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Assassin's Creed, The Last of Us, Alien get Writers Guild nods
The Writers Guild of America has nominated Alien: Isolation, The Last of Us: Left Behind, Assassin's Creed: Unity and Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry for the 2015 award recognizing outstanding achievement in video game writing. Winners will be announced during simultaneous ceremonies in Los Angeles and New York City on Saturday, February 14. Note that to be nominated for an award from the Writers Guild of America, "credited videogame writers must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus at the time scripts were submitted," meaning the pool of eligible writers is limited. (Yes, the Guild spells "video game" as one word). For reference, we had the following to say about the stories in Alien, Left Behind and Unity:
The Last of Us scoops Writers Guild of America 2014 award
The Last of Us won this year's Writers Guild of America gong for Outstanding Achievement in Video Game Writing, in case Naughty Dog wasn't happy with its already creaking trophy cabinet. It's the right outcome out of a nominees list with some notable absentees. It's not the first time Naughty Dog has won it, with Uncharted 2 and 3 doing the same in 2010 and 2012. Of course, ND's zombie opera already got the only prize that matters - apart from the OMG Where's That Ladder Award, as previously won by Uncharted 2 and 3. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
2014 Writers Guild Awards video game nominees announced
The Writers Guild of America announced the nominees for the 2014 Writers Guild Awards Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing today. The writing teams for five games were nominated for the annual award, as follows: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Batman: Arkham Origins God of War: Ascension The Last of Us Lost Planet 3 Only games that launched between December 1, 2012 and November 30, 2013 were eligible for nomination. The 2014 Writers Guild Awards will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2014 in both Los Angeles and New York simultaneously. Past winners of the Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing award were the writers of the following games, who were also part of the guild in order to be considered: Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation (2013), Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2012), Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2011), Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2010) and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2009).
Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation picks up writing award
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: Brotherhood wins Writers Guild award
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.
Writers Guild of America defends gaming awards
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."
WGA nominates Singularity, New Vegas, more for writing award
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: Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Fallout: New Vegas God of War III Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Singularity Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II 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.
Uncharted 2 wins Writers Guild of America games writing award
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!]
Force Unleashed grips Writers Guild video game award
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."
Cue the groaning: Writers Guild announces video game nominations
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. Fallout 3 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Tomb Raider: Underworld Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! 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]
