Not long ago we reported that the Spike VGAs will be replaced this year by The Game Awards 2014 — though not boasting a particularly original name, these have a nomination group of 28 publications and an advisory board including Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime. Quite what that all means in reality is something else besides, but it seems to be an effort by Geoff Keighley and co to draw a line under the poorly received VGX / VGA event last year.
Perhaps we should give it a fair shake — it really can't be worse than last year's VGX awards — ahead of its ceremony on 5th December in Las Vegas. The nominations that have emerged today and, it seems, Nintendo will even have a decent shot at picking up some awards. Below are the categories in which the big N's games or system exclusives are in the running.
Best Action/Adventure
Alien: Isolation - Creative Assembly/Sega
Assassin’s Creed Unity - Ubisoft
Bayonetta 2 - Platinum Games/Nintendo
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Monolith/Warner Bros.
Sunset Overdrive - Insomniac/Microsoft
Best Role Playing Game
Bravely Default - Square Enix
Dark Souls II - From Software/Bandai Namco
Divinity: Original Sin - Larian Studios
Dragon Age: Inquisition - Bioware/EA
South Park: The Stick of Truth - Obsidian/Ubisoft
Best Fighting Game
Killer Instinct: Season Two - Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax - Arc System Works/Atlus
Super Smash Bros. 3DS - Nintendo
Super Smash Bros. Wii U - Nintendo
Ultimate Street Fighter IV - Capcom
Best Family Game
Disney Infinity 2.0 - Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive Studios
Fantasia: Music Evolved - Harmonix/Disney Interactive Studios
Mario Kart 8 - Nintendo
Skylanders: Trap Team - Toys for Bob/Activision
Tomodachi Life - Nintendo
Best Sports/Racing Game
FIFA 15 - EA Canada/EA Sports
Forza Horizon 2 - Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft
Mario Kart 8 - Nintendo
NBA 2K15 - Visual Concepts/2K Sports
Trials Fusion - RedLynx/Ubisoft
Best Mobile/Handheld
Bravely Default - Square Enix
Monument Valley - Ustwo
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Blizzard
Super Smash Bros. 3DS - Nintendo
Threes - Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson
Best Remaster
Grand Theft Auto V - Rockstar Games
Halo: The Master Chief Collection - 343 Industries/Microsoft
Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire - Game Freak/Nintendo
The Last of Us - Naughty Dog/Sony
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix
Best Independent Game
Broken Age Part 1 - Double Fine
Monument Valley - Ustwo
Shovel Knight - Cellar Door
Transistor - Supergiant Games
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - The Astronauts
Best Fan Creation - (To be voted on by fans)
BEST Zelda Rap EVER!! By Egoraptor
Luigi Death Stare by CZBwoi and Rizupicorr
Mine the Diamond (Minecraft Song) by Tobuscus
Minecraft – TITAN City by Colonial Puppet
Twitch Plays Pokemon by Anonymous
Developer of the Year
Blizzard
Monolith
Nintendo
Telltale Games
Ubisoft Montreal
Game of the Year
Bayonetta 2 - Platinum Games/Nintendo
Dark Souls 2 - FROM Software/Bandai Namco
Dragon Age: Inquisition - BioWare/EA
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Blizzard
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Monolith/Warner Bros.
It's a surprise, albeit a very refreshing one, to see the outstanding Bayonetta 2 up for Game of the Year, while there are surely decent odds for a number of Nintendo-related nominations.
You can check out the full list at the source link below, and we'll be live streaming and blogging the awards when they come around; this humble scribe truly hopes it'll be a vast improvement on the VGX festivities, in order to avoid another minor meltdown.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 82
There is a best Remaster section... Ok I can't... REALLY?
Nintendo up for developer of the year??? Awesome...
I really hope that best zelda rap ever thing doesn't win the fan creation category. I've seen it and I regretted it instantly. >.>
"Best Fan Creation"? And the Luigi Death Stare is a nomination?
Oh boy... but hey, Nintendo's up for Developer of the Year. Good luck, Ninty!
@Ryu_Niiyama Ikr. Next year, they'll have "Best Games that Weren't Buggy on Release"
BAYONETTA!!!!!
They should actually win some some this time. (That is not to say they will).
Astebreed should have been in best indie. (Transistor I think is better than Shovel Knight as well just because its more inventive).
Every time I see Visual Concepts I think that is the one acquisition Nintendo should have definitely done when Sega was selling it.
Bravely Default is the genuinely worst thing I have played to the end this year. (Think it was this year - first week in January).
