We have no idea what’s going on with the Spike VGX this year or even if there will be one. The annual celebrity-fueled, ad-hungry video games event was consistently chock full of controversy and disdain from the gamer community which is why last year host and producer Geoff Keighley helped re-brand the Spike Video Game Awards into the Spike VGX. It was a ratings success but still begged the question of whether it should continue.
The 2013 show, co-hosted by Joel McHale (Community) was more about the developers and awards, more about new announcements and loving the community. Despite a lot of awkward moments, last year’s event was an improvement over years past but this year, Keighley is out. He and Spike (and owner Viacom) gracefully parted ways (apparently) and instead, Geoff Keighley is hosting a brand new, non-network-reliant game show, simply titled The Game Awards 2014. And he’s doing it with the backing of Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony and bevvy of top game publishers.
The nominations for the first ever edition of The Game Awards were unveiled this morning and include the standard set of genre-based categories, a fan category for most anticipated title of 2015 (which mostly includes delayed games) and as a bonus, some love for famous YouTube celebs and eSports teams to help spread the word and bring in the “hardcore” crowd for approval.
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Best Shooter
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Sledgehammer/Activision Destiny - Bungie/Activision Far Cry 4 - Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Titanfall - Respawn/EA Wolfenstein: The New Order - MachineGames/Bethesda
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 Online Experience
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Sledgehammer Games/Activision Dark Souls II - From Software/Bandai Namco Destiny - Bungie/Activision Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Blizzard Titanfall - Respawn/EA
Best Mobile/Handheld
Bravely Default - Square Enix Monument Valley - Ustwo Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft - Blizzard Super Smash Bros. for 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 Narrative
South Park: The Stick of Truth - Obsidian/Ubisoft The Walking Dead Season 2 - Telltale Games The Wolf Among Us - Telltale Games Valiant Hearts - Ubisoft Wolfenstein: The New Order - Machine Games/Bethesda
Best Score/Soundtrack
Alien: Isolation - Christian Henson, Joe Henson, and Alexis Smith, The Creative Assembly/Sega Child of Light - Coeur de pirate, Ubisoft Montreal Destiny - Marty O’Donnell, Bungie/Activision Sunset Overdrive - Boris Salchow, Insomniac Games/Microsoft Transistor - Darren Korb, Supergiant Games
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
Games for Change
Mountain - David O’Reilly/Double Fine Presents Never Alone - Upper One Games The Last of Us: Left Behind - Naughty Dog/Sony This War of Mine - 11bit Studios Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Ubisoft
eSports Player of the Year - (To be voted on by fans)
Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson - League of Legends Xu “Fy” Linsen - Dota 2 James “Firebat” Kostesich - Hearthstone Christopher “GeT_RiGhT” Alesund - Counter-Strike: GO Matt “NaDeSHoT” Haag - Call of Duty
eSports Team of the Year - (To be voted on by fans)
Samsung White - League of Legends Evil Geniuses - Dota 2 Edward Gaming - League of Legends Newbee - Dota 2 Ninjas in Pajamas - Counter-Strike: GO
Trending Gamer - (To be voted on by fans)
Evan “Vanoss” Fong Jeff Gerstmann PewDiePie StampyLongHead TotalBiscuit
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
Best Performance
Adam Harrington as Bigby Wolf, The Wolf Among Us - Telltale Games Kevin Spacey as Jonathan Irons, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Sledgehammer Games/Activision Melissa Hutchison as Clementine, The Walking Dead: Season Two - Telltale Games Trey Parker as Various Voices, South Park: The Stick of Truth - Obsidian/Ubisoft Troy Baker as Talion, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Monolith/Warner Bros.
Most Anticipated Game - (To be voted on by fans)
Batman: Arkham Knight - Rocksteady/Warner Bros. Bloodborne - FROM Software/Sony Evolve - Turtle Rock/2K Games The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - CD Projekt Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End - Naughty Dog/Sony
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.
With the nominations coming before the year’s end, we’re faced with the usual issue of not all of 2014’s titles being included (like Ubisoft’s The Crew) but at least they got in the most recent two-three weeks which includes the largest batch of high profile releases. The deadline for eligible entrants was games released by November 25th. On the Canadian Videogame Awards front, the date of nomination eligibility was much earlier and meant that some of the year’s biggest titles (Assassin’s Creed Unity, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, etc.) didn’t make the cut.
The Game Awards 2014 takes place on December 5 at 9 PM ET / 6 PM PT in Las Vegas and will be host to several world premieres in addition to the awards. It airs on YouTube on Friday, .
Who deserves to win in each category?
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Source: Game Informer
