Mario Kart 8 Misses Out at BAFTA Game Awards, Though Indie Releases Earn the Spotlight

The BAFTAs have been baffling the last couple of years for their total omission of 3DS nominations.

British "critics" or "professionals" have consistently show they have no taste in entertainment. How did Destiny win?

These awards are a joke

I told y'all BAFTA was BS, but nobody listened.

Indie games are a joke.

Hahaha...

Wait, they aren't kidding? These awards make me ashamed to be British

Destiny, really? Seems DA:I was that best game nominated in that category.

This is hilarious, I'd be embarrassed to attend that xD

Destiny? REALLY? I mean, no offense to anyone who likes Destiny, but from what I heard, it's reception could've been better.

Destiny...
And what about Shovel Knight beaten by Never Alone? It seems that art direction is considered more important than gameplay...

@GraveLordXD Speaking of which, I'm not sure if I should be sad or impressed that a small group of people (in Cave Story's case ONE guy) can make a better game than most video-game companies with a high budget.

Pretty much goes to show how much of joke BAFTA is reall. The fact that no 3DS games were nominated at all is an absolute travesty

Folks, these are INDUSTRY awards. Nothing to do with high art or superior gameplay. It's all about money.

Mario Kart 8 is a solid game, but it really doesn't deserve any awards. It was basically just another predictable Mario Kart game. Having you drive on walls didn't actually change anything--it was still just regular old Mario Kart.

Fun for a while, but nothing really special. The feeling of "newness" didn't last very long.

Jeez, the predictable comments in here. Had Mario Kart 8 won awards, the posts would be exactly the opposite--praising the BAFTA and talking about how awesome the win is.

I was confused with Minecraft winning family game. Not that it's poor or anything, but I interpreted that category as meaning play as a family. Whenever I'm over at someone's place where a kid is playing it, they're kind of locked in. Is there a mode I don't know about?

shrug

@Quorthon In that case, I would have expected comments stating Smash was much better than MK8 and the judges don't know anything.

@Quorthon MK 8 is more than a solid game, and the anti gravity along with the 1-item mechanic make it different from MK Wii in many ways. Do I have to mention its music? Bowser's Castle song is beyond great

The only bad thing about this game is the lack of battle arenas, but that's it

Destiny? Seriously? Not saying it should definitely have been Mario Kart, but Destiny? And Mine Craft… best family game? And no 3DS games at all?

So... who does one have to pay/sleep with to get an award anyway?

@Jahir Britian in general is a joke...

Destiny won? look, Destiny looks fun, but well i'll let angry joe take over [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzopWRXK_r4] Also beware, there is some cursing

Destiny wasn't a bad game but it was disappointing I'd argue, the world feels lonely even when surrounded by other people, and there's not much in the way of cool stuff to find if you decide to explore, traded it in while it was still worth $30 maybe if they put out a GOTY edition with all the dlc I'll revisit it.

All the nominated mobile releases have higher metacritic ratings than all the 'big' 3DS games from last year. In some cases it's a huge gap. It's so ironic people say these judges have no taste and then say Fantasy Life should have been nominated.

If you watched one of these BAFTA ceremonies, you'd realise the people involved do know their stuff. They probably play a far wider range of games than most posters on this site for example.

Destiny won?

@Jahir

The anti-gravity didn't actually change the gameplay, just how the tracks spiral towards the camera--now with twisty animations. Big whoop. The game itself was still the same old Mario Kart they've been churning out for generations.

I enjoyed it for a bit, was "wowed" by some of the graphics, and then realized that the franchise has not changed at all. When I'm driving on ceilings, how is it different from when I'm driving on the ground? It's not. It's exactly the same. Even being upside down didn't actually feel like I was upside down.

Giving Mario Kart 8 an award would be like giving Fast and Furious 7 an award--"Congratulations! You've Changed Nothing!"

@Vineleaf

Good point. But then, I have similar sentiments towards Smash 4 as I do Mario Kart--an overall "been there, done that" feeling about the whole thing.

I think that's how I feel about most of Nintendo's games these days. They really do keep churning out the same franchises every single generation, and the only change is graphics.

I don't understand how some people can play the same exact games every generation and never get tired of them. I skip about half the Mario Karts, and the franchise still feels like the same old thing to me. Same with Call of Duty. I had my enjoyment with the franchise, but even with as good as Advanced Warfare is, I think I'm already looking forward for something else--it changed a lot of things, but it's a new generation--it's time for new games.

Hell, I reached this point with Zelda after Wind Waker on the GameCube, and Skyward Sword didn't revive my interest in the franchise. It was still the same old predictable Zelda.

Maybe this is part of why Xenoblade Chronicles and Punch-Out held my attention so well--they were so refreshing among a sea of the same old thing over and over again. Maybe what I need is to just skip Nintendo for an entire generation. Maybe then I'll feel like this stuff is new again.