Well...wasn't expecting the Luigi Death Stare, but at least there's some Nintendo nominations in there. With that said, c'mon Smash Bros.!
Best Remaster... ugh
The only two I would even accept on that list are ORAS and to a lesser extent, the HALO one. The others are just awful choices.
Why does that category exist anyway?...
Also, I'm betting on Shovel Knight for best indie.
Smash Bros isn't up for Game of the Year?
Not that I care about any of this anyway. I already know what games I like.
Why is Smash Bros not nominated for GOTY????
Also, Ubisoft better not win developer of the year. Even EA were better than them this year.
And the best handheld game of the year (Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright) isn't even on the list. Then again, I can't say I'm surprised. These are the awards that voted New Super Mario Bros. U as being better than The Last Story in 2012.
How is Mario Kart 8 NOT nominated for GoTY? Critically lauded, sold a gagillion copies, and basically saved the Wii U. Most importantly, flat out FUN.
Of course, if Bayonetta 2 wins, no qualms. That would be sweet!
How is Smash not in GOTY category?
PT-Silent hills? I know it's not officially a game bit it was still awesome.
Stuff like Smash Bros and Mario Kart are highly unlikely to show up in a GOTY category. They're like sports games. It doesn't matter how good they are, they're the sort of game that is always surpassed by the next iteration.
Man, apart from some Nintendo games, there really hasn't been that many stand out titles this year. Kind of sad, but next year looks way better!
Also Best Remaster and Best Fan Creation are some dumbass categories, just sayin.
CROSSIN FINGERS FOR BAYO!!!
Wonder why MK8 is not going for GotY...
@Peach64 Surpassed in general or in quality? If it's quality I'll have to disagree.
Best Action/Adventure
...
Assassin’s Creed Unity - Ubisoft
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
pant, pant
Okay, I'm fine... whew.
Best RPG: Bravely Default? You honestly couldn't find anything better than Bravely Default?! SMTIV, Etrian Odyssey Untold, or even Pokémon don't exist?
Best Fighting Game: Why is Smash Bros. getting double-nominated?! They're largely the same game, only that SSB3D is a prettied-up beta. One slot for both games would be fair. Also, no Guilty Gear - this list is flawed by default.
Best Indie: Transistor, no contest. Shovel Knight is good, but Transistor is just that much better, especially with creativity and atmosphere!
Best Family Game ironically has no Call of Duty: Advance Warfare, but eh.
Best Mobile/Handheld: I'd love to see Senran Kagura, but that won't happen. But the nominees are all terrible. Where's Phoenix Wright? Or Layton? Shantae?!
Best Remaster: that's a categoey?! Ugh... then where's Ducktales?
Best Fan Creation: those are good, but nothing outstanding. AM2R, Project M - those would be meaningful, since they're more than just parodies (or Minecraft).
Dev of the year: Ubisoft Montreal is a great choice, actually. They brought us Rayman, Child of Light, and Valiant Hearts! Still, I'd vote for Monolith, since Platinum isn't on the list.
GOTY: no Smash - that's good. No OR/AS - even better! No Mario Kart - oooh, this is promising! looks at list, all gritty medieval RPG's + one unbalanced card game ...Go, Bayonetta! Time for a lady to wear the crown!
@Kaze_Memaryu
Ducktales and Rayman came out last year
Great work Nintendo!
Yeah like Tomadachi Life is a family game... also SSBU not at least a nominee for Game of The Year is wowing.
Also I am suprised Guacamelee! STCE isn't in the Indie category.
@Nik-Davies Oops, forgot about that. ^_^"'
Yeah you know, Ultimate Street Fighter 4, everyone's favorite
@Kaze_Memaryu Etrian Odyssey Untold and Pokemon don't count for best handheld because they're remakes, so they're automatically disqualified outside of the Best Remaster category, and SMTIV is from last year since this is a US awards show.
Edit: Also, the Monolith that's nominated for developer of the year isn't Monolith Soft by the way.
Bayonetta 2 for GOTY!
My Nintendo Locks:
I generally think all awards for creative content are pretty silly since they are completely subjective, but whatever. Hope Nintendo gets some love from the new "gaming academy." Maybe it convinces a couple of people to pick up a Wii U/3DS, which is good.
Broken Age is nowhere near as good as it should be. (It will be more obvious when Grim Fandango is re-released soon).
Legend of Grimrock 2 and Astebreed are glaring omissions from the indie category. (Both great examples of the types of games they are - better execution than Shovel Knight for certain).
