Joystiq

Journey, Dishonored and The Room win big with BAFTA game awards

Mike Schramm — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:00:00 EST

Journey took top honours at this year's BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) game awards, with five different gongs going to thatgamecompany for Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Best Online Multiplayer, Best Game Design, and Best Original Music.

The Unfinished Swan picked up two awards, for Game Innovation and Debut Game. Dishonored won the award for Best Game in 2013, and iOS tactile puzzler The Room picked up an award for the Best British Game.

Valve's Gabe Newell was given an Academy Fellowship award for his storied career, while the "Ones to Watch" award (meant to showcase the best young game dev talent) was given to a game called Starcrossed, made by students working with the Dare to Be Digital competition.

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Journey, Dishonored and The Room win big with BAFTA game awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BioWare doctors to receive GDCA Lifetime Achievement award

Sinan Kubba — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:30:00 EST

The Game Developers Conference announced BioWare co-founders Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk as the winners of this year's Lifetime Achievement Award. At the GDCAs on March 27, the doctors are to be honored with one of the industry's most prestigious prizes, won previously by such luminaries as Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Hideo Kojima.

"The BioWare doctors are truly a unique breed," said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of GDC events. "Not only have they created some of the most emotionally-engaging and beloved games ever made, they are two of the most passionate, engaging, just all-around nice guys anyone could be fortunate enough to meet... There's no denying the deep footprint Ray and Greg have made, and how much their dedication and leadership will be missed in our industry."

18 years ago, the two recently graduated Canadian doctors, along with Augustine Yip, forged a studio that went on to shape Western role-playing games for nearly two decades. Under their leadership, BioWare transformed from a close-knit studio of dozens into a worldwide force of hundreds. That's largely been down to the consistent quality and popularity of the games they've made, including the likes of Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect.

We caught up with Dr. Zeschuk recently to see what beers he'd pair with particular game genres. We're sure he'll have a certain tipple in mind for when he and Dr. Muzyka celebrate their award, and whatever that proves to be, it'll certainly be well deserved.

BioWare doctors to receive GDCA Lifetime Achievement award originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Journey, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3 lead BAFTA 2013 nominations

Sinan Kubba — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST

Journey scooped eight nominations in the British Academy of Film and Television's Games Awards this year. As if it hadn't won enough of the like, thatgamecompany's PS3 odyssey is a contender for BAFTA's Best Game award, competing with Dishonored, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, and The Walking Dead for the prize.

It's the two latter games that also lead the way in terms of nominations; Far Cry 3 received six nods, while The Walking Dead picked up seven, including two in the Performer category for Melissa Hutchinson and Dave Fennoy's respective portrayals of Clementine and Lee.

Dear Esther is also clearly popular at BAFTA HQ. The melancholic game, developed by indie studio thechineseroom, can boast a very impressive five nominations including ones in the British Game and Debut Game categories.

The full list of nominees is after the break. BAFTA's Games Awards take place on March 5.

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Journey, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3 lead BAFTA 2013 nominations originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rayman Jungle Run grabs App Store GOTY award

Sinan Kubba — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:00:00 EST

Accomplished auto-run platformer Rayman Jungle Run is the App Store Game of the Year 2012. Ubisoft's iOS evolution of Rayman Origins, which received 10 free bonus levels earlier this month, pipped word game Letterpress to the award.

On the iPad-specific front, Fireproof's 3D puzzler The Room came away with the main prize. The runner-up spot went to IGF finalist and Joystiq favorite Waking Mars.

There are at least a few pairs of raised Joystiq eyebrows at Super Hexagon being omitted, but Terry Cavanagh's twitch game did at least pick up the Runner-Up award from the App Store's UK branch. To celebrate, Cavanagh slashed 66 percent off the game's price, making it available for a limited time at a bargainous $0.99.

Rayman Jungle Run grabs App Store GOTY award originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dream Build Play finalists for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone announced, winners soon

Mike Schramm — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 04:30:00 EST

Microsoft has announced the 40 finalists in its latest Dream Build Play competition, featuring standout titles developed with the Windows Phone Software Development Kit for the Xbox 360 or Windows Phone operating system.

The games entered were judged on qualities like innovation, the production quality, and the fun factor, and all of the entries were narrowed down to these 40, with 20 on each system. The final prize-winning games will be announced in a few weeks from now in early September.

