More Lists – Page 4 – Video Game Canon

Vampire Survivors Snaps Elden Ring’s Streak and Wins “Best Game” at the 2022-2023 BAFTA Games Awards

Sony Santa Monica’s God of War (2018) is the only game in history to win “Game of the Year” honors at all five major year-end shows.

With the SXSW Gaming Awards off the calendar, and after Elden Ring‘s victories at The Game Awards, the DICE Awards, and the GDC Awards, it was looking extremely likely that Kratos would soon have some company. But it was not to be… and God of War: Ragnarok wasn’t even the one to snap the streak.

Instead, “Best Game” at the 2022-2023 BAFTA Games Awards went to Poncle’s Vampire Survivors.

The retro-styled “bullet heaven” shooter has been steadily picking up steam since it was released in early access in December 2021, and won over even more converts after its official launch in October. I’m sure a lot of people will look at this as an unlikely victory, but the membership of the British Academy has always tended to go their own way (most famously in 2017-2018 when it chose What Remains of Edith Finch over The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild). To further push that point home, Vampire Survivors also won the “Game Design” statuette.

So what of Elden Ring? From Software’s dark fantasy also won two awards, “Original Property” and “Multiplayer.”

Believe it or not, the biggest winner of the night was actually Sony Santa Monica and God of War: Ragnarok. The conclusion to Kratos’s Norse adventures took home six total awards, including three for the developer (“Animation,” “Audio Achievement,” and “Music”), both performance awards (Christopher Judge for “Performer in a Leading Role” and Laya DeLeon Hayes for “Performer in a Supporting Role”), and the fan-voted “EE Game of the Year.”

The complete list of winners and nominees from the 2022-2023 BAFTA Games Awards, as well as a replay of the ceremony, can be found after the break.

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Elden Ring Wins “Game of the Year” at 2022-2023 GDC Awards

Hold on to your hats, but From Software’s Elden Ring is now three-for-three at the major year-end awards after it collected a total of three awards, including “Game of the Year,” at the 2022-2023 Game Developers Choice Awards. In addition to the top prize, the development team will need to find room in their trophy case for the “Best Design” and “Best Visual Arts” statuettes.

“Three” was the theme of the night as things definitely happened in threes during the ceremony, starting right at the top with the hosting duties of Leslee Sullivant, a triple threat Game Producer, Writer, and TikTok creator (you’ve absolutely seen at least one of her “stories from the games industry” videos).

The other big winner last night was Sony Santa Monica’s God of War: Ragnarok, which also won three awards. The godlike technical feats performed by Kratos netted “Best Audio” and “Best Technology” for the developer, while a public vote secured the “Audience Award.”

Finally, four other awards went to four very deserving games (the theme suffers when your program has ten awards). Obsidian’s tale of medieval murder, Pentiment, won “Best Narrative.” Immortality‘s innovative use of video was the snared an “Innovation Award” for Half Mermaid. BlueTwelve continued their streak with another “Best Debut” award for Stray. And Citizen Sleeper was given the “Social Impact Award.”

Congratulations also to John Romero, who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Doom, Quake, and a laundry list of other games; and to the family of Mabel Addis, who was posthumously awarded the Pioneer Award for her work on The Sumerian Game.

The full list of winners, nominees, and honorable mentions from the 2022-2023 GDC Awards can be found after the break.

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SXSW Gaming Awards: All the Winners from 2013 to 2022

The SXSW Gaming Awards were previously given out each Spring as part of the South by Southwest festival, honoring games released during the previous calendar year. The ceremony was first held in 2014, but games and gaming have a long history at the Austin festival.

South by Southwest, also popularly known as SXSW, first opened its doors in 1987 as a regional music festival organized by The Austin Chronicle. After quickly growing in prominence over the next few years, SXSW expanded its scope in 1994 with the addition of a Film Festival. A Multimedia track focusing on technology and games would launch a year later.

