The Game Awards, the closest thing the video game industry has to the Academy Awards, is scheduled for December 3. So with only 3 weeks left until the show, nominees have just been announced for it’s 22 categories.
The nominees for the various awards span from every end of the industry’s spectrum, and the awards themselves range from Best Narrative to Best Indie Game to even Best Trending Gamer (whatever that means), so it seems like the show is going to be pretty interesting. Also, to bolster excitement, the members of the “Advisory Board” have been named, and apparently the panel is going to be including representatives from both Valve and Rockstar, as well as Reggie Fils-Aime and Hideo Kojima, among others.
What’s most interesting though, should be the Game of the Year nominees, which include From Software’s Bloodborne, Bethesda’s Fallout 4, Kojima Production’s Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker, and CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Meanwhile the Developer of the Year nominees are… redundant, because they are the exact five studios that developed the previously mentioned games. Figures I guess…
As someone who missed it the first time round and who all-in-all does’t really care much for award shows, I am unenthused. The show itself seems like it’s meant for those who really like all of the laughably straight-faced pomp and circumstance of real award shows, but are bored by the usual guarantee of getting to enjoy out-of-touch celebrity meltdowns. But then again, who knows whats going to happen? It might actually turn out pretty cool. My best case scenario… a drunken Phil Phish stumbles in and gets into a hardcore slug-fest with Reggie Fils-Aime over mean comments left on his Mario Maker Levels.
Anyways, here’s a full list of the nominees for each catagory
Game of the Year:
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Developer of the Year:
Bethesda Game Studios
CD Projekt Red
FromSoftware
Kojima Productions
Nintendo
Best Independent Game:
Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Undertale (tobyfox)
Best Mobile/Handheld Game:
Downwell (Moppin / Devolver Digital)
Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios | Behaviour Interactive / Bethesda Softworks)
Lara Croft GO (Square Enix Montreal / Square Enix)
Monster Hunter 4: Ultimate (Capcom)
Pac-Man 256 (Hipster Whale / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Best Narrative:
Her Story (Sam Barlow)
Life Is Strange (DONTNOD Entertainment / Square Enix)
Tales From The Borderlands (TellTale Games)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Until Dawn (Supermassive Games / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Best Art Direction:
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Best Score/Soundtrack:
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/ Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
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 (Treyarch / Activision)
Destiny: The Taken King (Bungie / Activision)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)
Splatoon (Nintendo)
Star Wars Battlefront (DICE / Electronic Arts)
Best Action/Adventure Game:
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions / Konami)
Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Studios / Microsoft Studios)
Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics / Microsoft Studios)
Best Role Playing Game:
Bloodborne (FromSoftware / Sony Computer Entertainment)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios / Bethesda Softworks)
Pillars of Eternity (Obsidian Entertainment / Paradox Interactive)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/ Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Undertale (tobyfox)
Best Fighting Game:
Guilty Gear Xrd –SIGN– (Arc System Works / Aksys Games)
Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Rise of Incarnates (Bandai Namco Entertainment)
Rising Thunder (Radiant Entertainment)
Best Family Game:
Disney Infinity 3.0 (Avalanche Studios / Disney Interactive Studios)
LEGO Dimensions (Traveller’s Tales / Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment)
Skylanders: SuperChargers (Vicarious Visions | Beenox Studios / Activision)
Splatoon (Nintendo)
Super Mario Maker (Nintendo)
Best Sports/Racing Game:
FIFA 16 (EA Canada / Electronic Arts)
Forza Motorsport 6 (Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
NBA 2K16 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 (PES Productions / Konami)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Best Multiplayer:
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (Treyarch / Activision)
Destiny: The Taken King (Bungie / Activision)
Halo 5: Guardians (343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)
Rocket League (Psyonix)
Splatoon (Nintendo)
Most Anticipated Game:
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Computer Entertainment)
No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
Quantum Break (Remedy Entertainment / Microsoft Studios)
The Last Guardian (GenDesign/ Sony Computer Entertainment)
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment)
eSports Player of the Year:
Kenny “KennyS” Schrub (Counter-Strike Global Offensive / Team EnVyUs)
Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok (League of Legends / SK Telecom T1)
Olof “olofmeister” Kajbjer (Counter-Strike Global Offensive / Fnatic)
Peter “ppd” Dager (Dota 2 / Evil Geniuses)
Syed Sumail “Suma1L” Hassan (Dota 2 / Evil Geniuses)
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 (Sledgehammer Games / Activision)
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
Dota 2 (Valve)
Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment)
League of Legends (Riot Games)
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)
Also you can keep up with everything going-on around the show on it’s official page, as well as buy tickets if your wanting to enjoy the show firsthand.