The finalists come from developers all over the world, and include games like the zombie fighter RPG Dead Pixels, "fantasy flight game" Windhaven, and the electricity-powered puzzler, Super Volt. The final prizes in the competition include cash prizes and possible publishing agreements, but odds are that we'll see more than one of these titles make it out to public release after the competition, with or without Microsoft's involvement.

Dream Build Play finalists for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone announced, winners soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 04:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'A MAZE. Indie Games Award' is open for submissions, amazement

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:30:00 EST

The A MAZE. Indie Games Award 2012, held during the Deutsche Gamestage in Berlin from April 26 to 27, is now taking submissions and will award one single indie game the "Most Amazing Indie Game" title, which would be a pretty awesome thing to put on your resume. The winner is selected by a "high-profile international jury" to be revealed in March, and will receive €5000 ($6,599) and a suitably "amazing trophy."

Submissions are open to anyone and everyone, for a fee of €45 ($59) through March 30, with finalists announced in mid-April. This is just a hunch, but now might be the time to build that rat-maze game you were thinking of at 2 a.m. that one night -- the one with the makeup-testing and cancer-treatment levels. Again, just a hunch.

'A MAZE. Indie Games Award' is open for submissions, amazement originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BAFTA nominates Arkham City, L.A. Noire, FIFA 12 for best of 2011

Jessica Conditt — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:30:00 EST

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has released its nominations for the 2012 Video Game Awards, which honors the top games from 2011 as chosen by the charity. The British stand-outs differ from our Yankee choices slightly, stressing the brilliance of Batman: Arkham City, which also made our Top 10 of 2011 list, but also including L.A. Noire, which hit our Best of the Rest, and FIFA 12, which... well. Just because we share a language doesn't automatically mean we share interests.

Check out the entire list below:

Continue reading BAFTA nominates Arkham City, L.A. Noire, FIFA 12 for best of 2011

BAFTA nominates Arkham City, L.A. Noire, FIFA 12 for best of 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 19 Feb 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Skyrim snags another best of show gong at 15th annual AIAS awards

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:45:00 EST

Like the sun rising in the East or our daily tribute to the almighty caffeine deity, we've come to expect writing a post at least once a week announcing yet another award for Skyrim. This week is no different, with Skyrim taking top honors at the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards in Las Vegas last evening.

The studio took home five awards in total for the dragon-infested, open-world RPG, alongside fellow multiple award winners Uncharted 3 and Portal 2. We've dropped a full list of winners after the break, but before you head there allow us to be outraged for you that Skyward Sword didn't win any awards. Outrage! How could they? Etc.

Continue reading Skyrim snags another best of show gong at 15th annual AIAS awards

Skyrim snags another best of show gong at 15th annual AIAS awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GANG announces nominations for 10th annual awards in game audio

Mike Schramm — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:15:00 EST

The Game Audio Network Guild (which translates to the convenient acronym of GANG) has announced its nominees for the 10th annual GANG Awards to be held at GDC, honoring the best music and audio in interactive entertainment over the last year. You can see all of the nominees in the press release after the break. As you might imagine, Battlefield 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Portal 2 are all nominated, all of which boasted very excellent and memorable aural experiences.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, however, leads the pack in nominations, with nine total, including Audio, Music, and Sound Design of the Year. Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary also got a nod for Best Soundtrack Album, despite the fact that most of the music is as old as the awards ceremony itself. And while most of the choices are obviously worthy, there's one more worth mentioning: Bastion was only nominated for one category, for Best Audio in a Casual/Indie/Social Game. Shame that it's relegated to just that category -- "Build that Wall" is one of the best listens our ears have had all year, video game-related or otherwise.

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GANG announces nominations for 10th annual awards in game audio originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 Feb 2012 06:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cliff Bleszinski to host GDC Awards, Schatz returns for IGF Awards

Jessica Conditt — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST

Planning to attend GDC? If you are, you'll get to see everyone's favorite design director of Epic Games, Cliff Bleszinski, host the 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, replacing Double Fine's Tim Schafer as host. The Independent Games Festival Awards is kicking it old-school with 2007-2009's host, Andy Schatz of Monaco, winner of the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Excellence in Design awards in 2010's IGF.

Peruse the list of finalists for both award shows right here, and look for winners to be announced March 7 from GDC.

Cliff Bleszinski to host GDC Awards, Schatz returns for IGF Awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Star Wars: The Old Republic wins Guinness award for most voice acting

Mike Schramm — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:00:00 EST

Star Wars: The Old Republic might not have picked up too many "Game of the Year" awards in 2011 (due mostly to the fact that it was out for about 10 days when the year ended), but that hasn't stopped EA from getting some awards declared for the game anyway.

