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Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Best MMO Studio
Massively's end-of-the-year awards continue today with our award for the Best MMO Studio of the year. Every studio that runs an MMO in 2014 was eligible, even those who didn't launch anything this year, but whatever the studio did to impress us should have occurred this year. All of our writers were invited to cast a vote, but not all of them chose to do so for this category. Don't forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end. The Massively staff pick for Best MMO Studio of 2014 is...
Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Most Improved MMO
Massively's end-of-the-year awards continue today with our award for the Most Improved MMO of the year. Pretty much all MMOs were eligible for this particular award, even if they didn't launch in 2014, as long as they improved significantly in 2014. All of our writers were invited to cast a vote, but not all of them chose to do so for this category. Don't forget to cast your own vote in the reader poll at the very end. The Massively staff pick for Most Improved MMO of 2014 is...
Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Biggest Story of the Year
Massively's end-of-the-year awards continue today with our award for the Biggest MMO Story of the year. We're not talking about a single article or a game's plot here; we're looking for dominant, ongoing news arcs in the MMO space that had a big impact on the genre. All of our writers were invited to cast a vote, but not all of them chose to do so for this category. Don't forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end. The Massively staff pick for Biggest MMO Story of 2014 is...
Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Most Underrated MMO
We're breaking with tradition this year when it comes to the Massively end-of-the-year awards. Instead of lumping them together into one huge article that no one reads because everyone's busy cheering and jeering over the GOTY down in the comments, we're going to pace ourselves so the little ones get some attention too. We'll also be explaining our votes so you can see the split and the rationale behind our picks. And because we know you want to have your say too, we'll throw in a reader poll just for fun. Please don't cheat. Today's award is for the Most Underrated MMO of the year. As will be the case for many (though not all) of this year's awards, games must have launched in 2014 to be eligible, which makes the list of eligible games fairly short. All of our writers were invited to cast a vote, but not all of them chose to do so for every category, so some games will literally win by a hair. The Massively staff pick for Most Underrated MMO of 2014 is...
RuneScape celebrates player creativity with Golden Gnome Awards
Nominations have opened for RuneScape's Golden Gnome Awards, the fourth such award ceremony devoted to celebrating player creativity and talent. "We want to continue to recognise all forms of talent, moving beyond just the video making awards given in the past," the team posted. "Whether you're an artist, video maker, cosplayer, or a role model for the community, there's a Golden Gnome out there waiting for you." This year the categories have expanded to award excellence in video and live streaming, art, cosplay, and being a community champion. The latter is an "unsung hero" whom players feel should be recognized for his or her contributions. The Golden Gnome Awards will be given out at the next RuneFest.
Audi competition aims to unlock the potential of connected cars
We've all heard about how connected and self-driving cars from Google, BMW and others are going to change our lives, but how? Audi wants to find out with its Urban Future Award, a four-city, multidisciplinary competition. Each team has a different quest, but all center around the ways that connected cars -- like Audi's "Piloted Driving" model -- can make city transportation better. For example, a Boston group will see if vehicles can take up less space using self-parking features, while in Seoul, researchers will help connected commuters socialize over in-dash displays. The Berlin team will bridge private and public transit for more efficient commuting and, finally, Mexico City's crew will crowdsource traffic data to reduce the city's notorious congestion. Audi will update each project regularly in its blog, with the best plan taking a $140,000 prize.
Switched On: The 2013 Switchies, Part Two
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. The last Switched On introduced the 2013 Switchie Awards for TV, PC and gaming products. This time, we'll take a look at the mobile and wearable devices that made their mark in 2013.
Massively's Best of 2013 Awards
It's nearly the end of the year, a time for merriment, camaraderie, and cynical evaluation of all the MMO triumphs and tragedies that 2013 provided us. Today, Massively's staff honors the best of the best (and the worst of the worst) for the year 2013. Every writer was permitted a vote in each category with an anything-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table, as long as it met the criteria. Can WildStar make it to three years in a row at the top of our "most anticipated" pile, or did its delay dampen our enthusiasm? Can SOE repeat its win for best studio? Which MMO is most likely to flop next year? And just what constituted the biggest MMO screw-up of the last 12 months? Enjoy our picks for the best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and innovations of 2013... and our most-anticipated for 2014 and beyond.
