awards
Latest
Less than 6 hours left to vote for your favorite gadget of CES 2014!
If you haven't voted for your personal best of CES yet, get on it now! We have a healthy list of our own top choices, but one of our 15 Best of CES Awards will be decided by you. Head to the poll now, and check in later today when we announce readers' People's Choice pick along with the rest of the winners.
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.
Switched On: The 2013 Switchies, Part One
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. It's that special time of year between holiday sales and the pre-CES hype cycle that presents an opportunity to consider some of the most innovative devices of the year. Switched On is proud to present the 2013 Saluting Wares Improving Technology's Contribution to Humanity awards, also known as The Switchies. This installment marks the eighth annual Switchies, which are decided based on a rigorous examination of the opinion of me, and do not reflect the opinion of Engadget or its editors. For that latter honor, nominees will need to win an Engadget Award. Now, then, let's stroll past the red carpet and tear open those envelopes.
Ask Massively: The one where we talk about our 2013 awards
Let's talk about our 2013 awards (not the 2012 awards, though this image demonstrates why we avoid easily manipulable community polls). Some of you agreed with our picks. Some of you didn't. That's OK. Not everyone on the Massively staff agreed with all of them either. A lot of sites just let the Important People reach a consensus on nominations or even the final vote, but we let every staffer vote on the entire pool of everything. Everything, as one columnist put it, was a write-in. Goodness, even TUG scored a vote in there. Of course, TUG is adorable. A bunch of people wrote something to the effect of, "How dare you say subs are the year's biggest mistake? Massively hates subs! You're so biased for F2P!" Specifically, we said that subs were a huge blunder for The Elder Scrolls Online and WildStar. "Massively" is not a hivemind entity, and "Massively" does not hate subs. Quite a lot of us like or even prefer subs. Most of us grew up when subs were the norm. I'm subbed to two games right this very second, even though what I personally prefer was classic Guild Wars' buy-to-play campaign set-up. We also voted for a sub game as our game of the year! But let's be perfectly clear when we're fighting this F2P-vs.-sub war: The sub model we remember so fondly is not the sub model games are deploying now.
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.
Ridiculous Fishing, Badland win App Store's Best of 2013 awards
Apple awarded Vlambeer's Ridiculous Fishing its much-coveted iPhone Game of the Year award today, while Frogmind's silhouetted platformer Badland picked up the iPad award. With App Store exposure being so crucial to an app's success, the awards are big wins for the two indie studios, both comprised of just two people. The duo of duos beat competition from major studios in 2K Games and EA PopCap, with runner-up spots going to XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Plants vs. Zombies 2. Kevin Ng's rollercoaster puzzler The Impossible Road and the stylish wordplay of Simogo's Device 6 also picked up runners-up prizes. If you thought those awards, while deserved, were a smidge predictable, be prepared for further non-raising of eyebrows: This year's most downloaded free app (not just games but all apps) was Candy Crush Saga, while Minecraft: Pocket Edition was the best-selling paid app of 2013. It's also worth noting that while Candy Crush Saga is free-to-download, it was also the highest grossing app of 2013 - Minecraft: Pocket Edition came in 11th.
And the VGX 2013 winners are ...
The winners of the 2013 Spike VGX awards have been announced, and we've got them all compiled here for your viewing pleasure. Waiting to see who took home Best Studio, Best Character, Game of the Year and more? Well wait no more! Envelope, please. These are the winners that were announced during the VGX 2013 awards show: Best Action Adventure Game: Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag Best Sports Game: NBA 2K14 Best Indie Game: Gone Home Best Shooter: Bioshock Infinite Studio of the Year: Naughty Dog Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto 5 Of course, there are many, many more awards to be won, and many more monkeys to be handed out. If you want to see the full list of winners for every category, check out the official site of VGX 2013.