First, the company declared its own title the "fastest-growing subscription MMO" around, and now it's worked with the Guinness Book of World Records to declare SW:TOR the "Largest Entertainment Voice Over Project" of all time. The 2012 Gamers' Edition of the famous world record publication has a whole guide to Star Wars video games over the years, and also heralds BioWare's Knights of the Old Republic as the best game with Jedis ever made.

True, KotOR is great, and the MMO has over 200,000 lines of quest dialogue spoken by a couple hundred voice actors, so Guinness hasn't missed its mark. But it sure seems like EA's fishing a little far out in the bay for compliments on this one. How about giving us a call when the game is ready to win the Guinness award for most polished Mac release, guys?

Star Wars: The Old Republic wins Guinness award for most voice acting originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 07 Jan 2012 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fez, Johann Sebastian Joust win at the IndieCade 2011 awards

Mike Schramm — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:30:00 EST

The 2011 IndieCade Awards were held in Santa Monica last evening and, in a pretty informal event, Phil Fish's Fez came away with the biggest wins of the night. It received two awards, one for Story/World Design, and the second for the Best in Show prize. Johann Sebastian Joust, a physical game that challenges players to hold PlayStation Move controllers still while getting audio feedback in musical form, also picked up two awards: one for Best Technology, and another award for Impact on the community.

Tom Sennett's manic Deepak Fights Robots won the award for best Gameplay Design, Superbrothers' Sword and Sworcery EP picked up the award for Visuals, and Proteus, in which players are offered up a musical environment to explore, won for best Sound. Interaction went to German physical game Ordnungswissenschaft, and the Special Recognition award went to side-scrolling puzzler platformer The Swapper.

The ceremony itself was short but wacky. Presenters like Samm Levine and Martin Starr (of TV's "Freaks and Geeks"), as well as web video stars Team Unicorn and Sandeep Parikh, cracked sometimes awkward jokes, while the indie developers themselves acted (unsurprisingly) indie. Joust's team used one of their awards speeches to silently demo the game, and Tom Sennett took the stage to simply announce, "I'm Tom Sennett, and I don't give a fuck!" Fish himself (above) laughed maniacally after winning his second award, and then joked that he thought the Canadian Sword and Sworcery team was going to win. "Take that, Toronto!" he joked.

We'll be at IndieCade over the rest of the weekend, so stay tuned for more coverage.

Fez, Johann Sebastian Joust win at the IndieCade 2011 awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Indiecade 2011 finalists announced, include Fez, Skulls of the Shogun and Sword and Sworcery

Mike Schramm — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:55:00 EST

The IndieCade Festival has announced its list of finalists for next month's event in Culver City, California, and it's going to be a packed house. There are no fewer than 36 indie titles on the list. From bigger profile titles like Bit.Trip Flux, Fez, and the XBLA-bound Skulls of the Shogun to smaller affairs like the great Desktop Dungeons and the five-year-old powered Sissy's Magical Ponycorn Adventure, the festival's games run the gamut.

There will be developers from all over the world at the event, and all of the finalist games will be playable at the festival on October 8-9, with the last 10 awards being passed out at a Red Carpet Awards ceremony on October 6.

The finalists were chosen from 446 submissions to the festival by group of 100 jurors. Past IndieCade finalists have found lots of success, either as downloadable titles on PC, or even indie releases on XBLA or PSN. And with the quality in this year's list, that trend will likely continue.

Continue reading Indiecade 2011 finalists announced, include Fez, Skulls of the Shogun and Sword and Sworcery

Indiecade 2011 finalists announced, include Fez, Skulls of the Shogun and Sword and Sworcery originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Sep 2011 20:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gamescom awards announced, Battlefield 3 wins Best in Show

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:40:00 EST

Though we're still very much in the thick of Cologne's premiere video game convention, Gamescom 2011, an "independent expert jury" has already picked out the cream of the crop from the titles in attendance. The big winner, pulling down the coveted Best of Gamescom award, is Battlefield 3, which won the designation from a panel of press and publishers with a unanimous vote.