That kinda worked with the GameCube--I largely abandoned the N64 (still my smallest Nintendo console library), and when the Cube rolled around, it was exciting again. Granted, it helped that the GameCube had such an awesome library, and the last time a Mario Kart game actually felt fresh to me.

/bummer

@Quorthon You miss the point greatly. Sure MK8 might seem like more of the same but its a very solid game at that and one of the best Mario Karts yet to say that it wasnt GOTY material is nonsense. You wonder how people can play the same games every generation and not get tired of them? Well have you ever considered that Nintendo only puts out new installments in ther major franchises usually once or twice a generation rather than releasing say a new Mario Kart ever year. This helps stave off franchise fatigue and make each new game feel fresh and they certainly take their time and put in a solid effort hence why the launch of a New Mario Kart or Smash is considered by many to be a major event each generation. You say how they didnt change anything hmm lets see new tracks check, new characters check, improved online check, DLC with guest character, check, new items check, better balance check, You want a real example of changing nothing at all go ask COD

@Peach64 3DS still had several solid titles this year Smash, Pokemon ORAS, Fantasy Life, Kirby Triple Deluxe, the problem has less to do with taste and more with the fact that 3DS was essentially snubbed entirely which is kinda insulting. And you argument with the metascore isnt really fair since mobile games tend to be much more frequent and numerous release wise compared to 3DS games

If Mario Kart 8 didn't win anything and Destiny did, you know there's some sort of problem.

Mario Kart is great and deserves awards but it can't win them all and the game is barely advertised in UK so it doesn't surprise me the judges didn't vote for it. I think Titanfall was a more fun new game than Destiny but everyone would complain even more if that had won. If they were realistic about the most loved games in UK then FIFA, Football Manager, Bejewelled Clone 35 and F2P collectathon would probably win every year.

Right I am off to play Mario Kart

Since when is Minecraft a family game?

@Octane seems they have stretched the term to mean "family/kid friendly"

Lol...Destiny? I heard that game got great reviews...

Destiny, really? As a guy that loves FPSes, I wouldn't touch that game with a ten foot pole! Hell, I would have probably be a little mad if Mario Kart 8 won a award, as SSB4 deserve it more.

Hahaha, oh man, I can't believe Destiny won best game. The other winners seem more deserving, so congratulations to those.

Destiny is no GOTY, Dragon Age definitely. Glad Alien Isolation won audio achievement, Ive been playing it the last few weeks, and its truly terrifying. Thanks largely to it excellent (and creepy) audio, which is a key factor in playing/surviving the game. Well deserved!

@Quorthon I don't know how you play Mario Kart 8, but anti gravity changes gameplay, it may not seem like a huge change but it still makes playing MK8 very differently from MK Wii or 7. I've played a lot of Mario Kart through my life and I don't play this game like any other in the series.

AND the course design is amazing as well as the soundtrack. Not nominating MK8 in some of these awards is a joke... Like you comparing F&F with MK. What the heck man?

Destiny? Lol. Clearly paid by money or peerage. Rubbished by every gaming critic yet loved by the BAFTAs what a joke.

All award shows are a complete joke, even ones like The Game Awards where Nintendo won a fair amount. The methods to find out the best games are always corrupt!

"The anti-gravity didn't actually change the gameplay, just how the tracks spiral towards the camera--now with twisty animations. Big whoop. The game itself was still the same old Mario Kart they've been churning out for generations."

@Quorthon Have you even played the game? The drifting physics were directly affected in the antigrav sections. Try making a drift turn on the N64 Rainbow Road the way you did in the original version. You'll fall off the track.

@Jahir

It's not a huge change and it doesn't improve or drastically alter the formula in any way. It's so minor a change that it takes literally only a couple races to adjust to it.

So little has changed in the Mario Kart formula that I hammered out Gold medals across the game so quickly, I might as well have just picked it up as a weekend rental.

Did anyone experience any learning curve at all for the game? Unless you've never played one or are simply extraordinarily terrible at the games, I'm guessing the answer is no.

Let's face reality here, Nintendo's games are typically solid, but a big part of that is that every one is just another AC/DC album--the formula never changes and they release the same games every generation. Now, I love AC/DC, but they don't change their formula enough to warrant buying every single album, or hearing every song. And I'm starting to see Nintendo the same way--they are strictly formulaic in how they approach and design their games. Super Mario titles, Mario Kart titles, Zelda titles, Smash Bros, Kirby, even Metroid particularly in that Zero Mission, Super, Fusion, Prime, and Other M all use the same weapons, items, environments, enemies, and generally the same flow, with the exception that Other M reduced the exploration to brainlessness and added the worst story this side of a teenager's angsty Pokemon slashfic. The first boss of every Kirby game is always Wispy Woods. Regardless of gameplay gimmicks (yarn or 10 mini-Kirbys, etc), the games still flow the same way and follow most of the same concepts. Kirby is a bit less formulaic in that the franchise has branched out in the Yarn and Mass Attack varieties, but it still goes back to regular old, formulaic Kirby after those experiments.