Tonight's VGX lineup features GOTY in the middle of a world exclusive sandwich
If you plan on camping out with us during our liveblog of tonight's three hour VGX 2013 awards show, you can get a head start on the evening's activities by checking out the schedule of events. Among the noteworthy events for the evening are 12 "world premieres" for games like Quantum Break, Titanfall and Broken Age. Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime will also take the stage for a game demo during the show's first hour. Given that an ad for a next-gen Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition showed up today, it would explain the slot for tonight's Tomb Raider-centric announcement during the first hour. Those that are in it for the awards will be interested to know that the Game of the Year winner will be crowned during the early parts of the show's second hour. Additionally, the Best Indie Game will be determined near the end of the show's second hour and Character of the Year announced during the third hour. A few of the awards segments will be determined by fan vote, dictating whether the the Best Action Adventure or Best Sports Game will be announced in the first hour and Best Shooter or Best Studio award will presented in the third hour.
Spike 2013 VGAs show gets a date, new name
This year's Spike VGAs graces our screens and our hearts on December 7, the same date it aired last year. Not everything's the same as it was last year, however, because as Spike host Geoff Keighley revealed, the awards show/trailer fest is now called VGX. As for the why of the name change... we don't know. It could be due to the show's "expanded digital footprint" as noted by Keighley. Or maybe it'll be extra exciting? Perhaps X-rated? Maybe it'll have a sister show called VGY? Your guess is as good as ours (or much better.) There's no word on the nominations, who's hosting (Samuel Jackson took the reins last year), and which awkward celebrity cameos to expect. In any case, two new consoles should make for an eventful billing, and we'll be sure to cover all the major news from the night.
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!]
17th Annual DICE Awards now open for submissions
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has begun accepting submissions for the 17th Annual DICE Awards, an awards show described by its site as a focus on "exploring approaches to the creative process and artistic expression" in game design. Entries must be submitted by 7 p.m. Eastern on December 2, with the finalists being announced in January. Those involved with the remaining works will then have the chance to be acknowledged on a stage at The Joint on February 6. Journey and The Walking Dead took home several awards each last year, with Journey's haul including the event's Game of the Year award. Last year's show was live streamed via Machinima, but there has been no announcement concerning the live streaming of this year's awards.
Ken Levine accepts lifetime achievement award at Golden Joystick Awards
Ken Levine received an award for lifetime achievement at the Golden Joystick Awards last night, marking yet another in a long line of awards for the man who brought us BioShock and System Shock 2. "I've been doing this for 18 years and I don't feel like I'm sitting on some mountaintop handing out wisdom," Levine said during his acceptance speech, as reported by CVG. "I feel more like I'm somewhere in the middle, looking up at the peak with all these clouds around it, and as an industry we're all trying to find out exactly what video games are, where they're going to go and where they'll end up." Levine said it was "strange" to be given a lifetime achievement award for his contributions to an industry that didn't exist when he was born, but also called the experience "incredibly flattering." Levine thanked the usual: his team at Irrational Games, his publishing partners at 2K Games, as well as friends and family. Ken Levine's got a golden joystick. He's got a golden chance to make his way. And with a golden joystick it's a gooooldeeeen daaaayy!
World of Tanks named online game of the year at Golden Joysticks
World of Tanks, the ever-popular tank-based MMO from Wargaming.net, is 2013's online game of the year according to the Golden Joysticks. The title beat out heavy hitters like League of Legends and Dota 2 to take the crown. Here's Al King on the victory: You have to play together as a team. We're rolling out increasingly aggressively across the world -- we have 70 million active users. It's truly democratic, we have a tremendously loyal community. They just did everything we asked of them, they're phenomenal, and we love them. Other big winners? Assassin's Creed: Liberation (best handheld game, The Last of Us (best storytelling), and Grand Theft Auto V (game of the year).
YouTube Music Awards hit NYC Nov. 3, blend mainstream artists and internet stars (video)
The alternate reality of Youtube -- where locally unknown but internet famous entertainers with millions of subscribers grab a spot next to widely recognizable mainstream artists -- meets the real world November 3rd with the first ever YouTube Music Awards. Lady Gaga, Eminem, and Arcade Fire are some of the names you'll recognize from TV and radio that will be there, along with YouTube channel favorites like CDZA and Lindsey Stirling. Spike Jonze is penciled in to serve as creative director and actor Jason Schwartzman will host, while VICE and Sunset Entertainment drop in as executive producers. Since YouTube is where many people go to check out music and find the newest artists (MTV is for scripted shows and reality TV of... varying quality), that it would launch its own live event seems almost inevitable. The show itself comes to you from NYC, but musical collaborations will be beamed in from locales around the globe including Seoul (so, that means Psy is going to show up), Moscow, London and Rio. Nominations for the awards open October 17th, and the site is calling on viewers to judge contributions from the past year to determine who will be the winner.
