dice-2014
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All of the DICE talks, awards are online
DICE presentations this year ran the gamut from mainstream to indie gaming, music to monetization, Kickstarter to managing an office. All of the talks, including the 2014 DICE Awards, are now available to watch and re-watch on YouTube, courtesy of Variety. Notable presentations include Oculus VR co-founder Palmer Luckey discussing the future of virtual reality (and EVE Valkyrie), The Banner Saga composer Austin Wintory mixing music live on-stage, Keiji Inafune talking about the power of crowdfunding, Gone Home creator Steve Gaynor on the evolution of indie games, and Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail with lessons he's learned during his rise as an indie developer. And of course there's Insomniac founder Ted Price talking about ballz. The 2014 DICE Awards didn't break the streak of gaming award shows being really awkward, but the show did provide us a fun drinking game. It's simple, if you're of legal age and want to play along: Drink every time The Last of Us wins. You're welcome. [Image: DICE]
The Last of Us takes 'Game of the Year' at 2014 DICE Awards
Naughty Dog's grim post-apocalyptic adventure The Last of Us took Game of the Year honors at tonight's DICE Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada. Protagonist Joel's bag is packed full of trophies, as The Last of Us walked away with an impressive 10 wins out of its total 13 nominations. The Last of Us was Adventure Game of the Year, while BioShock Infinite snatched up Action Game of the Year and another award for Original Musical Composition. Ellie, voiced by Ashley Johnson, won The Last of Us an award for Outstanding Character Performance and World of Tanks steamrolled the competition for Online Game of the Year. The full list of awards has been stashed past the break. Congratulations to the winners (The Last of Us) and better luck next time to the losers (games that are not The Last of Us).
Liveblogging the 2014 DICE Awards [Update: It's over!]
Welcome to the Joystiq liveblog for the 17th annual DICE Awards! We'll be covering this year's gala event, which honors games both big and small. Be sure to brush up on this year's nominees before we get started. The event kicks off at 10:30pm ET (7:30pm PT/3:30am GMT) and will last for two hours, so settle in. Grab a snack, a beverage and join us! [Image: DICE]
Inafune has unexpected plans for Mighty No. 9; Soul Sacrifice Delta planned for March 6
Keiji Inafune, the creator of Mega Man, spent 23 years at Capcom, but now he's working on Mighty No. 9, a crowdfunded, independent game reminiscent of the blaster boy in blue. During our conversation with Inafune today at the DICE executive conference, we wondered if he felt that Mighty No. 9 was a step backward. "Although it has very many similar elements to past titles such as Mega Man, we're trying to do something new with it," Inafune said. "Something different, something that will, in a manner of speaking, betray the fans in a good way. Completely do something unexpected, as well as keeping that classic Japanese action that people are looking forward to." Inafune didn't offer any specific examples, but he told us to stay tuned and that more information is always coming out. Mighty No. 9 is currently in development and planned to launch sometime around April 2015. Pulling back to look at Inafune's efforts in a broader sense, the concept behind his company, Comcept, is to be a publisher with the ideals of a developer. Comcept's portfolio currently includes a diverse set of co-developed games such as Soul Sacrifice, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z and Mighty No. 9. The company's next game, Soul Sacrifice Delta, is planned to launch on March 6, Inafune said. [Image: Comcept]
Oculus VR co-publishing EVE: Valkyrie, exclusive to Oculus Rift
EVE: Valkyrie, CCP Games' space dogfighting game, will be co-published by Oculus VR as an Oculus Rift headset exclusive. EVE: Valkyrie started life as EVE VR, an Oculus Rift tech demo built by a small team at CCP. The experience snowballed from there and snatched up several awards at last year's E3 and this year's CES. EVE: Valkyrie is being developed by CCP's Newcastle, UK studio. "The core purpose of CCP is to make virtual worlds more meaningful than real life," CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson said during his DICE 2014 talk. Pétursson's talk mostly revolved around EVE Online, but near the end he talked about how "super excited" CCP is by Oculus Rift. "It is much easier for people to accept as reality," he added about the implementation of Oculus Rift. "It's a much shorter leap of faith to really accept that we really have the ability to create virtual worlds more meaningful than real life." Oculus VR still hasn't announced when it plans to launch the Oculus Rift at retail, but EVE: Valkyrie will be there on day one. [Image: CCP]
Super Joystiq Podcast Special: Dice 2014 Day 1 - Davey Wreden, Steve Gaynor, Rami Ismail
It's that magical time of year again where we get some direct insight into the minds of game creators. Alexander and Susan are at the DICE Summit this week, and are joined in the first Super Joystiq Podcast special by indie darlings Davey Wreden (The Stanley Parable), Steve Gaynor (Gone Home), and Rami Ismail (Nuclear Throne). As is tradition in these DICE shows, the range of topics is wide, and always interesting. Listen-in to hear how Wreden and Gaynor have dealt with The Stanley Parable and Gone Home being called non-games, the difficulty of dealing with the business of a game post-launch, how Rami upset a number of big business types with a bit of contract outmaneuvering, and more. Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directly Relevant links are available after the break.
