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Forza 5, GRID 2 devs have fun over BAFTA award mix-up
Question: When is an April Fool's prank not an April Fool's prank? Answer: When the prank happens three days late and isn't intentional. In other words, when the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), which is responsible for the BAFTA Awards, accidentally sends a nomination slip intended for Turn 10, developers of Forza Motorsport 5, to Codemasters, developers of the GRID and F1 series. Whoops. Codemasters took the mix-up in stride, tweeting at Turn 10 to let them know where their paper was, followed by playfully ransoming it off. Turn 10 noted that April 7 is National Beer Day in the US, and asked if a pint would cover the cost. Codemasters pointed out that they've already got quite the nice pub, and that's when things started to get a little ... silly. Read on for images and more tweets from the playful exchange.
Kojima toyed with design similar to GTA 3 back when it was released
Speaking to Joystiq, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima said that around the time Grand Theft Auto 3 was released, he and his team tried to create "something similar" to its open-world design. Kojima didn't note to what extent that something similar was worked on, nor which project it was for, but he did say it wasn't up to the standard of Rockstar's crime sim. The Japanese veteran designer presented GTA creators the Houser brothers with lifetime achievement awards at last night's BAFTA ceremony in London. Kojima has previously spoken about being influenced by the vastness of GTA 3, telling EGM back in 2012 the game "definitely opened his eyes." After the awards show, we asked him if the GTA games had inspired the open-world design of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes. "When GTA 3 came out, we were on Metal Gear Solid 2," Kojima said, speaking through a translator. "At that point we tried to create something similar and we were completely unable to come up with this design to [a level of] similar success. Actually, around then I had with dinner with Dan Houser who I just saw [tonight] for the first time after ten years. To be honest, looking at their [Rockstar's] success at doing what we tried to do and failed, we went back and made the game engine [and] we first tried to ensure the freedom the player would have. So more than being inspired by them, to be honest they just went ahead of us, they were more successful than what we were trying to create back then. "Now, game-wise what we are trying to create [in Ground Zeroes] is something probably different than they are trying to create. We're trying to ensure the freedom so the player can do some more realistic stealth infiltration by having all this freedom. So I believe we're creating different games." Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes is the first game in the stealth series to feature an open world, and Big Bosses worldwide get to explore it in a few days' time. The game hits North America on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PS3 on March 18, and then Europe on March 20. [Image: BAFTA]
The Last of Us high-fives at BAFTA awards, indies do well too
The Last of Us only delivered wins on half of its BAFTA Games Award nominations, but since it was nominated ten times, the Naughty Dog game didn't do so bad. The Joystiq Game of 2013 picked up the Best Game award at last night's ceremony in London, along with Best Story, Action & Adventure, Audio Achievement, and Performer - that went to Ashley Johnson for her portrayal of Ellie. Other big-budget games did well with Grand Theft Auto 5 and Tearaway both walking away with three awards, but it was also a good night for indie games. The Gone Home team went home with Debut Game, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won Game Innovation, and Papers, Please stamped its name on the award for Strategy & Simulation. For the full list of nominees and winners, head over to BAFTA. Also, be sure to check out Steam's one-day-only sale on a selection of the nominated games. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
BAFTA nominations dominated by The Last of Us, GTA 5, Tearaway
The Last of Us leads the way in this year's BAFTA Games awards thanks to a hefty ten nominations, and a good thing that is too. It's about time someone recognized Naughty Dog's under-appreciated work. It's not the only one to dominate the British Academy's nominee list, with Grand Theft Auto 5 turning up in nine categories, and papercraft charmer Tearaway in eight. Both those games and The Last of Us are up for the Best Game gong, alongside competition from Assassin's Creed 4, Super Mario 3D World, and indie immigration-checker Papers Please. You can scroll the full list of nominees here, but you'll have to wait until the awards show on March 12 to find out the winners. Spoiler: The Last of Us might be one of them. [Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]