The jury also chose a few other big winners from the show's participants, including:

Best Hardware or Hardware Accessories -- PlayStation Vita
Best Console Game -- FIFA 12
Best Mobile Game -- Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Best Online Game -- Star Wars: The Old Republic
Best PC Game -- Diablo III
Best Browser Game -- The Sims Social
Best Family Game -- Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster

Gamescom awards announced, Battlefield 3 wins Best in Show originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Canadian Game Development Talent Awards announced

Mike Schramm — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:05:00 EST

The Alliance numérique is a Canadian digital industry network that's putting together, in conjunction with the Canadian Interactive Alliance, the first-ever Canadian Game Development Talent Awards. This ceremony will honor Canadian finalists and winners in a number of different categories around video gaming, putting a spotlight on the creative talent available in America's neighbors to the north.

The Canadian video game industry is growing by leaps and bounds. Not only is the audience surprisingly large up there, but Pierre Proulx, General Manager of Alliance numérique, says that Canada is "now the third most important cluster in terms of video game development in the world," presumably after Japan and the United States.

The awards ceremony is being chaired by developer Jason Della Rocca, and will take place on November 2, 2011 at the Montreal International Game Summit. You can see the full announcent after the break.

Continue reading Canadian Game Development Talent Awards announced

Canadian Game Development Talent Awards announced originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Modnation Racers DLC rolls out

Mike Schramm — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:30:00 EST

More ModNation Racers DLC was promised, and here it is: a Water World parts pack and a new fire-engine themed kart plus racer are now available in the game for your microtransaction purchase. "Backburn" is a fire fighter racer, and he's got a miniature fire engine to drive, available for $1 each or a 25 percent off if you buy them together.

The Water World parts pack allows players to insert rafts, slides and even an inflatable shark into their ModNation Racers courses. That pack is $6.99, and joins the Big City Career Extension Pack and Arctic Career Extension Pack (both $9.99) in the PS3 and PSP versions of the game.

Finally, the PlayStation blog is also awarding the "Moddies" this month, celebrating the best user-created content from the game. You can see the results over here -- some of those tracks and mods are very, very well done, and all of them are up for download right now. Congrats to all the honorees!

New Modnation Racers DLC rolls out originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eidos 'life president' Ian Livingstone to be named 'development legend'

David Hinkle — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:15:00 EST

Can you imagine? Your name is attached to legendary franchises like Tomb Raider and Hitman; the people sing your praises in the streets. Every day, a small peasant child brings a jug of fresh goat's milk to your door. You're Ian Livingstone, Eidos "life president."

And now you're getting an official accolade from the 2011 Develop Industry Excellence Awards: the Development Legend Award. The award "acknowledges a raft of work done to support games developers and the video games industry across a career lasting over 35 years so far."

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards take place on July 20 at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Brighton, UK.

Eidos 'life president' Ian Livingstone to be named 'development legend' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 05:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peter Molyneux receiving BAFTA Fellowship

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:15:00 EST

A couple weeks after he picks up his lifetime achievement award at GDC 2011, Peter Molyneux will continue his award tour by picking up a similar accolade with the British Academy of Film and Televisions Arts' (BAFTA) Fellowship. He'll just have to swing by this year's GAME British Academy Video Games Awards on March 16 -- or, they can surely just mail it to him if he's tired of being praised by that point.

The Fellowship is awarded for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry through an individual's body of work. With series like Fable, Populous and Dungeon Keeper attached to his CV, it's not hard to see why the organization wants to give Molyneux another trinket for his collection. According to a BAFTA rep, previous winners include Will Wright, Nolan Bushnell, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock and, last year's recipient, Shigeru Miyamoto.

Peter Molyneux receiving BAFTA Fellowship originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mass Effect 2 wins GOTY, RPG, storytelling awards at DICE 2011

Alexander Sliwinski — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:46:00 EST

Tonight's 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (i.e., the DICE awards) saw Mass Effect 2 cruise off with honors for Game of the Year, RPG of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Story. However, Red Dead Redemption ended up with more trophies, riding away with wins for Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Character Performance, along with Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Art Direction and Gameplay Engineering.

The portable and casual categories were filled with rage, as God of War: Ghost of Sparta won the award for Portable Game of the Year, while Casual Game of the Year went to the ferocious fowls of Angry Birds HD.

Check out the full list of award recipients after the break.