The Spike VGA was a joke and they proved so when they chose Skyrim over Skyward Sword, you could tell there was money involved, Bethedesta didn't look surprised as if they knew 100%.
In other note:
MK8 and SSB4 will more likely win their nominations.
Bayonetta has a tough competition thanks to Shadow of Mordor and Alien. Sunset Overdrive its alright and AC:U its a joke even for an AC game.
It's been an overall pretty sad year, and Nintendo platforms still did quite well, with some truely amazing titles that could easily dominate their respective genres for several years to come, if not a generation.
So they should at the very least get a few rewards.
I was going to honour Shovel Knight's nomination by writing in 'butt-mode', but that would've been pretty confusing to get a message across.
Nintendo should win some...
but they probably won't
Though Beyonetta should win Action
Smash Bros. Wii U not being up for Game of the Year is surprising
"BEST Zelda Rap EVER!! By Egoraptor"
Oh god that's not a sword,
I'll never think of "It's dangerous to go alone. Take this" the same ever again
I'll be damned if Nintendo doesn't win developer of the year with all the high quality Wii U and 3DS releases. The only reason AC Unity can win over Bayonetta 2 is because people haven't played it and they are rooting for their favorite series even though in reality Unity wasn't a great release. In fact anything on Wii U may not win because people don't buy it thinking the titles are weak
@Kaze_Memaryu and they have been a d- to Nintendo lately
And Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze didn't make any nominations, not even best soundtrack... I guess today is "DKC Fan Disappointment Day".
@Nashew
Go on, grab your destiny
Best Remaster? Seriously? Lol. I want the "Best Annual Rehash" category as well.
GOTY for me was Dark Souls II even if it pales in comparison to the first one.
Missing categories:
-Most over hyped
-Most delayed
-Most similar to last years installment
-Best use of cutting content for DLC
-Best use of offline functionality when the internet's down
-Best in game advert
-Best use of Kinect.
@unrandomsam Honestly I loved Bravely Default even if the middle of the game needed to be original content and the twist should have been rapped up quicker. The ending sections are all worth it though.
No Smash Bros. AND Mario Kart 8 in the GOTY category? Just wow
@IceClimbers This is difficult.
@Mega719 Who, Ubisoft Montreal? Nah, they cool, even if Valiant Hearts wasn't brought to WiiU. Ubisoft Studios is the terrible company with terrible quality (Montreal is a semi-independent subsidiary, I think).
@shaneoh NO!!! **** YOU!!! **** YOU I'M NOT GONNA TOUCH YOUR-!
STOP THAT CHILLED OUT GROOVE!!! JEEZ!
Not enough nintendo games for GOTY.
Honestly if things were fairly judged, its only the action award and remaster that would be hard for Nintendo based products to win. I'm hopeful because MK8, Smash, Bayo 2 and Pokemon are packed with quality content and Nintendo as a company should win hands down.
@Peach64
"(Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros) are like sports games. It doesn't matter how good they are, they're the sort of game that is always surpassed by the next iteration."
-Looks at Mario Kart Double Dash then looks at Mario Kart Wii. Looks at Smash Bros Melee then looks at Smash Bros Brawl...
Eh, might have to disagree on that one.
I would love for Twitch Plays Pokemon to win. That wasn't just a meme or stupid video. It levels with well thought-out social commentary. Also, it spouted multiple funny memes on its own. So that's cool.
Here are my predictions for the winners. This may be overly pessimistic on my part due to the relative lack of Nintendo; I kind of hope so, anyway.
Action/Adventure: Alien: Isolation/Shadow of Mordor
RPG: Dragon Age
Fighting: Smash Wii U/Ultimate Street Fighter IV
Family: Disney Infinity 2.0
Sports: Forza Horizon 2
Mobile/Handheld: Heroes of Warcraft/Smash 3DS
Remaster: GTA V
Indie: Transistor
Fan Creation: Minecraft - Titan City
Developer of the Year: ??? (I don't know enough about some of the nominees)
GOTY: Dragon Age
I hope the Luigi Death Stare wins.
No Zelda U or Star Fox U for most anticipated game? This list is already baised to Nintendo gamers. At least Nintendo is in the lead of best developer with 12 votes
How is The Last of Us a remaster?
Mario Kart 8 not GOTY? That's strange...
@MasterWario It was just recently remastered for the PS4.
Smash is not GOTY ??? WTH
I"m slightly biased, but Nintendo should win ever category...just saying
only one i find debatable is racing genre, but should be mario kart easily.
