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Reader Comments (15)

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 11:08AM (Unverified) said

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I must say, that it saddens me to see 'Indigo Prophecy' up for best story. The first half of the game is brilliantly plotted and paced, yes, but then it all falls to pieces when it 'jumps the train'. Frankly, I'm not questioning it's position as one of the best stories of last year, more lamenting that it's the best we have to show for ourselves.

I wonder if The Two Thrones was out too late to make the cut, because that was some great story telling.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 11:21AM (Unverified) said

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I liked the story in Geometry Wars: "Kill the alien squares!" It was a nice simple one that couldn't get screwed up.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 11:29AM (Unverified) said

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What's really sad is the fact that I haven't even heard of half of those games. Mediocrity these days.. gosh.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 11:33AM (Unverified) said

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What about Fire Emblem: The Scared Stones for the best story, it had a nice one, or it doesn't count?

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 11:49AM (Unverified) said

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3: How could you not have not heard of these games? I think pretty much every highly acclaimed game of the year is on there.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 12:16PM (Unverified) said

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I would like to applaud joystiq for NOT nominating God of War for every category. I hate when a game sweeps inidvidual category awards like this, because while the game is good, there are alot of areas where other games were better.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 12:17PM (Unverified) said

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None of the games have stood out enough for me to even be remotely interested in purchasing them, I guess. I'm a fairly active casual GC, PC, GBA and Xbox gamer (in that order), but there really haven't been any stand out games in the past year. I'm not the only one, I believe there was a Joystiq article about that a little while back. Hopefully that'll all change with the new consoles.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 1:35PM (Unverified) said

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I'm kind of curious as to why a game journalist is able to vote in the _Developer_ Choice Awards.... Not that I don't think journalists are an important part of the industry, but they're not developers. I trust the GDC Awards because they're picked by people who make games, and can recognize technical excellence that's deeper than the surface.

Is it just an IGDA membership?

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 2:33PM (Unverified) said

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Thanks for putting this up, Dan! I’ve been anticipating this post ever since you asked us what we’d vote for, if we were as privileged of gamers as yourself. Here are my thoughts on your choices:

Best Game:

I would have chosen Animal Crossing over Shadow of the Colossus. I’m guessing you were thinking it was too close to Animal Crossing on the GameCube. Either that, or you’re just a horrible, horrible person.

New Studio:

As long as you chose Double Fine Productions for Psychonauts, I’m fine with it. You did, so I am.

Audio:

Call of Duty 2 is the one that I said I’d vote for, if I was voting. So, good choice!

Character Design:

We disagree strongly on this one. Shadow of the Colossus isn’t even in the same realm as Psychonauts, much less Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath.

Game Design:

Good picks.

Technology:

Choosing PGR3 over Nintendogs is craaaaaaaaaaaaaazy! You must be a cat person.

Visual Arts:

Thank you for choosing Resident Evil 4. Did you ever find out why it was nominated in so few categories? It was clearly console game of the year (I’d say game of the decade, which could be upgraded to “Game of the Century.” Now that’s impressive!).

Writing:

Pretty good picks, although I would have went with Jade Empire over Indigo Prophecy. But I would have gone with every single other movie nominated at the Academy Awards, over Crash – so what do I know?

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 3:10PM (Unverified) said

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I'm with you on the studios (I'm excited about Wideload) but not picking Electroplankton in the Audio category? Dude! That game is music through and through!

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 5:13PM (Unverified) said

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dsub, QFT:
"I would like to applaud joystiq for NOT nominating God of War for every category. I hate when a game sweeps inidvidual category awards like this, because while the game is good, there are alot of areas where other games were better."

Though I don't even know why you guys gave it best game design. What was so good about the "gameplay mechanics, puzzles, play balancing, scenarios, etc." that made it better than Psychonauts? It's a weak field from what you're given, I know, but still.

Posted: Mar 8th 2006 5:41PM (Unverified) said

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Hey, how about doing one of these for the independant games vote on gamespot? perhaps a vote for strange attractors? *wink wink* ... hehehe

Posted: Mar 9th 2006 2:12PM (Unverified) said

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Hey, I like the choices overall. However, the technology category perplexes me (both the nominees and your choices). It's a less subjective category-- it's pretty clear who's got good tech and who doesn't, once you investigate a bit.