Continue reading Mass Effect 2 wins GOTY, RPG, storytelling awards at DICE 2011

Mass Effect 2 wins GOTY, RPG, storytelling awards at DICE 2011 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Red Dead Redemption lassos ten GANG audio award noms ... Dante's Inferno summons seven

Christopher Grant — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:00:00 EST

When it comes to acknowledging the standout audio accomplishments in gaming every year, we look to the Game Audio Network Guild and its annual GANG awards, which selects five (or more!) nominees in categories like "Audio of the Year" and our personal favorite, "Best Use of Multi-channel Surround." It should come as no surprise that Rockstar's ode to the West, Red Dead Redemption, leads the pack with a whopping ten nominations including "Best Original Vocal - Pop" for both Ashtar Command's "Deadman's Gun" and Jose Gonzalez's (pictured) excellent "Far Away."

More of a surprise is the game with the second-most nominations: Dante's Inferno. For all the problems with Visceral's ode to ... God of War, its production values were never among them. Dante managed to snag seven nominations, including "Sound Design of the Year" and "Music of the Year." Ironically enough, the actual God of War 3 only managed to pull in six! Check out the full list of nominees after the break, and check back on Thursday, March 3rd when the winners will be announced during the Game Developers Conference.

Continue reading Red Dead Redemption lassos ten GANG audio award noms ... Dante's Inferno summons seven

Red Dead Redemption lassos ten GANG audio award noms ... Dante's Inferno summons seven originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Neil Patrick Harris to host VGAs, hopefully in a legen- (wait for it) dary manner

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:30:00 EST

There are few people on this planet we admire more than one Mr. Neil Patrick Harris, the length of whose name is matched only by the depth of his comedic talent -- which is to say that there's a lot of it. However, we're of two minds about how to react to the announcement that NPH would be fulfilling hosting duties for the 2010 Spike VGAs, which, once again, we have been dragooned into watching and reporting on this year. (Man, this job sometimes, we swear.)

Again, we're big, big fans of Neil (who provided one of the four Spider-voices in Shattered Dimensions), and his bit during last year's VGA ceremony was one of the highlights -- but the first time he busts out some unconvincing nerd-speak, or gets danced all-up-on by models with award winners' names painted on their torsos, we're going to have a full-on panic attack. We've got all our fingers crossed that those won't occur, though leaving our fingers in that position might make it a little difficult to type snarky comments about the rest of the show. Hmmm.

Neil Patrick Harris to host VGAs, hopefully in a legen- (wait for it) dary manner originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IndieCade 2010 award winners announced

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Last night's IndieCade 2010 awards ceremony recognized some of the best independently-developed games released over the past year, as well as Tim Schafer, who was not released over the past year. The full list of winners can be found after the jump.

You're probably familiar with some of them, provided your gaming tastes wander off the beaten path -- there's Playdead's haunting platformer Limbo, Ian Bogost's Atari 2600 gem A Slow Year, and Steph Thirion iPhone title Faraway, which won something called the "Sublime Experience Award." We're sure the other honors are just as prestigious, but that's the best name for an award we've ever heard.

Continue reading IndieCade 2010 award winners announced

IndieCade 2010 award winners announced originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:20:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Last night in Austin, Texas, the creators of some of this year's biggest and boldest online games were honored during the Game Developer's Choice Online awards ceremony. In particular, Riot Games and its heavyweight debut title, League of Legends, took home half of the awards up for grabs, including Best Online Technology, the Audience Award and Best New Online Game. It also took home "Best Game With a Title That Reads 'LOL' as an Acronym," but that's not ... a real thing. That's a thing we made up, just now.

Check out the real list of real winners after the jump.

Continue reading GDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big

GDC Online Award winners announced, League of Legends wins big originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 08 Oct 2010 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tim Schafer to be honored with lifetime achievement award at IndieCade 2010

Mike Schramm — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:45:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

IndieCade will be awarding its Honorary Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement to none other than Tim Schafer, he of the Secret of Monkey Island series, Psychonauts and most recently Brütal Legend. Schafer was chosen for the honor as a role model to indie gamers everywhere, and for personifying "the risk-taking, boundary pushing spirit at the heart of the indepedent gaming community," according to a statement from the conference.

IndieCade 2010 takes place in about a week on October 8-10, 2010 in Culver City, California. Schafer will get his award presented to him by former (and current) colleague Ron Gilbert at the ceremony on Thursday night, hosted by Levar Burton.

Tim Schafer to be honored with lifetime achievement award at IndieCade 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Path honored with awards in Spain, goes half price to celebrate

Mike Schramm — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Surreal horror/exploration indie title The Path was one of the finalists at last year's Indiecade festival, and it's been honored again with two awards at Bilbao, Spain's hóPLAY International Video Game Festival. The game won Best Sound and Best Design, and its creator, Tale of Tales, picked up a tidy sum of €12,000 ($16,000) in prize money.

