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Rockstar Games to receive 'wholly deserved' BAFTA fellowship
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced plans to award a fellowship to Rockstar Games for its contributions in bringing video games to the mainstream, and more specifically, for its wildly successful, critically acclaimed Grand Theft Auto franchise. "It is hugely exciting to be able to recognize the amazing contribution made by Rockstar to the games industry over the past 16 years," stated Harvey Elliott, chair of the BAFTA Games Committee. "The creativity and passion exhibited by the Rockstar teams have inspired a generation of game developers to raise the bar in every aspect of game development. From design and mechanics, through to storytelling, cinematics and audio immersion, and in the process creating games that compete so profoundly on a global stage across all entertainment media." "We have long believed in the potential for videogames to become a new form of cultural expression and worked to show that in our games, so for us accepting the BAFTA Fellowship is incredibly humbling," said Rockstar co-founder Sam Houser, who now joins Shigeru Miyamoto and Will Wright on the short list of gaming industry figures to receive BAFTA fellowships. The British Academy Games Awards is scheduled to take place on March 12 in London. Those interested in attending can purchase tickets from BAFTA, while the rest of us will have to settle for streaming the show on Twitch. [Rockstar Games]
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]
Journey, Dishonored and The Room win big with BAFTA game awards
Journey took top honours at this year's BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) game awards, with five different gongs going to thatgamecompany for Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Best Online Multiplayer, Best Game Design, and Best Original Music.The Unfinished Swan picked up two awards, for Game Innovation and Debut Game. Dishonored won the award for Best Game in 2013, and iOS tactile puzzler The Room picked up an award for the Best British Game.Valve's Gabe Newell was given an Academy Fellowship award for his storied career, while the "Ones to Watch" award (meant to showcase the best young game dev talent) was given to a game called Starcrossed, made by students working with the Dare to Be Digital competition.
Journey, Walking Dead, Far Cry 3 lead BAFTA 2013 nominations
Journey scooped eight nominations in the British Academy of Film and Television's Games Awards this year. As if it hadn't won enough of the like, thatgamecompany's PS3 odyssey is a contender for BAFTA's Best Game award, competing with Dishonored, FIFA 13, Mass Effect 3, Far Cry 3, and The Walking Dead for the prize. It's the two latter games that also lead the way in terms of nominations; Far Cry 3 received six nods, while The Walking Dead picked up seven, including two in the Performer category for Melissa Hutchinson and Dave Fennoy's respective portrayals of Clementine and Lee.Dear Esther is also clearly popular at BAFTA HQ. The melancholic game, developed by indie studio thechineseroom, can boast a very impressive five nominations including ones in the British Game and Debut Game categories.The full list of nominees is after the break. BAFTA's Games Awards take place on March 5.
Notch hopes to be working on one of three games by summer
Recusing himself from regular Minecraft duties has apparently freed up quite a bit of time in Markus Persson's schedule, so much so that he's currently in the process of deciding which of his three ongoing development projects will be come his next game. "I'm kinda halfway through one, started somewhat the engine on one and prototyping a third, so I hope to pick a project by this summer," Persson told VG247 after accepting the BAFTA Special Award at last night's proceedings. He also commented on the future of Minecraft, saying that he is "not really a huge fan of making sequels" and will instead continue reiterating and adding to the existing title.We're gonna go out on a limb and guess that since none of these three projects are a Minecraft sequel, at least one of them has to be a Cooking Mama-esque haberdashery and hat repair simulator. [image credit: Mojang]
Portal 2, Arkham City and BF3 clean up at 2012 BAFTA game awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts had its annual awards ceremony for excellence in gaming last night (or earlier today, depending on your proximity to England), with Portal 2 winning the BAFTA for Best Game. Also in contention for that prize were Batman: Arkham City, which ended up winning the BAFTA for Action, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which didn't win anything.Battlefield 3 took home top honors in Audio Achievement, Online Multiplayer, and the publicly voted-upon GAME Award of 2011, edging out its bitter rival Modern Warfare 3 in all three categories. Jump past the break for a full list of the evening's winners and nominees.
Jagex CEO predicts the imminent demise of physical game retailers
Brick-and-mortar outlets, be warned: your days are numbered. Or so says Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard, who told an audience at BAFTA Question Time that physical retailers were living on borrowed time -- and that before long, such stores would be "museum pieces." Gerhard says that these retailers, such as UK's GAME, will be gone within a decade. "The writing has been on the wall for quite some time," he said. "I think, 10 years out from now, we'll be talking about [physical] retail nostalgically, as a museum piece." He sees this as a positive development for the industry, saying that retailers take a slice of profits away from studios and make it hard for indie games to succeed. "People are still playing games. They're still doing business; they're just doing it in a different place. If you don't adapt you die. It's as simple as that," he said.