Guitar Hero is a special controller and a mediocre engine. I love the game, but it made no advances in technology. I don't see how it was nominated-- its tech is all 5 years old.

PGR3 is solid, and it's tough to do that with a launch title, so I agree there-- big props to them.

I can't believe passing up Shadow of the Colossus, though. It clearly had the most innovative and advanced tech, and executed it excellently. It used a number of non-obvious techniques (whereas PGR's were obvious, but shipped first). It's the only title nominated that advanced game technology in a way that wasn't already being done by a dozen other teams.

Posted: Mar 11th 2006 12:14AM (Unverified) said

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All right, it's time to address the comments in the only way I know how... with another comment! =) Here goes, and I hope you don't take my opinions as anything more than the subjective inclinations that they are.

First off, I can't really say why the majority of IGDA voters supported one title over another--that's just how the cookie crumbles, I suppose. If more of the voting block played your favored game and liked it, perhaps we'll see some different results in the future.

KimiSan, having played Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones a couple times through, I can say with relish that it had great characters and an involving storyline. Unfortunately, the overall plot was a bit cliched (especially for a turn-based strategy RPG), which probably reduced any chance of it being nominated to pretty close to zero. Sad, but true.

I didn't nominate or vote for God of War in every category, dsub, because I simply felt it wasn't the best in every category, but I won't begrudge anyone else who cast their ballot differently.

Oddly enough, bingle, there is a demographic job category when signing up for the IGDA as "Other - Press/Media." You can guess that that's how I signed up for my paid membership--and yes, I personally covered the full cost of joining. See the sign-up page here:

https://www.igda.org/join/join_member.php?join=regular

Sloopydrew, Animal Crossing for the DS was a portable version of the GC great, but it took away some of the retro emulation that made the older game such a treat. Shadow of the Colossus seemed to have a much greater impact on players in general. Psychonauts is a mighty "Fine" game, and Call of Duty 2 wins with its atmospheric audio. Colossus also got the nod for character design due to the originality in boss design, though the "character" of the rest of Ueda's world definitely contributes as well. I probably like cats and dogs equally well, but the network technology behind PGR3's GothamTV wins out over the innovative design of Nintendogs (which is why I chose it in the Game Design category). Writing can be a very subjective thing, but Psychonauts (dodging the question) actually got me laughing out laud at my TV. That's worth something in my book.

More to come...

Posted: Mar 11th 2006 12:36AM (Unverified) said

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Responses to comments continued...

Conrad, Electroplankton is definitely music through and through, but its interactive aspect might be lost on a lot of folks who can't quite "get" the title as a game. In light of that, I figured the wiser choice might be to go with Guitar Hero (full of great songs, even for those without a strong love of heavy shredding) and Call of Duty 2 (for the audio-based reasons which enhanced gamer immersion mentioned above).

God of War got the Game Design nod, obo, specifically because its "gameplay mechanics, puzzles, play balancing, scenarios, etc." impressed me more than the same aspects in Psychonauts. (Nintendogs also had to fit in somewhere in that category.) On the other hand, Psychonauts was a genuinely funny game with great characters--see Writing and Character Design picks--while God of War was funny in a I-can't-believe-how-that-guy-died kind of way. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

For theberlindoctor, all I can say is that I've played a lot fewer independent games than I have the big titles nominated, so it would be a lot harder for me to judge such a selection. (Notice my not knowing what to do with New Crayon Games for Bonnie's Bookstore.) Maybe I can participate once I'm more familiar with the field.

One final look at the Technology category for stiill: Guitar Hero's tech is really nothing new, but it's how Harmonix pulled together the elements from Amplitude and Frequency into that old-tech controller that made the game what it was. We can agree on PGR3, but Shadow of the Colossus... it's a great use of the PS2's limited power, but I actually expected more graphically from the game. Not that Guitar Hero is a real looker in that department, either, but it wins for me based on a combination of other technical categories mainly centered on the incredible use of an expensive peripheral, which is why I can't wait for the upcoming expansions/sequels. I have to admit this was a tough choice, though.

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