To celebrate, the company is putting the game on sale, and you can pick up a digital copy right now for just $4.99, half of the usual price. Careful, though -- it's a creepy experience, combining a strange retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood tale with dynamically generated music and environments. Congratulations to Tale of Tales on the awards, which it says is the first actually won in its eight-year history. Always a finalist, finally a winner.

The Path honored with awards in Spain, goes half price to celebrate originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2010 Develop Awards finalists announced

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Once again, it's time for European video game creators to get what's coming to them. Whoa, that was way more menacing than it should have been -- we're talking about sweet, sweet awards! Develop Industry Excellence Awards, to be specific, which will be bestowed upon European development and publishing studios of all sizes on July 14, provided those studios have done anything to make them worthy of receiving accolades. You know, like how all awards ceremonies work.

Even if you don't hail from the westernmost Eurasian peninsula, you should recognize a few names from the full list of nominees (Remedy! Black Rock! Quantic Dream!), which we've posted after the jump.

Continue reading 2010 Develop Awards finalists announced

2010 Develop Awards finalists announced originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Game Developers Choice Online Awards to be held in October

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 27 May 2010 11:49:00 EST

Creators of online games, be they MMOs, addictive social networking applications or anything in between, will soon receive recognition in the form of impressive statuettes. GDC Online (formerly titled GDC Austin) will play host to the Game Developers Choice Online Awards on the evening of October 7. According to the event's announcement, awards will be distributed based on "excellence in live services, technology, game updates, online game design, and more."

In addition, one lucky online game visionary will receive the Online Game Legend Award, and one "all-time classic online game" will be inducted to the GDC Online Awards' Hall Of Fame. Finally, anyone can nominate and vote for their favorite titles in the Audience Award category. As soon as the FarmVille nation finds out about this, it should become number one with a bullet, so get your votes in while things are still even.

First Game Developers Choice Online Awards to be held in October originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 May 2010 11:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Killzone 2 soundtrack wins first Ivor Novello award for gaming

Andrew Yoon — Fri, 21 May 2010 16:46:00 EST

Although Killzone 2 didn't win many Game of the Year awards from gaming sites, it has managed to garner a number of other noteworthy nods. In addition to winning a Roses Design award in November, Guerrilla's PS3-exclusive FPS has now won a Ivor Novello award for "Best Original Video Game Score."

Composer Joris de Man has the special honor of not only winning the award, but winning the very first award given to a video game in the organization's 55-year history. Should you want to re-experience the now-award winning score, the soundtrack can be found on iTunes for $10.

[Via CVG]

Killzone 2 soundtrack wins first Ivor Novello award for gaming originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 21 May 2010 16:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed 2 takes seven at MI6 Awards

Ben Gilbert — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:15:00 EST

As if Assassin's Creed 2 hadn't already taken enough prestigious awards (not to mention a number two spot in our best of 2009 list), the MI6 released word today that the game also earned seven gold awards in marketing at the fifth annual MI6 Awards on April 1 in San Francisco. From "Outstanding Overall Integrated Marketing Campaign" (though all the cool kids call it the "OOIMC" -- pronounced "oo-imp-ka") to "Outstanding TV or Theatrical Ad Campaign," AC2 swept the awards show, only closely lead by Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and NBA 2K10 at four each (remember folks, these are awards for marketing).

If you'd like, the whole list is available here (in PDF format, so you know). And yeah, if you hadn't already guessed, the Darkside Chronicles shirt was totally voted "Best Swag." Deservedly so.

Assassin's Creed 2 takes seven at MI6 Awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BAFTA announces 2010 Video Games Awards winners, goes batty for Batman

Randy Nelson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out its 2010 Video Games Awards in London this evening, but it was a resident of Gotham City who came away the big winner. Although Uncharted 2 bagged yet more trophies -- Best Action Game, Best Use of Audio, Best Story and Best Original Score -- Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum came away as the Academy's choice for Best Game of 2009.

Other notable winners include Flower (Artistic Achievement), LittleBigPlanet PSP (Best Handheld Game) and Wii Sports Resort (Best Family Game). You can see the full list of winners by category after the break. Congrats, Bats!