I see Nintendo winning a lot of these. I also have to seriously question the "Game of the Year" nominees.
@Dr_Corndog I take it you have not played Bayonetta 2 such an amazing title and deserves to be game of the year in my opinion .
And Assassins creed unity wins best Action/Adventure for some reason and finally Nintendo wins nothing cause the awards are biased yay.
I am most happy to see Shovel Knight on the list.
I am most disappointed to see no Tropical Freeze.
Bravely Default for best RPG?
JUSTICE!
Glad to see so many other Nintendo nominees here too!
Bayonetta 2, South Park, Persona 4 Arena, Mario Kart 8, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros., Pokémons, Shovel Knight, Twitch Plays Pokémon, Nintendo, and Bayonetta 2.
Obviously.
The fact that "best remaster" is even a category makes me roll my eyes. Bayonetta 2 has my vote. It deserves some recognition.
Bayonetta 2: Game of the Year Edition ONLY on Wii U!
It really is a triumph that games like Divinity: Original Sin and Shovel Knight are on here, considering they're crowdfunded. If you asked someone in the know even just 5 years ago, they would have said that the crowdfunding model is a nice idea, but would not work as well as the traditional model, and certainly could never compete with it. I look forward to further advances beyond today's limited scope...
Bayonetta 2 gets highly acclaimed, but sells poorly... reminds me of Okami, Beyond Good and Evil, Psychonauts... Ok, a LOT of things... But unfortunately, the crazy witch might not get another chance at rebirth like these other examples... Because, you know, the Wii U is for "casuals"...
Blizzard, developer of the year? For what? Increasing consolitis in Diablo 3, making a WoW expansion with the same crippling issues as Cataclysm, cancelling their new MMO Titan, and continuing to marginalize their one recent solid overall success in Starcraft 2?
...Ok, how much Coca-Cola did Mr. Kotick and crew rub this organization's elbows with?
Theres a big difference between a proper remake (Omega Ruby / Alpha Sapphire) and an enhanced port (everything else, but The Last of Us PS4 Edition especially)...
I smell cash printing...
A lot of these categories feel really... strange. Still Nintendo does deserve to win a good chunk of those. Best action game, best racing game and best fighting game should all belong to their games. Maybe even developer of the year although I doubt they'll win that one.
My initial reaction to these was that nobody could complain about the nominations. No Titanfall, Watchdogs, Destiny, Call of Duty or Assassins Creed near GOTY. No suggestions of them picking based on sales or being paid off by big publishers. I underestimated the bitterness of Nintendo fanboys however. People wouldn't be happy unless they filled the GOTY category out with stuff like Hyrule Warriors just to make it all Nintendo. And Fantasy Life? I can understand people liking it, but it was not a well reviewed game.
I can definitely see MK8 and Smash winning their categories and Bayonetta getting best action and overall GOTY.
That's quite a lineup for Nintendo games, congrats! (:
@Peach64 I agree with you, the GOTY category is filled with creative and amazing games and I'm glad Bayonetta is one of them. Though you should expect some bias from a Nintendo orientated site ;p
Looking at the lists the Nintendo games have a great chance of winning quite a few awards, at least in mind. However, as always with these things, I feel when Nintendo does win it comes begrudgingly from the industry.
I can see at least five awards for B2, MK8 and Smash.
@Will-75 No, I haven't. But I was speaking more about the titles that were omitted than the titles that were included.
Super smash bros isn't for game of the year? That's stupid, and we all know that freaking overrated waste of time game Fifa will win sports section...
If Ubisoft wins dev of the year I'll die a little inside.
These awards are little more than an excuse for someone to plaster Game of the Year all over their re-released box art. I always find it amusing to find seven "Game of the Year 20XX" games sitting right next to each other on the shelves in stores.
It's sort of like all stupidity around the BCS Bowl games for College Football. You have teams that are barely over .500 celebrating like they are the champions because they beat another barely .500 team in the American Standard Toilet Bowl game.
I guess Smash Bros. and Mario 8 are obvious winners of their categories. Nice nomination for Shovel Knight as well.
This deserves a poll!!
WHY ISNT MARIO KART 8 IN BEST SOUNDTRACK
I have a feeling Nintendo's just going to win the Best Family Game category -___-
Wow, Nintendo is all over that list! For good reasons too. I'm a bit disappointed to not see DK and MK8 in the soundtrack part though...
Woah! These nominations a very interesting. Nothing about Watch_Dogs at all though!
Bayonetta 2 is the Game Of The Year !!!!!!!!
Tap here to load 82 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...