Grand Theft Auto masterminds crash into AIAS Hall of Fame
Rockstar heads Leslie Benzies, Dan Houser and Sam Houser are the 18th, 19th and 20th inductees into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, joining previous winners Gabe Newell, Shigeru Miyamoto, Sid Meier, John Carmack, Mark Cerny, Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuck, and Tim Sweeney, among other luminaries. The Houser brothers founded Rockstar Games in 1998 and acquired Benzies' studio, DMA Design, in 1999. It became Rockstar North, the hub of Grand Theft Auto development. Microsoft Corporate Veep Phil Harrison will present Benzies and the Housers at the DICE Awards on Thursday, February 6. "A rare combination of cultural savvy, technical prowess and a deep passion for interactive entertainment has made Rockstar Games a global success story that has helped propel the games medium forward," Harrison says in a press release. "I am proud and honored to present Leslie, Sam and Dan with this award on behalf of the entire industry." AIAS calls out specific franchises as examples of Rockstar's impact on the industry, as both developer and publisher: Grand Theft Auto, Bully, Red Dead Redemption, Manhunt, The Warriors and LA Noire. We'll be running a liveblog of the DICE Awards on Thursday, starting at 7:30PM PT. [Image: Rockstar Games]
Hit List Q&A: Journey composer Austin Wintory
In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: Austin Wintory, Grammy-nominated composer for games such as Journey, Monaco and The Banner Saga. Grammy-nominated and two-time BAFTA-winning composer Austin Wintory's diverse career has straddled the worlds of concert music, film, and video games. In 2012, Wintory's soundtrack for the hit PlayStation 3 game, Journey, became the first-ever Grammy-nominated video game score, also winning two British Academy Awards, a D.I.C.E. Award, a Spike TV VGA, and IGN's "Overall Music of the Year," along with five Game Audio Network Guild awards, and a host of others. Austin's score for flOw made him the youngest composer ever to receive a British Academy Award nomination. An orchestral version of this music has been performed at the Smithsonian Museum as a part of their "Art of Games" exhibit; flOw is currently on display at MoMA in New York City. In his upcoming 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit session titled "Music's Rising Tides," Wintory offers his effusively positive outlook on the future of music in general, particularly in games. He contends, through a look at both history and the rapidly changing present, that music's best days lie ahead, and that it is not a hindrance to progress that anyone can whip up a half-decent tune in about 5 minutes ... which he will do while on stage.
The Last of Us leads 2014 DICE Awards nominations
Nominations for the 17th Annual DICE Awards are led by The Last of Us, which received 13 total nods. The peer-based video game awards hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences spans 24 categories and recognized 61 separate games this year. The five games nominated for the Game of the Year award are The Last of Us, Grand Theft Auto 5, BioShock Infinite, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. Both GTA 5 and The Last of Us are joined by Papers, Please, Tearaway and Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons for the Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction award. The awards ceremony will cap off the 2014 DICE Summit on Thursday, February 6 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Head over to the AIAS' site to view the full list of nominees in PDF form.
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.