ArcheAge wins big at Korea Game Awards
If you don't know about the Korea Game Awards, you're... well, probably not from Korea. Which is kind of understandable seeing as how this site is published in English and focuses mostly on the western side of the pond. But as you can imagine from the name, these awards are a pretty big deal for a Korean game like ArcheAge... and to its credit, it managed to clean up at the most recent award ceremony. Not only did Jake Song's sandpark take home awards in two categories through the show (planning and scenario, graphics), it also took home the big prize of the night as the best game in show. It's good news to see for fans, especially in light of some rumbling that the game hasn't been doing as well in Korea as initially expected. Congratulations to XLGAMES, and here's hoping that the award-winning game comes over to these shores sooner rather than later. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
Apple wins Grand Prix for Press award for iPad mini print ads
Apple and its advertising firm TBWA Media Arts Lab have won the prestigious Grand Prix for Press award for a recent print campaign advertising the iPad mini. The ad's clever images depicted a life-sized iPad mini on the back cover of several magazines, which itself bore the cover of said magazine. The result gave readers an idea of what their magazine would look like on Apple's handheld device. The award was given at the Cannes Lion International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France. The critically acclaimed print campaign ran last year on The New Yorker, Time and others. One of the jurors, Marcello Serpa, told Ad Age that Apple and TBWA won because the campaign "...has a kind of guerrilla feeling. It's a product that goes inside the media and says I'm going to kill you, [then] I'm going to save you. Let's embrace. It's redemption."
Nominate your favorite gadgets for the 2012 Engadget Awards!
Welcome to the 2012 Engadget Awards! This year we've got 15 categories up for grabs, with 30 total awards to be decided. All finalists for Engadget Awards are reader-nominated, and the editors of Engadget will then select the best of those nominations (usually somewhere between four and six devices) as finalists. There are two awards per category: Readers' Choice (voted on by you!), and Editors' Choice (selected by us). The vote will take place in a few weeks once the nominees are picked, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Submit your favorite devices for consideration using the form just past the break, and feel free to elaborate in the comments. You don't need to fill in every field, but you are required to answer at least one question in order for your form to be processed. You've got until 11:59PM ET on Friday, February 1st, 2013 to get your entries in. Now, go nominate!
The Daily Grind: What's your MMO of the year?
You've all heard Massively's (somewhat contradictory) opinions on the best MMOs of 2012, and some of you wanted a chance to chime in on the top awards, even though the results of polls can be... somewhat dubious (see image above from a few years back -- and also raise your hand if you've never even heard of like half of those). So let's test the theory that community polling is worthless and do some informal best-of polls anyway! Remember, the games and expansions you're voting on had to have been released in 2012 (that means Star Wars: The Old Republic is more or less out for having launched at the tail end of 2011, but if you want to write it in anyway, that's OK too -- we did for our awards too, after all). We don't really have room for every game in the poll, so feel free to do write-ins at the end and then tell us why you voted the way you did.
Massively's Best of 2012 Awards
When game obituaries and studio layoffs start to pile up in the news, Massively can seem like a herald of doom, but the reality is that the MMO industry is stronger and richer than ever. We've got more features to try, more business models to play with, more studios (and indie Kickstarters) to vie for our favor, and more titles to play than most of us could possibly sample in our lifetimes. Today, Massively's staff honors the best of the best for the year 2012. We asked each writer and streamer to vote in each category with an anything-goes nomination process. No MMO, company, or headline was off the table. Enjoy our picks for the best MMOs, expansions, studios, stories, and innovations of 2012... and our most-anticipated for 2013.
Tim Cook makes shortlist for Time's Person of the Year
Time Magazine has posted its shortlist for the annual Person of the Year awards, and there's at least one familiar face on there for Apple fans: Apple CEO Tim Cook has made the cut. Along with Barack Obama, Bill and Hilary Clinton and Yahoo CEO (and former Google exec) Marissa Mayer, Cook is under final consideration for this year's award, which will reportedly be announced tomorrow. The internet doesn't quite believe Cook deserves it: Time's annual fan poll (which is always buried under by a mob of votes from social sites like 4Chan) already chose North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as its choice. But the fan poll is basically just a stunt these days. The final decision comes down to Time editors. Given everything that's happened this year, it's hard to believe that Time will eventually choose Cook as its Person, but then again, who knows? Cook has definitely shined in his role of filling the shoes of Steve Jobs, and Apple has never been more influential in the various fields of tech, business and the creative arts as it's been this past year. So maybe we will see Apple's new CEO crowned tomorrow. [via MacRumors]
Flameseeker Chronicles: The Guild Wars 2 end-of-the-year awards
The end of the year seems to be a good time for awards -- all the cool kids are doing it, and Massively is nothing if not cool. Guild Wars 2 has been around long enough for me to have made some favorites. I've talked about features and things I loathe and love before, but now it's time to call out specific NPCs and instances, rather than general features. Before we get any further with this: These awards are purely my own opinion. Disagree with me? Great; write your own end-of-the-year awards. The more, the merrier.
