WGA nominates Singularity, New Vegas, more for writing award

by Justin McElroy on Jan 6th 2011 10:30PM

You may look forward to Christmas with the family or that first magical snow, but our favorite winter tradition is seeing what befuddling games the Writer's Guild of America has chosen to nominate for the year's best writing. Some notable previous nominees include Wet, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and (no joke) Crash of the Titans.

But it's really let us down with the 2010 lineup:

Sure, we could have picked better games (Mafia II, Enslaved, Alan Wake, Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption, just for starters) but none of the selections have the puzzling punch of previous picks like The Simpsons Game or Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble. Congratulations, it would seem, are in order for whichever WGA member's nephew got to pick these this year.

So way to go, kid. You don't have good taste in games, but at least you aren't a nutjob.

Update: As some of our readers have been kind enough to point out, WGA awards are limited to members of the organization, which may explain some of the more notable omissions. So now you know.

Source: WGA

Tags: microsoft, pc, playstation, ps3, writers-guild-of-america, writing, xbox

Reader Comments (53)

No Heavy Rain??? FAIL

@Tradio

To be honest, Heavy Rain's story was filled with many plotholes. While I certainly believe the game was innovative and helped open up a new genre, the story did fail on certain parts.

@Tradio while heavy rain's story is great, quantic dream is a french studio, which means it's not eligible for the award from the american writers' guild.

Not that most of the nominations make any sense, but still.

@Abriael

Alan wake in my opinion was the best written game of 2010 and it should have been noticed instead of x men origins: wolverine

@Miami Prodigy The lack of alan wake in this list is just wrong. i mean the game is based on writing and had one of the best stories in a game iv'e ever seen

I personally LOVED the story in Singularity. It had a good plot, good twists, the 3 endings were all amazing. And to top it off, the gameplay wasn't all bad, even fun for most of the game. I completely agree with the nomination.

@AFinalUltimatum

Singularity was an amazing game, I'm glad to see it get a nomination as well.

@AFinalUltimatum

I'm on board with this train of thought. Singularity was underrated as Hell.

@AFinalUltimatum
Agreed.
Too bad the multiplayer was laggy and is now abandoned. I only had 2 achievements left.

they were looking for attention from alternative media sites and just got it. success 100% from the writers guild.

@Jack Kevorkian um, I really don't think that's what they were going for. I think they're just bad at this

@TheDarkWayne you are wrong. alternatively, writers for video game blogs are looking for attention from the writers guild. you think journalism majors want this?

its a symbiotic relationship.

@Jack Kevorkian the writer's guild is a union ffs, not your local area news network or some independent young games journalist. What does it matter to them what video game blogs report? Advertising? Unlikely, again, they're a union, you don't really need to advertise a union, and they probably don't care about website traffic. Video game writers are only one part of the WGA anyway.

@TheDarkWayne awards are given only to gather traffic to your site, radio show, tv show, etc. If the writers guild "awards" are limited to a lower form a media it is a play to get to a higher form of media.

The Oscars is simply a bullshit made up award show that gained attention from the right people. Now a billion people watch it on tv every year. It is a business nothing more nothing less. Everyone is vying to be the next oscars. Peoples Choice. VGA Awards. Nickelodeon you name it. The writers guild wants that. they want money. promotion is how you get it.

I LOVE Singularity and am glad to see it on this list.

The Force Unleashed 2? Geez, that had the most heart crushing story. It wasn't sad in content, I just couldn't believe how terrible it was, there wasn't anything there at all. I didn't even realize the game was close to being over until I actually got to Vader. Just terrible

@TheDarkWayne

It's upsetting too because the gameplay had improved dramatically over the original. But the story was just so terrible this time. I mean, wtf was the point (aside from getting more sales) of even having Yoda in there?

@Tapejara that was one of the worst parts. "Oh hey, i'm just here, living in exile, waiting for the last of the jedi to come so I can train him to save the galaxy, but I'm just gonna lazily ignore this guy who is twice as powerful as Darth Vader, no big deal"

*SIGH* They have to be part of the WGA to be nominated.

for f*ck sakes...

@mylittlepwny I think most people can recognize that, but even still, my God, there has to be enough writers in the WGA for there to have been SOMETHING to pick other than the force unleashed 2

Crash of the Titans... as in Bandicoot?

@Grand Kerfuffle I think the author might be Asian.

New Vegas has some of the best writing for any media, let alone video games and if you don't think so than I feel sorry for you

@esbeekay patrolling the mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter

@TheDarkWayne but honestly, I mean really? I love New Vegas, i've spent like 180 hours already, I can't put it down, but some of the best writing ever? Come on. It had really interesting characters, a cool overall story and lots of cool little secrets, but it wasn't really that great. Just by virtue of there being so many characters, almost none of them save Caesar, a few companions and maybe House (but house was mostly due to the exceptional voice acting) had any real depth or personality. I can't even really think of any mind blowing or at least really good conversations except for maybe meeting caesar the first time

@TheDarkWayne Yes, really.

Two prime examples are Cass and Arcades companion missions. Both quests examplified the nuanced, multilayered character writing Obsidian is famous for. They did an excellent job of making the characters feel real, weather it be their fear, self doubt, or in Cass's case, vengeful nature. Tabitha, Raul, the Stealth Boys causing insanity amongst Super Mutants, the human who thinks he is a ghoul- all very unique, clever and often humorous quest lines/stories.