BAFTA nominates Arkham City, L.A. Noire, FIFA 12 for best of 2011
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has released its nominations for the 2012 Video Game Awards, which honors the top games from 2011 as chosen by the charity. The British stand-outs differ from our Yankee choices slightly, stressing the brilliance of Batman: Arkham City, which also made our Top 10 of 2011 list, but also including L.A. Noire, which hit our Best of the Rest, and FIFA 12, which... well. Just because we share a language doesn't automatically mean we share interests.Check out the entire list below:
Heavy Rain director encourages more 'personal' stories
Speaking to The Guardian about storytelling in games, Heavy Rain director Cage singled out the FPS genre -- its use of WWII and sci-fi settings in general -- as an example where that aspect of the medium is stagnating. His advice for other game writers: " Don't write about being a rookie soldier in WWII, because you don't have a clue what that's like." Heavy Rain has drawn accolades, Cage says, because the inspiration for its story is personal and relatable. "Talk about yourself, your life, your emotions, the people around you, what you like, what you hate," he advised. "This is how the industry will make a huge step forward. I'm fed up with space marines." In his case, inspiration came from something much more down to earth. "It was not about space marines fighting aliens, it was about my relationship with my first son and how he changed my life –- and also about how loving someone without expecting anything in return was something totally new." So, Modern Warfare 3 writers: instead of "how many people can you shoot?," why not try asking players "how many people would you shoot to save someone you love?"
Following Fable 3 disappointment, Molyneux bounces back with BAFTA award
Poor Peter Molyneux was down in the dumps. Following the "justifiably" mixed reception of Fable 3, Molyneux was wondering if his career had already peaked. "We just weren't good enough with the craft of what we did. That always makes you reflect," he recently told The Guardian. Apparently, Molyneux was even doubting his future in game development. "'Have I already created the greatest game I'm ever going to create? Is the rest just a downhill struggle?'" he asked himself "late one night" a few months back. But then, the very next day he received a letter informing him of a BAFTA Fellowship nomination -- an honor he received in-person this past weekend. "As I walked up on stage I almost fainted. There was this sea of faces, and lots of people I've worked with before, and everyone stood. I was choking up," he admitted. "It was an incredible feeling, and I do immediately want to go home and start proving that I'm really, truly worthy of this." Molyneux noted during his acceptance speech that his cyclical over-promising isn't a PR tactic as much as it's him "over-believing" in his own products. "I always truly believe that this is going to be the greatest game of all time -- I wouldn't try to do it any other way," he said. And we wouldn't want you to, Molyneux.
BAFTA names Mass Effect 2 as game of the year, reveals all winners for 2011
Ah, yes, the BAFTAs. The annual UK awards gala aimed at showcasing the game industry's many talented developers by giving them mounted gold masks. Aside from Lionhead Studio's Peter Molyneux receiving a Fellowship this year, BioWare's sci-fi opus Mass Effect 2 took home top honors as "Best Game," while Super Mario Galaxy 2 snagged the award for gameplay. Like last month's IGF awards ceremony, Cut the Rope once again beat out competition in the "Best Handheld" category, while Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit somehow beat out Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for "Best Multiplayer." Can we demand a recount? Because we totally do. Check out the full list of winners after the break.
PSA: BAFTA award livestream starting right now-ish
If you'd like to see which of your favorite games, or which of your favorite Peter Molyneuxs, wins a BAFTA award tonight, and you don't live in the UK, don't worry -- you don't have to figure out some way to get across the ocean in the next half an hour. Instead, you can just watch a live stream courteously embedded on the BAFTA website. It starts at 8:45PM GMT, which is roughly a few minutes from now EST. And should you want to watch the BAFTAs afta they've happened, VG247 plans to re-run a recording of the event.
Peter Molyneux receiving BAFTA Fellowship
A couple weeks after he picks up his lifetime achievement award at GDC 2011, Peter Molyneux will continue his award tour by picking up a similar accolade with the British Academy of Film and Televisions Arts' (BAFTA) Fellowship. He'll just have to swing by this year's GAME British Academy Video Games Awards on March 16 -- or, they can surely just mail it to him if he's tired of being praised by that point. The Fellowship is awarded for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry through an individual's body of work. With series like Fable, Populous and Dungeon Keeper attached to his CV, it's not hard to see why the organization wants to give Molyneux another trinket for his collection. According to a BAFTA rep, previous winners include Will Wright, Nolan Bushnell, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock and, last year's recipient, Shigeru Miyamoto.