Max Payne 3 multiplayer event this weekend, triple XP and skulls for all
Rockstar has a whole calendar of multiplayer events planned for its titles this winter, and this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday goes to the bald guy with the guns. All players online for multiplayer in Max Payne 3 this weekend get triple XP earnings, and Rockstar devs will play online with everyone on Saturday from 11am - 2pm EST.There's rewards available, too! All players are getting themselves a "Human Skull Mask" for free, as seen above on the left. The "Wedding Skull Mask," on the right, is going to the top ten player-made crews on the new Crew Leaderboards, so get your gangster bros out there and top some score lists. And finally there's a sweepstakes going on: Just enter on the multiplayer event page for a chance at some Max Payne-related loot. And if you're not around this weekend at all, worry not, because Rockstar has another event like this one on January 11 next year.
Tesla Model S electrifies Motor Trend judges, unanimously voted 2013 Car of the Year
Tesla's Model S roadster has nabbed Motor Trend's 2013 Car of the Year award, making it the first electric car to garner the prize. The EV was voted in unanimously by the publication's judges while beating out the formidable likes of BMW, Porsche and Lexus. In announcing the award, the editors proclaimed the vehicle to be sporty, efficient, spacious and "as smoothly effortless as a Rolls-Royce." Meanwhile, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk opined that gaining the prize over the gas-burners was a "critical step towards the widespread adoption of sustainable transport." Now all the automaker needs to do is ramp up production and it might start to generate cash as well as awards.
Entire Apple design team receives award in London
Apple's design team was named the best design studio of the last 50 years by D&D, and, according to the London Evening Standard, the whole design team was on hand to accept the prestigious Design and Art Direction (D&D) award. In honor of the award, Apple flew the entire 16-member team from San Francisco to London for D&D's 50-year anniversary ceremony. This isn't Apple's first design award, but it is is the first time the entire design team was present to receive an award. Sir Jonathan Ive lead the team, which includes 14 men and two women, in accepting the award. D&D is a London charity that promotes "brilliance in commercial creativity" and celebrates "excellence within the creative industries and beyond." Its annual awards event is highly regarded among advertising and design professions.
Virgin Media coats millionth TiVo in Gold (Gold!), always believed in your soul
Companies might not be able to mention that big sporting event, but that doesn't stop them from being clever. Virgin Media UK is one such enterprise, which decided to award its millionth TiVo customer with a gold medal in the form of a similarly-colored TiVo box. Rather than risk the ire of the IOC's lawyers, the company used the moment to (perhaps sarcastically) celebrate the release of Spandau Ballet's Gold. Bundling bassist-turned-soap-star Martin Kemp into a van, he turned up at the door of customers Allan and Christine Ward with the glistening PVR and a 3D-ready TV to surprise the couple. We don't know if he told the husband and wife from Nottinghamshire that the HDTV market is like a high prison wall, but we hope the gift of a new home entertainment system leaves them standing so tallllllllllll...
Aion rewarding decorating skills with contest
As one of 3.0's most anticipated features, player housing brought a whole new facet of gaming to Aion. Along with the studios, houses, and estates, housing provided Daevas the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity and decorating flair, and players have been taking full advantage of the system. Now, NCsoft wants to reward players for sprucing up their Atreian homes with a contest titled Decorate Your Space. Think you have a pretty snazzy pad? Then show off those mad decorating skills! All Daevas over level 20 are eligible; just submit up to three unaltered screenshots of your living space via the contest thread or by email to community_aion_en@ncsoft.com by 12:59 a.m. EDT on May 19th. The top three homes judged best decorated will win special 60-day, two-drawer cabinets with an extra 18 slots of storage space. For full rules, conditions, and the winner release form, visit the official announcement.
