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Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation picks up writing award

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 07:30:00 EST

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation won an award for "Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing" from the Writers Guild of America. Richard Farrese and Jill Murray are credited with the script.

Liberation beat out 007 Legends, Assassin's Creed 3, Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Halo 4 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss. The Writers Guild of America has defended its nominations process in years past, which requires potential nominees be (at a minimum) part of the Video Game Writers Caucus.

Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation picks up writing award originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 18 Feb 2013 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood wins Writers Guild award

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST

The Writers Guild of America awarded Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood with the 2011 award for best video game writing -- which you may or may not agree with, but considering the nominees, at least Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 didn't win. The prize was given to Ethan Petty, Nicholas Grimwood and Matt Turner for Script Writing; and Jeffrey Yohalem, Corey May and Patrice Desilets for the story (hopefully someone at Ubisoft has Desilets' forwarding address over at THQ).

Past years' winners were Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Uncharted 2. The WGA stood up for itself this year regarding its nomination process, saying it can't nominate writers if a developer doesn't bother putting a name to a script. Hopefully we'll see more publishers and developers giving their game writers credit, so future nominees won't have us scratching our heads in utter befuddlement.

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood wins Writers Guild award originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Writers Guild of America defends gaming awards

Justin McElroy — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST

We've said some ... unkind things about the Writer's Guild of America's video game awards over the years, previous nominees for which include Wet, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Clash of the Titans. Of course, there's always been a widespread belief that the pool was thinned by WGA requirements that nominees have to be members of the organization.

That's not exactly true, according to WGA spokesperson Micah Wright, who wrote a guest column on the topic for GamesIndustry.biz. Nominees, as it turns out, actually only have to be a member of the Videogame Writers Caucus (for the princely yearly sum of $60) rather than the full union.

So what's been keeping some of the best games of the past four years from being nominated? Some developers -- like BioWare -- simply haven't submitted scripts, but with others it's a question of not knowing who to nominate. "The first year, several games which people believed should have won our award were not eligible because the Developer didn't bother to credit the people who wrote those games," Wright wrote. "That's an insult, and as a guild of professional writers, we're not about to give an award to either a mystery person, or to a company which can't be bothered to honor the workers who made their game."

Wright also quipped, "We're not giving an award for 'Best Videogame of the Year!' - if you want that, go watch the Spike Game Awards." We hope the WGA has the wisdom to nominate that for "Unintentionally Funniest Line of the Year."

Writers Guild of America defends gaming awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WGA nominates Singularity, New Vegas, more for writing award

Justin McElroy — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:30:00 EST

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.

WGA nominates Singularity, New Vegas, more for writing award originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:30:00 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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Force Unleashed grips Writers Guild video game award

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:58:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed has been awarded the second annual video game writing award by The Writers Guild of America. The title bested Fallout 3, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 and Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! Before complaining about your favorite game not even being nominated, it's worth noting that the award is only open to WGA members.

Congratulations to Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey on the award. They crafted a fine story that fit into the Star Wars universe and arguably bested any of the "prequels."

Force Unleashed grips Writers Guild video game award originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 09 Feb 2009 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cue the groaning: Writers Guild announces video game nominations

Alexander Sliwinski — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:24:00 EST

Filed under: Culture

The Writers Guild of America has announced five nominees for best video game writing in 2008. This will be the Guild's second year giving out the award, with last year's nod going to Dead Head Fred. Hmm, well, this year's nominees are certainly an interesting group and are sure to generate some conversation about what constitutes good writing in a game ... provided said game was written by an eligible WGA member, that is.

Although most of those titles are instantly recognizable, Dangerous High School Girls is an indie title that's (clearly) gaining some recognition. Are you betting on the dark horse? The winner will be announced Feb. 7.

[Via Big Download]

Cue the groaning: Writers Guild announces video game nominations originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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