SXSW’s celebration of games and game creators would get its own section, Screenburn, in 2006. That name was clearly a vestige of early 2000s “xtreme” culture, and it gave way to the more familiar SXSW Gaming in 2013.

Nominees for the SXSW Gaming Awards were chosen by festival staff with assistance from an advisory board. After the nominees were announced, the public helped determine the winners by participating in an online vote to help select the winners, which was weighted alongside another vote from festival staff and the advisory board.

The SXSW Gaming Awards were discontinued in 2023.

Every “Video Game of the Year” winner from the SXSW Gaming Awards can be found here…

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GOTY Flashback: 2013-2014 SXSW Gaming Awards

The organizers of South By Southwest have closed the doors on yet another festival within the Austin city limits, but for the first time in nearly a decade, they did so without the SXSW Gaming Awards. According to a spokesperson for the event, the Gaming Awards were discontinued this year in an effort to “streamline our festival a bit more.”

But rather than wonder whether SXSW’s jury would have chosen Elden Ring or God of War: Ragnarok, let’s look back at the winners from the very first SXSW Gaming Awards ceremony in 2013-2014.

The inaugural program from the SXSW Gaming Awards honored the best games from 2013 and you’ll find a very familiar name at the very top of the list. The Last of Us, which has since spawned multiple re-releases, a sequel, and a live-action adaptation, was the most-awarded game of the night, collecting “Game of the Year” honors for Naughty Dog, as well as three other statuettes (“Narrative,” “Musical Score,” and “SFX”).

While The Last of Us edged out some tough opposition for the big prize at the first SXSW Gaming Awards, almost all of the other titles competing for “Game of the Year” came away with something.

▶ The “Excellence in Gaming Marketing” award went to Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag for promoting a life of piracy.
▶ The patriotic imagery of Columbia snared the “Excellence in Art” award for Irrational’s BioShock Infinite.
▶ Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, which has also been re-released multiple times in the last decade, received the “Excellence in Technical Achievement” award.
▶ The chaotic multiplayer of Nintendo’s Super Mario 3D World won “Best Multiplayer Game.”
▶ And the origami world of Media Molecule’s Tearaway won “Excellence in Design and Direction.”

The full list of winners and nominees from the 2013-2014 SXSW Gaming Awards (as reported by the Austin Chronicle) can be found after the break.

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An “Expert Jury” Made Some Odd Choices When Picking “20 Best Video Games of All Time” for The Times

The Times delivered its first daily edition to the people of London all the way back in 1785. The newspaper has reported on some of the biggest stories the world has ever seen in the nearly 240 years since, and they’ve given space to pieces from a very distinguished array of writers over the centuries, including Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, and Albert Einstein.

But earlier this week, their editorial staff decided to wade into the debate surrounding the best video games of all time.

Jake Helm, a Culture Reporter for The Times, assembled a “jury of experts” to choose the “20 Best Video Games of All Time,” and some of the selections are a bit on the wild side.

Some of gaming’s biggest franchises (including The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Final Fantasy) went unmentioned, but Sonic Adventure 2 (#20) and Far Cry 4 (#15) both made the cut. The panel also picked Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (#16), but overlooked World of Warcraft.

All that is certainly odd, but the top half of the list features most of the big blockbusters you expect to see on a Best Games list. Doom (1993) is #6, Tetris is #4, and a combo pick of The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II is #2. Another two-for-one selection, Portal and Portal 2, teleported its way into the #1 spot.

So who was on this expert panel? That would be Charlie Brooker, former game critic and the creator of Black Mirror; Lucy Prebble, a writer on Succession; Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton, a popular YouTuber; and Helen Lewis, a writer for The Atlantic and a “self-confessed video game fan.” All of the panel’s picks can be found after the break.

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Elden Ring Wins “Game of the Year” at 2022-2023 DICE Awards

From Software’s Elden Ring has gone two-for-two during the 2022-2023 awards season after the RPG captured “Game of the Year” honors at the conclusion of last night’s DICE Awards ceremony. The RPG’s distinctive dark fantasy aesthetic was honored with four other awards, also winning for “Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction,” “Outstanding Achievement in Game Design,” “Outstanding Technical Achievement,” and, of course, “Role-Playing Game of the Year.”