Gamescom 2013: Destiny, ESO take top honors
Over 340,000 attendees descended on Cologne to see what the biggest in the business had to offer at Gamescom 2013, with the upcoming battle between Microsoft and Sony's next-gen consoles taking center stage. So what came out on top? According to this year's Gamescom Awards, pretty much the games you'd expect. Bungie's MMO-shooter hybrid Destiny took home the award for Best PlayStation game, along with Best Action Game, Best Online Multiplayer Game, and Best of Gamescom. Meanwhile, ZeniMax Online and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online walked with Best Role-Playing Game and Best Social/Casual/Online Game. Gaijin Entertainment's War Thunder was named Best Simulation Game. Other awards were meted out to non-MMO contenders; Titanfall, Forza 5, Mario Kart 8, FIFA 14, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Battlefield 4 all ended up with some sort of official recognition.
Netflix snags 14 primetime Emmy nominations, mostly for House of Cards
Netflix's push into original content has received its latest positive feedback from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, netting 14 nominations for the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. Most of those went to standout series House of Cards, which was nominated for Most Outstanding Drama, with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright nominated for outstanding lead actor and actress awards. The fourth season of Arrested Development also received recognition with three nominations, while Hemlock Grove is on the list for two. Netflix will need to launch a few more hits if it wants to pass other players in the entertainment space (HBO's Game of Thrones received 16 nominations by itself while the network totaled 108, for example), but with these first-ever nominations for streaming content, it's off to a good start.
Titanfall dominates Game Critics Best of E3 2013 nominations
Respawn's Titanfall picked up the most nominations ever in this year's Game Critics Best of E3 awards, notching up six compared to the previous record of five. The multiplayer mech-stuffed shooter is up for Best of Show, and is one of 16 nominations for publisher EA. Endeavoring to stand tall against Titanfall in the Best of Show category are two other games in Watch Dogs and Destiny, which both received five nominations each. Also up for Best of Show are two pieces of hardware: the Oculus Rift and the PS4. The PS4's nomination is the icing on the cake for Sony's showing, with the platform holder earning a total of ten first-party nods compared to three for Microsoft and Nintendo each. The Xbox One is up for Best Hardware against the PS4, however. Also, the Xbox One leads the PS4 in terms of nominees per platform, up 34 to 33. As for who actually won what, the winners will be unveiled next week on July 2. In the meantime, you can check out the full list of nominations here.
Daily Update for June 20, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Apple announces Apple Design Award winners at WWDC 2013
The WWDC keynote may be over, but the developer's conference is just getting underway. First on tap is the Apple Design Awards, which recognize the best of the best in the iOS and OS X App Store. The initial list, as reported by the official App Store twitter account, is presented below. Congratulations to all the winners! Student Developers: Finish. By high schoolers Ryan Orbuch and Michael Hansen Mosaic.io. By Ishaan Gulrajani, Alex List & Zain Shah. iOS and OS X Apps Coda 2 Ridiculous Fishing WWF Together Evernote 5 Badland Yahoo! Weather Letterpress Procreate SkyGamblers Other student winners, including Louis Harboe, Bryan Keller and Puck Meerburg, were recognized for their work on the apps they submitted to earn their scholarship to attend WWDC.
Path of Exile Season Two starts April 19th, adds solo challenge
Although still in open beta, Path of Exile has already wrapped up one round of its popular race events, where players joined short-term leagues on brand-new characters in a race to complete objectives and rack up points. And now Grinding Gear Games is all set for the next round: Season Two begins on April 19th and runs through June 1st in North America. Season Two differs from its predecessor with a few new offerings, including a larger variety of unique prizes. Players can achieve prizes more easily and in new ways; participants who complete at least one goal within the race can be awarded random spot prizes. Also added are new "Signature Events" -- solo events of a consistent-length that are run multiple times during the season. When the season concludes, the best performing characters of each class will receive a prize similar to the top 20 overall for the entire season. For a complete listing of events, check out the full schedule. [Source: Grinding Gear Games press release]