Continue reading BAFTA announces 2010 Video Games Awards winners, goes batty for Batman

BAFTA announces 2010 Video Games Awards winners, goes batty for Batman originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq live at the IGF/GDC Awards 2010

Ludwig Kietzmann — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:34:00 EST

Update: Uncharted 2 wins big (again) at the Game Developers Choice Awards, and Pocketwatch Games' Monaco takes home the IGF Awards' Seumas McNally Prize. A complete list of winners is posted after the break, followed by our liveblog coverage.

Continue reading Joystiq live at the IGF/GDC Awards 2010

Joystiq live at the IGF/GDC Awards 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 21:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bookie suspects Uncharted 2 has highest odds of success at BAFTAs

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:30:00 EST

British bookmaker Victor Chandler has a strange sense of what things people should be betting on. For instance, we never would have thought that high-stakes wagering would ever find its way into the British Academy of Film and Television Awards. Yet somehow, gambling on the BAFTAs has becoming a thing, leading Chandler to tally up the odds for each of the awards show's categories.

Perhaps a bit unsurprisingly, Chandler's calculations place Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in front of the video game category -- the only award chosen by a public poll -- with odds of 6/4. Modern Warfare 2 falls slightly behind that with 9/4 odds. Check out the full breakdown of nominee's odds to take home the prize after the jump. We went ahead and split our life savings evenly among the ten contenders, guaranteeing us a victory when the BAFTAs are distributed March 19. Man, we're so good at gambling.

Continue reading Bookie suspects Uncharted 2 has highest odds of success at BAFTAs

Bookie suspects Uncharted 2 has highest odds of success at BAFTAs originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Miyamoto recognized with prestigious BAFTA Fellowship

Mike Schramm — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that it'll be awarding Shigeru Miyamoto with the storied BAFTA Fellowship award, which is "the highest accolade the Academy can bestow on an individual for their creative work." Miyamoto will receive the award in a ceremony next month. It's a pretty high honor for his work in film and television, which includes this Mega64 video and this old kids' television series.

Oh wait, no -- it's actually part of the British Academy's Video Games Awards, and it is honoring him as the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. That makes much more sense. Nobody should be giving anyone awards for the Super Mario Bros. movie.

Miyamoto recognized with prestigious BAFTA Fellowship originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation 3 Slim sweeps the 2009 Engadget Awards

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST

Up against the likes of the ... um ... Popcorn Hour C200 and the ... erm ... Asus O!Play (we'd better leave the gadget stuff to the folks who know what they're talking about), Sony's PlayStation 3 Slim has triumphed as the 2009 Engadget Awards winner in both "Game Console of the Year" and "Home Entertainment Device of the Year" categories. In fairness to the other game consoles, the Home Entertainment Device category didn't exactly feature Microsoft and Nintendo devices (the awards are for devices specifically released in 2009, as you might imagine), so the closest competitor (at 9.6 percent) was the HP MediaSmart Home Server -- the PS3 Slim took a commanding 54.3 percent of the vote.

In terms of the Game Console of the Year award, the margins were significantly ... slimmer, with the PS3 taking 43.3 percent of the vote, followed close behind by the Xbox 360 Modern Warfare 2 Edition at 31.2 percent. The Slim also made the Editor's Choice top pick for Console of the Year, rounding out the love fest. Also of note, Wii's MotionPlus landed on both lists as well for "Game Accessory of the Year," beating out the Modern Warfare 2 night vision goggles by just 4.7 percent. Your giant golden USB hubs will be mailed out shortly, winners! Congrats!

PlayStation 3 Slim sweeps the 2009 Engadget Awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uncharted 2 wins Writers Guild of America games writing award

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST

We've lived with an unspoken fear in the back of our minds since the middle of January, when the nominees for the Writers Guild of America video game writing award were first announced. We weren't sure if we could live in a world where X-Men Origins: Wolverine was decorated over Assassin's Creed 2 and Uncharted 2 for having the year's best in-game writing. Fortunately, this fear has been dissuaded: Last night at the WGA awards ceremony, Uncharted 2 writer Amy Hennig took home the prize.

In a way, though, we feel bad for Ms. Hennig. How frustrating must it be to know that you can't get comfortable in your seat for too long at one of these awards shows? And can you imagine how many acceptance speeches she's had to write over the past month? The poor thing.

[Thanks, Fintan!]