It was a good night for From Software, though the mighty God of War was not always so easily toppled.

Before the show, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences bestowed a dozen nominations on God of War: Ragnarok. But while it might have missed the big prize, Kratos and company collected more statuettes than any other game at the DICE Awards. Developers from Sony Santa Monica would climb up on stage seven times, starting with the award for “Adventure Game of the Year.”

The team would also be honored for their narrative work (“Outstanding Achievement in Story” and “Outstanding Achievement in Character” for Kratos himself), graphical prowess (“Outstanding Achievement in Animation” and “Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction”), and audio work (“Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition” and “Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design”).

The only other game to win multiple awards at the 2022-2023 DICE Awards was Vertical Robot’s Red Matter 2, which was triumphant in both immersive reality categories (“Immersive Reality Technical Achievement” and “Immersive Reality Game of the Year”).

Many of the remaining awards were distributed amongst some of the biggest surprises from 2022. The vampire-less Vampire Survivors sunk its teeth into the “Action Game of the Year” award. The full-fledged Premium Edition of Dwarf Fortress paid off more than 15 years of anticipation with a win for “Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year.” And the addictive Marvel Snap was named “Mobile Game of the Year.”

You’ll find a replay of last night’s ceremony, which was hosted by Greg “GameOverGreggy” Miller and IGN’s Stella Chung, after the break, along with a full list of winners and nominees.

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The New Yorker’s Simon Parkin Launches “My Perfect Console” Podcast

Simon Parkin is the video game guru for both The New Yorker and The Observer, but it looks like the famed journalist will add podcast host to his resume in the very near future with the announcement of My Perfect Console.

Each episode of the interview podcast will introduce a new guest (“from the worlds of gaming, film and television, music, comedy and more”) who will sit down with Parkin and discuss the five games that mean the most to them:

In My Perfect Console, Simon Parkin, New Yorker journalist and video game critic for The Observer invites guests from the worlds of gaming, film and television, music, comedy and more to choose the five video games they would like to immortalise on their very own fictional games machine, and discuss what their choices mean to them.

There’s no start date for My Perfect Console just yet, but Parkin has shared a short preview to give listeners a taste of what’s to come. The first episode will feature Josh Wardle, the creator of Wordle, while a subsequent episode will bring in Charles Cecil, the co-founder of Revolution Software and creator of the Broken Sword franchise.

My Perfect Console will be produced by Acast, and each episode will be available to download through your favorite podcast service.

Jordan Minor’s “Video Game of the Year” Will Feature “The Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games” from 1977-2022 When it Releases in July 2023

PC Magazine’s Jordan Minor will publish his first book in 2023, and for the subject of this tome, the journalist has zeroed in one that’s very near and dear to my heart.

In Video Game of the Year, Minor will sort through thousands of titles in his quest to compile… and here comes the subtitle… A Year-By-Year Guide to the Best, Boldest, and Most Bizarre Games from Every Year Since 1977.

Minor, along with a small army of contributors (including Jason Schreier, Rebekah Valentine, and others), will choose the defining game from each year and explore how they “captured the zeitgeist and left a legacy for all games that followed” through a series of essays:

Pong. The Legend of Zelda. Final Fantasy VII. Rock Band. Fortnite. Animal Crossing: New Horizons. For each of the 40 years of video game history, there is a defining game, a game that captured the zeitgeist and left a legacy for all games that followed. Through a series of entertaining, informative, and opinionated critical essays, author and tech journalist Jordan Minor investigates, in chronological order, the innovative, genre-bending, and earth-shattering games from 1977 through 2022. Minor explores development stories, critical reception, and legacy, and also looks at how gaming intersects with and eventually influences society at large while reveling in how uniquely and delightfully bizarre even the most famous games tend to be.

