[News] The BAFTA Game Awards

Apparently, The BAFTA Game Awards are in a couple of weeks time and the list of nominations is out.

Quote:

BEST GAME

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Fable II
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

ACTION & ADVENTURE

Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dead Space
Fable II
Grand Theft Auto IV
Prince of Persia
Tomb Raider: Underworld

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin’s Creed
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dead Space
Gears of War 2
LittleBigPlanet
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

CASUAL

Boom Blox
Buzz! Quiz TV
Guitar Hero: World Tour
LittleBigPlanet
SingStar Vol. 2
Wii Fit

GAMEPLAY

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Grand Theft Auto IV
Left 4 Dead
Mario Kart Wii
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

HANDHELD

Geometry Wars: Galaxies
God of War: Chains of the Olympus
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Patapon
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Soul Bubbles

MULTIPLAYER

Buzz! Quiz TV
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead
Mario Kart Wii
Rock Band

ORIGINAL SCORE

Assassin’s Creed
Dead Space
Fable II
Fallout 3
LittleBigPlanet
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

SPORTS

FIFA 09
Football Manager 2009
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Pure
Race Driver: GRID
Wii Fit

STRATEGY

Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Ninjatown
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise

STORY AND CHARACTER

Assassin’s Creed
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Fable II
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Mass Effect

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin’s Creed
Fable II
Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet
Spore

USE OF AUDIO

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dead Space
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet
Super Mario Galaxy

BAFTA ONES TO WATCH AWARD
in association with Dare to Be Digital

Boro-Toro
Origamee
VegeMe

GAME Award of 2008

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Fallout 3
Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Guitar Hero World Tour
Left 4 Dead
LittleBigPlanet
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Wii Fit
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

ACADEMY FELLOWSHIP

Nolan Bushnell

You can vote for the GAME award here.

It's a fairly unpredictable list, although I'm surprised to see Assasins Creed up there quite so much. Interesting too that LBP isn't up for best game, given that every other Top 10 list on the internet recently has been sucking it's cock so hard. Perhaps the fact that it's dropped to £15 in the shops already is an indication that after the initial novelty value wore off, nobody was that bothered about it? This being BAFTA, I imagine the majority of awards will go to Brits so expect a GTA clean sweep. Nice to see Nolan Bushnell getting some recognition too, a fellowship of BAFTA is a pretty prestigious thing.

Any thoughts, comments or alternative nominations, post 'em here.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Man. Isn't Modern Warfare like old, old already? Also surprised to see LBP going below Assassin's Creed for Artistic Achievement.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Fable II was also made by one of you limey fucks, so I would imagine that has a chance too.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Terminus

Man. Isn't Modern Warfare like old, old already? Also surprised to see LBP going below Assassin's Creed for Artistic Achievement.

Well I guess they looked at the whole year, rather than just the last two months like the Oscars do. Also, I'm pretty sure the lists are in alphabetical order...

Fable 2 has got a chance, true, but Peter Molyneaux (However you spell that) isn't a hugely popular figure in the industry over here so depending on the politics of the thing might get snubbed. I mean, I might be completely wrong but historically, BAFTA always favour Brits in all their awards.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

LBP is up for Best Game for public vote though. Voted for L4D, obviously.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I totally voted for Professor Layton and the Curious Village, and I was incredibly pleased to see it made the GAME award list.

How ya doing, buddy?

There's a casual award. Wat? =|

How ya doing, buddy?

Might as well shunt them into their own little corner so people can't whine about them being excluded.

Incredible lol at "Best Game" not being the same as the "Gameplay" award.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

The Strategy category is seriously messed up. Ninjatown? Viva Pinata DS? There has to be something better, although I understand Rare getting the nod for being in the UK.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Salient Worm

Incredible lol at "Best Game" not being the same as the "Gameplay" award.

Why so? Sure gameplay is a very big part of what makes a great game but that's not the only factor in determining what's the best game of the year. Let's say that you thought that GTAIV had the best gameplay of all games out last year but instead of the lavish visuals and sound it actually had, it was a wire-frame, blocky vector graphics and monotone beeps for sound effects game. Would it then be the best game of the year? Better than any games with not quite so fun gameplay but presenting a more complete package of visuals, sound and gameplay?

No, of course not.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It took me a moment to figure out that I didn't actually miss a new Advance Wars game, it's apparently just named differently in the UK. Why would they change the name just because if one little ocean?

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Shin

Better than any games with not quite so fun gameplay but presenting a more complete package of visuals, sound and gameplay?

I actually would say that, yes. It's more apparent when you think of it from a genre perspective: the reason people still play Starcraft is because they think it has the best mechanics of the RTS genre, despite it being surpassed in terms of graphics, sound, plot, atmosphere, etc.

So I guess my problem is that there's an overall "best" at all, when I don't think you can compare genres that easily. Certainly not without an attempt at establishing some criteria.

Also: even if I concede your point, well, it's not like any of the "gameplay" nominations have sufficiently poor visuals/sound/whatever for them to lose the title, do they?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I've gotta agree, gameplay is king. "HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THAT CAR BLOW UP."

*trade in the game*

I'm sorry, but if a game is truly the game of the year, you won't go into my store and see 40 copies of it stacked on the wall that have been traded in. How many copies of Fallout do we have? One, maybe. How many Little Big Planet? None. How many Mario Galaxy? Perhaps one. Maybe you can give a game like Call of Duty 4 best multiplayer, but a 6 hour single player game with no replay can't get my vote.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Imagine you score a game on gameplay 10/10, sound 6/10, graphics 8/10, story 5/10

Another game we give 9/10 across the board.

The second game has to be the better game.

It's a mistake to only consider gameplay. Under Siege is a more 'watchable' movie than, say, Tarkovsky's The Mirror but you wouldn't call the Seagal movie a better film and expect to be taken seriously. Why aren't you leaving any room for things like art direction and music? Aspects which, in the right hands have a lot of love and care poured into them? Shin's right, a game has to provide a complete package and it's the game that has them all and comes closest to marrying them into one well rounded gaming experience that has the right to be called 'Best'.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Different people have different things they look for in a game, too. I myself would put a lot of emphasis on gameplay, music and story, and if those are great, the game could be in 8-bit for all I care. As long as it doesn't try too hard to look amazing and fail, graphics aren't really important to me.

On the other hand, some people love looking at expansive, detailed environments, and being able to destroy them. Others are willing to trade story for other things, and some games can't really have a story so they have to focus on other things (racing or sports games, for example). A lot of games are never given the chance to shine because they are lacking in just one area.

Take Wind Waker for example. Yes, the art style was cartoony. Yes, sailing everywhere could get annoying. Yes, some people didn't like the big long triforce fetch quest at the end. But it was still a great game. The levels were well designed, the characters were interesting to say the least, and everything about the game just had an atmosphere of fun around it. And the cartoon style was meant that way. At least if Link's a cartoon character we don't need to question why he survives getting shot out of a cannon at a giant fortress. Wind Waker was a sort of goofy Zelda game, and some people were hoping for a serious one and got disappointed, that's all.

Granted, I don't like the GTA series, and i've never played it, but I think that has more to do with me being a pacifist than anything else.

This is why it is so hard to choose one game that is better than all the rest for any given year. They can't all be rated on the same scale because they're not all trying to accomplish the same thing. Wind Waker wasn't trying to be serious, the same way that GTA doesn't try to be comical. It's all about perspective and personal opinion. This is probably why most games that win game of the year are often titles that appeal to a large audience and are fun for everyone.

FELIPE NO