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Black Ops rack up BAFTA nominations
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for its GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, which manage to be prestigious despite the inclusion of a sponsor's name in the title. Even before any winners are announced, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood is representing well, with nominations in seven categories including Action, Artistic Achievement, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation, and, of course, Best Game. Call of Duty: Black Ops is also nominated in seven separate categories. Other nominees include Heavy Rain (six nominations), Mass Effect 2 (five), and XBLA favorite Limbo, receiving nods for Audio and Artistic Achievement. Best Game nominee Super Mario Galaxy 2 is also nominated for Technical Innovation, an area in which that game is not typically lauded. In addition, the first Social Network Game award includes Bejeweled Blitz, Farmerama, FIFA Superstars, My Empire, Zoo Mumba, and Zuma Blitz as nominees. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on March 16. Until then, you can vote for the GAME Award winner online.
BAFTA-winning God of War writer working on Shank
While you wouldn't think a game with a title as brutally simple as Shank would need a heavyweight in the whole "writing" department, Electronic Arts recently announced that Marianne Krawczyk, who won a BAFTA award for her work on the God of War franchise, will contribute to Klei Entertainment's action-platformer. In a recent EA press release, Krawczyk said, "we are creating a story that will allow gamers to explore a world where values like integrity and loyalty take on their own twisted meanings." We assume said story will be related between opportunities to stab things using two knives simultaneously -- a genre which is quickly becoming Krawczyk's literary bread-and-butter.
BAFTA announces 2010 Video Games Awards winners, goes batty for Batman
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts handed out its 2010 Video Games Awards in London this evening, but it was a resident of Gotham City who came away the big winner. Although Uncharted 2 bagged yet more trophies -- Best Action Game, Best Use of Audio, Best Story and Best Original Score -- Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Asylum came away as the Academy's choice for Best Game of 2009. Other notable winners include Flower (Artistic Achievement), LittleBigPlanet PSP (Best Handheld Game) and Wii Sports Resort (Best Family Game). You can see the full list of winners by category after the break. Congrats, Bats!
Miyamoto confirms Pikmin 3 development 'well underway'
The Official Nintendo Magazine UK is hanging out at tonight's BAFTA Video Game awards, and has punched into its Twitter account that not only did it get to talk to one Shigeru Miyamoto, but that he's confirmed Pikmin 3 is in development and "well under way." Over a year ago, the game was rumored to be released a week-and-a-half from now, but we'll presume it's not quite that far along in development. Still, good to hear that the game is still going on, considering that we've only seen the barest sprouts of information about it so far. Maybe Miyamoto should give his team a 30-day time limit within which to finish the game, and see how they feel about that.
Bookie suspects Uncharted 2 has highest odds of success at BAFTAs
British bookmaker Victor Chandler has a strange sense of what things people should be betting on. For instance, we never would have thought that high-stakes wagering would ever find its way into the British Academy of Film and Television Awards. Yet somehow, gambling on the BAFTAs has becoming a thing, leading Chandler to tally up the odds for each of the awards show's categories. Perhaps a bit unsurprisingly, Chandler's calculations place Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in front of the video game category -- the only award chosen by a public poll -- with odds of 6/4. Modern Warfare 2 falls slightly behind that with 9/4 odds. Check out the full breakdown of nominee's odds to take home the prize after the jump. We went ahead and split our life savings evenly among the ten contenders, guaranteeing us a victory when the BAFTAs are distributed March 19. Man, we're so good at gambling.
Miyamoto recognized with prestigious BAFTA Fellowship
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced that it'll be awarding Shigeru Miyamoto with the storied BAFTA Fellowship award, which is "the highest accolade the Academy can bestow on an individual for their creative work." Miyamoto will receive the award in a ceremony next month. It's a pretty high honor for his work in film and television, which includes this Mega64 video and this old kids' television series. Oh wait, no -- it's actually part of the British Academy's Video Games Awards, and it is honoring him as the creator of Donkey Kong, Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. That makes much more sense. Nobody should be giving anyone awards for the Super Mario Bros. movie.
BAFTA video game award nominees announced
The BAFTA awards represent a rare opportunity to get the thrill of watching your favorite high-profile games rack up more plaudits long after the end of the year. They also represent the opinions of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, but whatever. The nominations for the 2009 awards have been released, with mostly unsurprising games occupying the "Best Game" category -- Batman, Assassin's Creed II, Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Joystiq.com Game of the Year 2009 Uncharted 2 -- and FIFA 2009. In the "people's choice" GAME Awards, all of the Best Game nominees but Left 4 Dead 2 make repeat appearances, joined by The Beatles: Rock Band, GTA Chinatown Wars, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, Street Fighter IV, and Wii Sports Resort. "Everyone's" tastes are much more diverse! See more nominations for specific genres and achievements at the BAFTA site. The winners will be revealed in an award ceremony on March 19.