From portly plumbers to armor-clad space marines and the speedy rodents in between, Video Game of the Year paints individual portraits that, as a whole, give readers a stronger appreciation for the vibrant variety and long-lasting impact of this fresh, exciting, and massively popular art form. Illustrated throughout with retro-inspired imagery and featuring contributions from dozens of leading industry voices, including New York Times bestselling author Jason Schreier (Blood, Sweat, and Pixels; Kotaku), Max Scoville (IGN), Rebekah Valentine (IGN), Blessing Adeoye Jr. (Kinda Funny), and Devindra Hardawar (Engadget), this year-by-year anthology is a loving reflection on the world’s most popular art form.

Video Game of the Year will be published by Abrams in paperback and all ebook formats on July 11, 2023.

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Elden Ring Wins “Game of the Year” in Bizarre Finale to the 2022 Game Awards

Though it’s faced some stiff competition over the last year, Elden Ring‘s coronation as “Game of the Year” has sometimes felt like an inevitability ever since it was released all the way back in February.

That expectation became a reality during last night’s Game Awards ceremony, as From Software’s already stellar reputation was burnished with “Game of the Year” and three additional statuettes (“Best Game Direction,” “Best Art Direction,” and “Best Role Playing Game”). But what happened next threatened to overshadow the entire show, as a teenager bypassed security and walked on stage alongside the developers. After Game Director Hidetaka Miyazaki delivered his acceptance speech, the teenager addressed the audience, and dedicated the award to “my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton.”

It was certainly one of the oddest moments from the show’s history.

But before all that, the night certainly belonged to God of War: Ragnarok. Though it missed out on “Game of the Year,” Sony Santa Monica’s game took home a half-dozen statuettes, including for “Best Action/Adventure Game,” “Best Audio Design,” “Best Score and Music,” and “Best Narrative.” Ragnarok also won the “Innovation in Accessibility” award for its expansive accessibility options and Christopher Judge’s portrayal of Kratos won “Best Performance.”

Stray was also denied “Game of the Year” honors, but it did win a pair of prizes for “Best Independent Game” and (unsurprisingly) “Best Debut Indie.”

Finally, Nintendo had a good night with multiple wins spread across its impressive 2022 lineup. The consolemaker collected statuettes for “Best Family Game” (for Kirby and the Forgotten Land), “Best Sim/Strategy Game” (for Mario + Rabbids: Spark of Hope), and “Best Multiplayer” (for Splatoon 3). Things are also looking good for 2023 as The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom won “Most Anticipated Game.”

A video replay of the 2022 Game Awards can be found after the break (skip to 3:53:00 if you’re solely interested in “my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton”), along with all the winners and nominees.

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Lists From the Past: The Library of Congress’s “Game Canon”

Henry Lowood has served as the Curator of the History of Science and Technology Collections at Stanford University since 1983. Thanks to this role, he’s been part of the growing field of Game Studies practically since its very beginning, and in 2006 he used his position to pitch a proposal to the Library of Congress about the importance of the academic study of games.

Partly inspired by the National Film Preservation Board’s National Film Registry and his own efforts to preserve important game-related artifacts since 1998, Lowood asked for the Library’s assistance in creating a “Game Canon,” a group of titles that would best represent the cultural and historical significance of video games. He got his wish a year later, and a committee (comprised of Lowood, his Stanford colleague Matteo Bittanti, game designers Warren Spector and Steve Meretzky, and Joystiq’s Christopher Grant) was formed to decide on the canon’s initial composition.

After a lot of debate, the committee delivered ten recommendations for the “Game Canon,” ultimately highlighting 15 titles in total. Civilization and Civilization II were grouped together as part of this initial batch of games, as were the four games in the Warcraft series (Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, and World of Warcraft). The rest of the eight selections covered a wide range of genres from the first three decades of game history, starting with 1962’s Spacewar! and moving forward through time to the aforementioned Warcraft series.

In between you’ll find 1985’s Tetris, 1989’s SimCity, 1993’s Doom, and a few other foundational games…

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