It’s that time of year again. We’re just entering Oscar season and gaming’s own award show, conviently named “The Game Awards”, is scheduled for December 3rd. The show will have twenty two catagories this year, with all the nominees having just been announced. A full list of all the catagories and their respective nominees can be found at the bottom of this article.
Now I’ll be honest here, I don’t exactly have the highest opinion of The Game Awards. I’m not usually the first to beat the diversity drums, but a quick look at their jury list reveals that their judge panel is all male, which is actually sort of impressive considering the crazy amount of talented women working in the industry today. The “Games for Change” catagory also kind of rubs me the wrong way. What are the qualifications for this catagory? Because right now they might as well rename it to “The games those SJW’s like” catagory. Like seriously, I fucking love Life is Strange, but I have no clue what’d make it a “game for change”. It’s basically just a gesture allowing them to acknowledge critical darlings or cult-hits without having to nominate them for any real catagories. But hey, at least it’ll probably be better than the Spike Video Game Awards.
And for fuck’s sake give Susan Arendt a call or something.
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)