raider)
  • Doug Cockle as Geralt (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
  • Mark Hamill as The Joker (Batman: Arkham Knight)
  • Viva Seifert (Her Story)

Games for Change Award

  • Cibele (Nina Freeman)
  • Her Story (Sam Barlow)
  • Life Is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment / Square Enix)
  • Sunset (Tale of Tales)
  • Undertale (tobyfox)

Best Shooter

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
  • Destiny: The Taken King
  • Halo 5: Guardians
  • Splatoon
  • Star Wars Battlefront

Best Action/Adventure Game

  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate
  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider

Best Role Playing Game

  • Bloodborne
  • Fallout 4
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Undertale

Best Fighting Game

  • Guilty Gear Xrd
  • Mortal Kombat X
  • Rise of Incarnates
  • Rising Thunder

Best Family Game

  • Disney Infinity 3.0
  • Lego Dimensions
  • Skylanders: SuperChargers
  • Splatoon
  • Super Mario Maker

Best Sports/Racing Game

  • FIFA 16
  • Forza Motorsport 6
  • NBA 2K16
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2016
  • Rocket League

Best Multiplayer

  • Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
  • Destiny: The Taken King
  • Halo 5: Guardians
  • Rocket League
  • Splatoon

Most Anticipated Game

  • Horizon Zero Dawn
  • No Man's Sky
  • Quantum Break
  • The Last Guardian
  • Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

esports Player of the Year

  • Kenny "KennyS" Schrub
  • Lee "Faker" Sang-hyeok
  • Olof "olofmeister" Kajbjer
  • Peter "ppd" Dager
  • Syed Sumail "Suma1L" Hassan

esports Team of the Year

  • Evil Geniuses
  • Fnatic
  • Optic Gaming
  • SK Telecom T1
  • Team SoloMid

esports Game of the Year

  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
  • Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
  • Dota 2
  • Hearthstone
  • League of Legends

Trending Gamer

  • Total Biscuit
  • Christopher "MonteCristo" Mykles
  • Greg Miller
  • Markiplier
  • PewDiePie

Best Fan Creation

  • GTA V – Targets (Hoodoo Operator)
  • Real GTA (Corridor Digital)
  • Portal Stories: Mel (Prism Studios)
  • Super Mario Maker e-Reader Levels (Baddboy78 / theycallmeshaky)
  • Twitch Plays Dark Souls (Twitch Community)

Beyond the awards themselves, this year's Game Awards event was highlighted by some exciting and touching moments throughout the program. Greg Miller, of Kinda Funny, gave a rallying speech about the importance of game developers and recognizing and cheering on their hard work. Host Geoff Keighley organized a touching tribute to Nintendo legend Satoru Iwata who passed away earlier this year and later took a righteous stab at publisher Konami by calling them out for allegedly blocking Hideo Kojima from appearing at the show to accept his award.

Mark Hamill took to the stage, making a few jokes about his absence on the Star Wars 7 poster, doing a few Joker impressions, and teasing his role in the upcoming Star Citizen game before presenting an award. And there was even a chunk of time devoted to honoring Westwood Studios (Command & Conquer) co-founders Brett Sperry and Louis Castle who won this year's Industry Icon Award.

As for announcements, Telltale teased a Batman game coming in 2016, Rocket League got its official Xbox One announcement, and Psychonauts 2 was unveiled to be in development. Far Cry Primal, Star Citizen, Uncharted 4 and others had new gameplay trailers as well.

Share your thoughts on the event, the winners, and the premieres in the comments!