Welcome to the 2012 OXM GOTY Awards! All this week we’ll be running down our picks from the best in games, concluding Friday with OXM’s 2012 Game of the Year. Check back here for the running list of winners.

Today we're kicking off our GOTY Awards by honoring the developers, writers, and those more on the backend of games, be it for crafting an awesome story, inventing a memorable character, composing resonating music, launching new technology and just generally doing all the creative things to make our overall experience better. 

BEST STORY: The Walking Dead
The competition this year was tough, but there’s really no other choice on Xbox for this award.The Walking Dead combined heart, horror, and humanity in a way that spawned dozens of in-depth IM conversations with friends and coworkers after every playthrough. Tale-heavy nominees like Mass Effect 3 and Spec Ops: The Line came close to nabbing this award, but The Walking Dead ultimately gets our Best Story nod for 2012.
(Runners-up: Mass Effect 3, Spec Ops: The Line)

GENRE COMEBACK OF THE YEAR: Stealth
You sneaky, sneaky genre! We thought you’d all but died — absorbed into games as pithy missiontypes rather than powering full-fledged experiences. Former stealth-dedicated stalwarts like Splinter Cell had ditched much of their lurking in favor of more straightforward action (like in Splinter Cell: Conviction), while series like Metal Gear had opened their arms to razzle-dazzle sword-slashing spin-offs (the forthcoming Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance). We have to admit, we missed our days of strategizing every move in a darkened room filled with guards.

2012 taught us to not worry so much. From the play-it-as-itlays Hitman: Absolution to the ability to select from multiple tactics within a single scenario in Dishonored to Mark of the Ninja’s delicious 2D spin on the genre, stealth revealed that it wasn’t dead — it’s just been hiding in the shadows. Welcome back.

BEST ART DIRECTION: Dust: An Elysian Tail
One developer (Humble Hearts’ Dean Dodrill) hand-illustrated and animated the entirety of Dust’s gorgeous, colorful world. But we won’t waste any more words telling you. Instead, you just need to look a few inches upwards.
(Runners-up: Fez, Mark of the Ninja, Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit, Dishonored)

BEST CAMEO: GLaDOS in Defense Grid: You Monster DLC
Most folks probably didn’t notice an XBLA tower-defense game that sported an add-on where you slaved under the supervision of Portal’s iconic passive-aggressive villain, GLaDOS — even those gamers who’ve swathed themselves in plushie companion cubes. But Defense Grid managed, with just a few hours’ worth of content, to transport the wicked humor of Valve’s action-puzzler into a totally different genre. And it worked better than it had any right to (NOTE: Defense Grid: You Monster released on December 7, 2011, after last year's judging had taken place)
(Runners-up: : Every indie-game character ever in Dust: An Elysian Tail, Virtua Fighter characters in Dead or Alive 5, Snoop Dogg in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 DLC) 

BEST CHARACTER: Clementine in The Walking Dead
When the competition is comprised of a heavy-metal Transformer, a grumpy Prothean know-it-all, and one complete nut-job, what’s a small child gotta do to stand out from the pack? Easy — embody everything that makes us human. The Walking Dead’s Clementine managed to do this while leaving bugs on her fellow survivor’s pillow and letting curiosity get the better of her by tasting a “gross” salt lick ( Episode 2). Ad-hoc guardian Lee might’ve kept her out of harm’s way physically, but she returned the favor by giving him a reason to fight.
(Runners-up: Javik form Mass Effect 3, Grimlock from Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, Tiny Tina from Borderlands 2)

BEST VILLAIN: Ourselves
Take a look in that mirror and tell us what you see. An upstanding citizen? A caring person and good friend to your loved ones? A strong role model for others? Now add, say, zombies and a world of inhuman atrocities into the equation and take another look. From Captain Walker’s warped tour of duty in a war-torn Dubai (Spec Ops: The Line) to a mad dash past overly zealous militia in a zombie-infested Pacific Northwest (Deadlight), to the crumbling social structure of a band of desperate survivors (The Walking Dead) — it turns out that us “Normals” can be even crummier to our fellow man than the most well-equipped, dastardly supervillain. Hollywood’s been trying to teach us this lesson for ages in zombie flicks; this year, games took their turn in sending that message home.
(Runners-up: The Didact  from Halo 4, Vaas  from Far Cry 3, Handsome Jack  from Borderlands 2, wildlife  from Assassin’s Creed III) 

BEST SOUNDTRACK: Jet Set Radio HD
Okay, so we're kind of cheating in picking a retro game that first hit shelves a dozen years prior to its XBLA HD release, but there’s no denying the futuristic hip-hop flavor of Hideki Naganuma’s brilliant, beat-based nonsense is just as infectiously joyous on 360 as it was on Dreamcast. From Naganuma’s “Sweet Soul Brother” to Castle Logical’s “Mischievous Boy,” Jet Set Radio HD’s soundtrack encapsulates a playful, popculture- y spirit that speaks gaming’s language, fluently.
(Runners-up: Halo 4, Fez, Mass Effect 3)

DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR: 343 Industriess 
Picking up where another developer left off is a tough situation. But taking the reins for the Halo franchise from Bungie? That just sounds impossible. But 343 Industries did it…with incredible results. The newborn studio (well, it’s technically a toddler, with only 4 years under its belt) not only managed to retool a visually aging series into one of 2012’s loveliest creatures, but they’ve now laid the groundwork for a trilogy focused squarely on storytelling and characters — a new twist to a familiar universe. Add to that Halo 4’s daunting, plot-driven episodic co-op venture (aka Spartan Ops) and a full suite of multiplayer options, and 343 proved it has the finesse and smarts to carry on the Halo legacy well into the next generation.