Not to mention the almost novel-size amount of back story found in terminals and the environment, the stories behind the vaults, and the increasingly complex truth behind the Sierra Madre.

Maybe I'm just a Fallout fanboy, but I find the writing across all the FO games to be some of the best around

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my
yelling "X! YOU WILL SUFFER FOR THIS!" has become a regular expression of anger for me and mine

I definitely agree with the New Vegas nod, but the rest are kind of... ennnh. And Red Dead was definitely not a well-written game. So many of the characters just announced what their particular personality quirk was (or spouted off endless conversations that were basically "here's the themes of the game!"). A definite case of telling instead of showing.

@MatthewBlackwell I'm not sure what to think of it. I want to defend it and say the writing was really good, but I'm not sure if the writing is the part of it I liked. The best parts of the game that come to mind are like when Bonnie longingly looks as John and Abby ride away, obviously grieving or at least thinking about what could have been. Or how fatherly John is towards Jack and how it's expressed how deeply he loves him and Abigail. But I can't pin it down if that's because of the writing of those moments, or because of the voice acting, the animation and all those other factors. Either way, I'm positive the writing has at least some part to do with it, im starting to lean more towards a very large part, but it definitely deserves to be up there more than almost all of those games

GoW 3 for best writing? I bet Michael Bay can start thinking Oscars now.

I wonder why TRON: Evolution didnt get a nomination? Not that it is great writing but its a movie game. That should count for everything.

I liked God of War 3's story but there's still one plothole that bugs me

(WARNING SPOILERS)

When Kratos kills himself at the end of 3 the contents of Pandora's Box are released from him and he gives hope to the world. So, why didn't that happen when Zeus killed him in GoW2?

@Tapejara

Maybe because in 3 he gave it up, but in 2 he didn't want to? He was kinda extremely pissed off

@Tapejara because the story in God of War is terrible, that's why

@TheDarkWayne

Well I thought the first one had a good story. Two was ok, and three was somewhere in the middle.

I love mafia 2s story. I think im the only one in the world but i dont really care

@pro cow tipper

I enjoyed Mafia 2's story, up until the ending.

I know i watched a dev diary on it and they said they were gonna let the player choose the ending but they changed it because "thats not what vito would do" but you cant tell me he wouldnt have killed those punks and saved joe

I liked GOW3's story. It was interesting, if anything because I was anxious to find out which god was up next on the chopping block...

Can't speak for any of the others since I didn't play any of them (I want to play AC:B sometime soon though). I can't help but think Black Ops should have been nominated, if anything because the story was truly good and gripping, something that I haven't felt for a COD game's campaign since COD4. Like Joystiq, I'm also extremely surprised Mass Effect 2 wasn't nominated either.

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my are you sure it didn't remind you of pirates of penzance?

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my

Cass!!!

I think this should have said "Best writing in a commercial for a Video Game" as all of these titles were VERY heavily promoted (excluding Singularity).

@Arsenal wha?

@TheDarkWayne

As in there was a large amount of money spent on advertising these titles through the mainstream media and I have to believe that given the questionable writing in some of these titles people simply voted for the ones they were exposed to through some form of advertisement.

New Vegas... really?

@Enosoma
Why not?

WGA = Epic Fail

If they actually put in the last third or half of a full game on the disk, The Force Unleashed would've had a chance to win again.

Just give posthumous awards to TES3: Morrowind and Planescape: Torment and close up the yearly awards forever, cause it doesn't get any better than that.

I'm actually kind of delighted to see Singularity get *some* kind of recognition. It's definitely my underrated game of the year -- in that, the scores it received were too low, and not in the sense that it was a great game hardly anyone played, which is what 'underrated' is typically used to mean, ironically enough.

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WGA nominates Singularity, New Vegas, more for writing award

Reader Comments (53)

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:32PM Tradio said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:42PM Tapejara said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:01PM Abriael said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:29PM Miami Prodigy said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 12:01AM skelbono said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:33PM AFinalUltimatum said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:41PM Tapejara said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:54PM Jerk Face said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 11:05AM Timerider said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:36PM Jack Kevorkian said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:37PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:43PM Jack Kevorkian said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:43PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 12:10AM Jack Kevorkian said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:36PM Dougtastic said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:36PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:45PM Tapejara said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:48PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:37PM mylittlepwny said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:44PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:41PM Grand Kerfuffle said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 12:19AM The Pasha said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:41PM esbeekay said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:44PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:52PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 7:18AM esbeekay said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:44PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:47PM MatthewBlackwell said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:00PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:51PM Hong Dong said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:53PM Jack Kevorkian said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:54PM Tapejara said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:01PM Ventus said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:01PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:25PM Tapejara said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 10:58PM pro cow tipper said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:00PM Tapejara said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 6:56PM pro cow tipper said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:15PM Sly C said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:46PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:32PM atriux said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:33PM Arsenal said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:46PM TheDarkWayne said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 12:13AM Arsenal said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:34PM Enosoma said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 5:24PM DecepticonCobra said

Posted: Jan 6th 2011 11:47PM endgamer77 said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 12:13AM Schlecht said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 12:47AM wcarnation said

Posted: Jan 7th 2011 2:24AM Ovy said

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