Mario Kart 8's differences are so breathtakingly minor that I might as well have been playing almost literally any other game in the franchise--barring the generally broken, rubber-band-to-the-maximum Mario Kart 64.

Mario Kart 8 was not revolutionary. It did nothing truly different or groundbreaking. At best, it was a graphical upgrade to a tried-and-true formula that will never change, and hasn't changed in well over a decade. It doesn't deserve to win awards for "staying the course."

Quality is nice. But anyone can do quality if they're just following the same formula over and over again. Give the average person a color palette and a pain-by-numbers and they too could paint the Mona Lisa or Starry Night. And that's how I feel about Nintendo these days. They aren't innovators. They aren't trying to expand or grow in their design or creativity. For the most part, they're making games in a color-by-numbers manner because that's what the majority of their core fanbase constantly buys. That is not worthy of recognition.

Sure, Destiny had problems, but guess what? At least there was an effort to try doing something different, even if it didn't always work.

Nintendo talks about "being different" and offering unique experiences, while the reality is they release more ports and remakes than anyone else, and their games are more formulaic and predictable than pretty much anywhere else in the industry.

This is why I'm eager for Splatoon--it's a rare glimmer of light that reminds us that Nintendo used to be creative and daring, put together by Miyamoto as a "new blood team" as even he realizes what the rest of Nintendo and the fans refuse to admit: The company is in a rut, and stagnating under this formulaic predictability.

For all the promises made of the way the Wii or Wii U were supposed to be different and revolutionary, Nintendo still just churned out the same old games with the same old concepts and the same old ideas and they did little that was truly new and nothing revolutionary. We got 1:1 sword-swinging action--in a Zelda game that didn't break from convention at all. We got a shiny new Mario Kart for the Wii U--that seems adamant to ignore the existence of the highly-touted GamePad.

Mario Kart 8's lack of growth or innovation is indicative of a problem that is too deeply rooted in this once-revolutionary company.

Mario Kart 8 already won my heart, as well as my wallet.

@Vineleaf Agreed, it's sad that an actual portable device dedicated to gaming like the 3DS keeps missing out on video game awards, while mediocre cellphone/tablet games are the only ones being regarded. Seems awfully biased to me.
You'd think they'd at least give SSB for 3DS at least one nomination. Despite not featuring all the modes, and features the WiiU version had, the 3DS version was quite impressive, has some of it's own unique nice touches, and did a good job translating the SSB formula to a handheld state. Before playing it, I never imagined SSB could "work" for a handheld, but surprisingly it does.

@mike_intv I guess "family game" means a game anyone can play, but I don't really see many parents who play "Minecraft" with their kids. "Minecraft" is more of a single-player game, so I can't really see it being something the "whole family" can get together, and play.

Also, honestly, while Minecraft looks like a neat "sandbox"-style game, I feel it's very overrated, and I never understood the big deal with it.
Plus, it's kinda hard for me to want to play the game after it's creator intentionally skipped the Nintendo systems, when releasing it on multi-consoles... (I really hate it when game creators do that... Release games for every system possible, except the Nintendo ones, they've been doing that with some games sense the SuperNES days... It always feels like not only a middle-finger to Nintendo, but Nintendo fans to. Also, it's not like the WiiU isn't "powerful" enough to handle it. A game that uses only like 8 polygons on each character...)
That wouldn't of bothered me as much, if the creator of it, didn't make factious remarks about the WiiU which also kinda bugged me. Even if they weren't as harsh as Bob Summerwill's. I especially, didn't like that remark, "“Don’t worry Nintendo fans, I love both games for the Wii U, and I’m really looking forward to the third one in 2015!” (Ironically, according to Wikipedia, WiiU actually has more games then the PS4, and X-Box One...)
Also, what makes it worse was Takahashi of Nintendo http://nintendoeverything.com/miyamoto-and-takahashi-comment-on-minecraft/ actually expressed interest in bringing Minecraft to WiiU & 3DS, in order to help the game become more popular in Japan. (Because apparently, it's not as hugely popular there, as it is in North America, and Europe.)

I hate to sound butthurt, and fanboy-ish, but it's really hard for me to want to play a game by somebody who openly mocks us Nintendo-fans like that after not release their game on said system. (Same goes for EA's Bob Summerwill for saying we only buy "Mario & Zelda," and that we're not as "important" a market as mobile phones...)

@Peach64 I see, you still don't know what you're talking about... Shovel Knight for the 3DS should be the clear winner since we are going by your metascore ratings.

"All the nominated mobile releases have higher metacritic ratings than all the 'big' 3DS games from last year" -Peach64

Not one of those nominated mobile games surpased metacritics top 3DS game and only 2 games nominated came close to Shovel Knight, after that it's Braverly Default, Super Smash Bros and Persona Q. Quit your misinformation.

Blatant *holes Frequently Talking Arse.