Uncharted 2 wins Writers Guild of America games writing award originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DICE 2010: Uncharted 2 wins like everything at Interactive Achievement Awards

Christopher Grant — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:35:00 EST

When we awarded Uncharted 2 our top spot in 2010, we simply thought we were aligning ourselves with other people with impeccable taste; however, after reading the results from last night's 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (i.e., the DICE awards) we've discovered that we've also aligned ourselves with the entire video game development community. While we only bestowed a single award on Naughty Dog's latest outing, the Academy dropped ten awards on ol' Nathan Drake and friends, including Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering ... oh, and Game of the Year. (Pictured above: Some of the Naughty Dog team, visibly exhausted from climbing up to the stage ten times.)

While Uncharted 2 was the hands-down "winner" last night, there were 17 other awards handed out (some of which we're sure Uncharted would have won, had it been eligible). Other familiar names on the list (which can be found in its entirety after the break) include: Batman: Arkham Asylum, with three awards; Scribblenauts, with three awards; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with two awards; and Brütal Legend, with two awards.

Congratulations to all the winners. Oh, and let's just give Naughty Dog all its awards at once from now on; it's tough to make award-winning games without any cartilage in your knees.

Continue reading DICE 2010: Uncharted 2 wins like everything at Interactive Achievement Awards

DICE 2010: Uncharted 2 wins like everything at Interactive Achievement Awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Uncharted 2 & Assassin's Creed 2 headline GANG Award finalists

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:15:00 EST

We thought we'd reached a point in the year where Uncharted 2 and Assassin's Creed 2 would stop being nominated for awards; apparently, we were wrong. The Game Audio Network Guild adorned both games with nine nominations in its 8th annual Audio Awards. Winners will be announced and awards will be distributed on March 12 in San Francisco, alongside the Game Developers Conference.

Check out the full list of nominees after the jump. They seem pretty fair, though House of the Dead: Overkill's absence from the "Best Dialogue" category almost ensures that we'll be boycotting the event.

Continue reading Uncharted 2 & Assassin's Creed 2 headline GANG Award finalists

Uncharted 2 & Assassin's Creed 2 headline GANG Award finalists originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EA Sports honors 'Game Changers' in its online communities

Mike Schramm — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 EST

Over the weekend, EA Sports announced a new community influencers program that it's calling "Game Changers" -- the idea is that the publisher will choose big EA sports fans who use their online community know-how "to improve the experience and overall growth of the EA SPORTS Community." Presumably, you have to yell "EA Sports" whenever you say it, which would be why the name is in all caps. The chosen few will get early access to EA games, as well as represent the community while giving feedback on future releases.

They've picked nine guys (no girls) so far, all of whom are active in the various EA communities and forums. They've also posted a video of the program's kickoff, and while we were totally going to make fun of it for sounding like a cliched sports team ("It's the dream of a lifetime, we just go out there to do our best" and so on), that Anton B dude actually gets a little choked up at the end after being honored with Game Changer of the Month. So all right, Anton, we get it. This Game Changers thing may not mean too much to the rest of us (just like the Xbox Ambassador program, it's just a way for the company to connect directly with their community), but everybody's got to have their thing, and this is yours. Rock on for that.

EA Sports honors 'Game Changers' in its online communities originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harmonix heads honored in USA 'Character Approved' awards

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST

USA -- the television network, not the nation -- has selected Harmonix founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy as the two most important "New Media" figures in its annual Character Approved Awards. According to USA's announcement of the 2010 winners, the awards are designed to "honor the real characters who are changing the face of American culture." Considering we haven't been to a social gathering in two years that didn't turn into an impromptu Rock Band party, we think Rigopulos and Egozy are deserving of the honor.

Check out the pair's award page to find out more about their personal history. We didn't know Egozy is actually a classically-trained clarinetist. Where's that peripheral, guys?

Harmonix heads honored in USA 'Character Approved' awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC Awards nominees announced, Drake leads the pack

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:00:00 EST

We've just received a press release revealing which titles will be vying for top honors at the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, held in conjunction with GDC 2010 on March 11. If you're not familiar with the show, picture the Kids Choice Awards, only ... with video game developers choosing the winners instead of teenagers. Or, alternatively, imagine the VGAs, only without all the half-naked women, pot references and awards named after highly caffeinated soft drinks.

You'll see some familiar names on the full list of nominees posted after the jump. Uncharted 2 netted seven nominations, Flower managed to grab five, and Assassin's Creed II ended up with four. Will Ezio be snubbed by Nathan once more in the Game of the Year runnings? We'll find out at GDC!

GDC Awards nominees announced, Drake leads the pack originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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