News Article

Pokémon Black Nominated for Inaugural GameCity Prize

Posted by Anthony Dickens

The what prize?

GameCity, Europe’s biggest videogame culture festival, has today announced the shortlist for it's inaugural GameCity Prize. The Prize has been created to discuss, explore and celebrate the very best in interactive entertainment, aiming to be the video game equivalent to the Mercury Music Prize or the Man Booker Prize for literature.

Here at Nintendo Life we feel that video games should be recognised better as an art form: they have a huge impact on our culture and therefore should receive better cultural recognition. GameCity Director Iain Simons said:

Video games are a £3 billion a year industry, offering a richly diverse set of experiences to an increasingly diverse group of people. The GameCity Prize seeks to celebrate, explore and include videogames as an important part of the mainstream cultural conversation. It seems like everybody’s playing, it’s time to get everybody talking.

The shortlist has been selected by an anonymous, international and gender-neutral academy of video game experts, drawn from within and outside the industry. The GameCity prize considers all video games released in a 12 month period, disregarding budget or genre, they are:

  • Minecraft (Mojang/ Mojang)
  • Ilomilo (Southend Interactive/ Microsoft)
  • Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP (Superbrothers/ Capybara Games)
  • Pokémon Black (Game Freak/ Nintendo)
  • Portal 2 (Valve/ EA)
  • Child of Eden (Q? Entertainment/ Ubisoft)
  • Limbo (Playdead/ Playdead)

The winner will be selected by a diverse group of non-games specialists, each acclaimed within their own fields. The judges are Jude Kelly OBE (Chair), Artistic Director of the Southbank; Charlie Higson, actor, writer, comedian and novelist; Tom Watson MP, Labour MP for West Bromwich East; Nitin Sawhney, producer, composer and musician; James Crabtree, Comment Editor at The Financial Times; Ed Hall, TV presenter and screenplay writer; Francis Barber, one of Britain’s most distinguished actresses; You Me At Six, the contemporary rock band; and David Rowntree, best known as the drummer from Blur.

The winner will be unveiled at an exclusive award ceremony on Saturday 29th October as part of the GameCity festival, now in its sixth year.

Which do you feel is the stand out winner?

[via prize.gamecity.org]

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Pokémon Black and White Screenshot Pokémon Black and White Screenshot Pokémon Black and White Screenshot Pokémon Black and White Screenshot

User Comments (38)

V8_Ninja

#7

V8_Ninja said:

I hate it when people say that Minecraft is released even though it's still in beta.

Peacock

#8

Peacock said:

I guess they chose Black because it has Whimsicott and Mandibuzz in it, which are admittedly better Pokemon than Lilligant or Braviary.

FantasiaWHT

#12

FantasiaWHT said:

Better question - does the fact that Pokemon Black made this list show how much of a joke this prize is?

komicturtle

#14

komicturtle said:

Well, I do get my inspiration from Pokemon when it comes to drawing (how creatures are designed particularly and landscapes)

FonistofCruxis

#15

FonistofCruxis said:

Only one game on a Nintendo console and they choose this one. They should've chosen something better like Xenoblade chronicles.

mumof3kids82

#16

mumof3kids82 said:

i like the fact that Pokemon black is nominated....xenoblade chronicles probably wasn't released on time

TeeJay

#17

TeeJay said:

I thought Portal 2 was going to be everyone's anonymous choice, but it looks like Minecraft is. Never played Minecraft

FonistofCruxis

#19

FonistofCruxis said:

@mumof2kids82 Maybe it wasn't but there are still better games on Nintendo consoles that could've been nominated other than this like Kirby's epic yarn as that came out in Europe in the last 12 months and this is a European festival.

NapalmHornet

#25

NapalmHornet said:

Sword and sworcery should win IMO. Im not a fan of Minecraft (I have it but I thought it was a bit, meh), Pokemon Black is just well pokemon that I think by now has gotten as stale as COD.

Raylax

#27

Raylax said:

Pokémon? Really? I love Pokémon but I don't really see what Pokémon Black (or White, for that matter) have particularly achieved, especially compared to other titles on that list.

Then again, when I first heard that they'd made TMs infinite-use, I had it down as gaming's greatest achievement for a while too.

schumaga

#28

schumaga said:

@Mickeymac I can also think of a lot of great Sony and Xbox games that weren't nominated. If this prize wants to be different, it has to nominate different games, it's that simple. As far as I'm concerned, Pokemon Black is a great game, and besides, this prizes is certainly not changing people's view on Nintendo, so nominating a "better" game wouldn't be that relevant.

FelixFelicis77

#30

FelixFelicis77 said:

Pokemon or Portal 2 would get my vote. Hard to choose they were both very good in very different ways

Henmii

#31

Henmii said:

What has the word "inaugural" to do with games? I thought that name was only used in the sense of a president of America ceremony!

Waffle_cones

#33

Waffle_cones said:

Portal 2 and LIMBO were both amazing games, so the competition will be stiff. I hope Minecraft doesn't win...

BulbasaurusRex

#34

BulbasaurusRex said:

@8 But White is a more attractive color (or lack thereof), it has an Electric type cover legend, and it has a cute 8th gym leader, clearly the superior version. Besides, having Mandibuzz instead of Braviary isn't something to brag about.

JimLad

#35

JimLad said:

Minecraft I think has been the most influential and deserves to win.
Portal 2 and Pokémon are sequels closely following their predecessors.
My second choice would be Limbo.

Henmii

#38

Henmii said:

"inaugural' also means 'first'. it's apparently the first GameCity Prize, thus the use of the term to describe it. :3"

Thanks for the explanation!

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