The Game Awards 2020 (10th December 2020)

[Julius]

Because it's never too early for Geoff to announce that The Game Awards is coming on December 10th, live from L.A., London, and Tokyo! 

Choice quote from the Variety article tied to the announcement (and which is well worth a read, in my opinion):

Quote

“The thing that I’m worried about more than anything is that — there’s so much anticipation for the show — is that we don’t have big games to announce to the fans, then that becomes a disappointment too. So I talked to all the game companies and they’re like ‘no, we’ve got great content to kind of show fans around games,’ and they’re really excited to show that,” he says. “So yeah, it’s gonna be a super interesting at the end of the year to see what comes out at the top.”

Seems like we have a lot to look forward to!

Now just waiting to hear that the cut-off date is towards the end of November, instead of mid-November, otherwise they'll end up putting Cyberpunk 2077 and Demon's Souls out of the running (as well as potentially Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity) for this year. There's no way they get left out, right? 

Edited September 23, 2020 by Julius

[Jonnas]

Yeah, I think we've gotten used to Zoom/Slack/Skype events by now, makes sense they'd still do it. Might even go smoother than most, considering most of the dialogue are speeches/monologues to begin with.

As per usual, I'm expecting them to snub a few games/genres arbitrarily (why wasn't Shadows of Valentia nominated for best strategy game? Why wasn't Smash Bros nominated for best soundtrack? *grumble*grumble*). But I will refrain from bringing that up if they surprise me and actually include Animal Crossing among the GOTY nominees.

[Julius]

This is great!  

In terms of this year, hands down, from the games I've played, this has to go to The Last of Us Part II. I heard going into the game that there would be a wide range of accessibility options, so I checked them out at the start of the game and...there was a lot. And by a lot, I mean I think this has to be the golden standard of accessibility in gaming. You can play the game even if you are blind. If that isn't worth recognising, I don't know what is. 

Here is a list of the 60+ accessibility features in the game, and here is a video showcasing them:

And a lovely video on just how much it means to those who do need these features, well worth a watch. These two are a big part of the accessibility in gaming community (Steve worked with Naughty Dog on this, too, so it's interesting to hear about his experiences and how they improved throughout the development of these features):

It's awesome. I don't need any of these features myself, but I instantly saw the list and it brought a huge smile to my face. And heck, changing subtitle size and colour should already be a universal standard. I really do hope that more companies, especially on the AAA side, see this and start to incorporate these accessibility features in their own games. Great work by Naughty Dog!

However, I don't think that this needs to be something awarded to only one individual or group, and with it being the first time this particular award is being given out, I do hope that earlier examples of this are recognised. One such case I think should be recognised too is Xbox's Adaptive Controller, which released around two and a half years ago:

The more players the better 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Julius

[Jonnas]

Ooh, that's a good one, bringing attention to good choices.

I wonder if Mark Brown's videos influenced the award's existence, he does talk a lot about the subject.

[Julius]

Nominees coming next week:

 

[CrowingJoe79]

Hell, the long rumoured Silent Hill game is said to be showing up too. Konami, it's basically now or never. 

But after all the disappointment, we don't want to have any more thrown our way. 

[Julius]

Heck yeah! 

 

[Aperson]

Yay, everyone's favourite glorified advertisement is back! And unlike E3 it isn't cancelled!

 

Obviously tongue in cheek really and I don't always agree with what they've been saying amid the industry being more monetised than ever before and also feeling like they give awards to games that the media has hyped up beforehand rather than the opinions of most people who are actually playing the games. I mean, if The Last of Us II wins Game of the Year I'm sure there will be plenty of heated debate on that!

 

Personally I hope Final Fantasy VII Remake gets something in terms of recognition somewhere. Admittedly I haven't played many new games that came out this year, in fact it's only really been FF7R and Xenoblade Definitive Edition that are the only games that came out this year that I've played but FF7R really impressed me and felt like a real evolution in terms of gameplay for JRPGs, in a more involved way than what I saw with the Xenoblade games. The soundtrack is also fantastic and it is currently my game of th year. That may change when I get Miles Morales though...

[Jonnas]

I'm still hoping Animal Crossing takes GOTY. Feels like it should happen.

[Julius]

27 minutes ago, Jonnas said:

I'm still hoping Animal Crossing takes GOTY. Feels like it should happen.

I mean, I wouldn't be against it! Incredibly charming, ridiculously rich and diverse OST which perfectly complements it's world and characters, an awesome gameplay loop...as someone who dropped the game after the first month and "only" put 50 hours in, or something like that, this game has undoubtedly been a massive part of gaming in 2020. I love that many are still enjoying the game too, and I live popping into the New Horizons thread, especially to see everyone's reactions to the new updates! Even if it doesn't win, I feel like it deserves special recognition; can we at least get it an award for being the Best Escape? 

I doubt I'll catch up on the one or two games I wanted to check out before the TGA's come around, but I do hope I'll catch up by the end of the year and be able to hash it out in my head. It's been such a strong year for games, another one of those years where we've ended up with an embarrassment of riches! 

Edited November 17, 2020 by Julius

[Ronnie]

I feel like the pandemic will help Animal Crossing's chances. When people think back to 2020 they'll think of Covid and how Animal Crossing helped a lot of people get through it. Huge sales, almost no bugs, constant free updates every couple of months... I think it's got a good chance. 

[bob]

I feel like the pandemic will help Animal Crossing's chances. When people think back to 2020 they'll think of Covid and how Animal Crossing helped a lot of people get through it. Huge sales, almost no bugs, constant free updates every couple of months... I think it's got a good chance. 

It might have almost no bugs when you first start, but they release new ones each month. You've just got to be patient.

[Julius]

2 minutes ago, bob said:

11 hours ago, Ronnie said:

I feel like the pandemic will help Animal Crossing's chances. When people think back to 2020 they'll think of Covid and how Animal Crossing helped a lot of people get through it. Huge sales, almost no bugs, constant free updates every couple of months... I think it's got a good chance. 

It might have almost no bugs when you first start, but they release new ones each month. You've just got to be patient.

[Julius]

GOTY shortlist: 

Vote here. 

So, uh, pretty good odds The Last of Us Part II will be coming away with a win somewhere, huh? The dramatic pause for effect at the end of the GOTY list of nominees was so unnecessary  also, that domination in Best Performance by Sony was pretty insane! Had 13 Sentinels sitting on my shelf, looks like I should try getting to that soon too...I want to check that and Hades out before the end of the year (doubt I will by the time TGA's swing around), what a fantastic year for games! 

[Ganepark32]

I know he won't win it, but for the sheer amount of work that Logan Cunningham put in to all those performances in Hades he really does deserve to win Best Performance. Likelihood is that it'll probably go to Ashley Johnson (could you imagine after all the backlash if Laura Bailey won for her performance of Abby? The Internet would melt).

Some disappointing omissions and some weird choices. I personally wouldn't put Carrion up for Best Indie (that place could have easily gone to say Creaks from Amanita Design) and I think Doom Eternal's place on that GOTY list is shaky considering some of the other games around it, like Half Life Alyx, Spiritfarer, Wasteland 3 and Ori and the Will of the Wisps. I'm also shocked that Kentucky Route Zero wasn't nominated for best narrative, thats a glaring omission.

But overall, not bad. I'd love to see Hades clear up, especially taking Best Performance, Best Indie and Best Soundtrack (Darren Korb deserves the win here so much as his work for Supergiant Games is always incredible). Likewise, I'd like to see KRZ and Ori win their respective nominations as well. That strategy/sim category is stacked. Should be Crusader Kings 3 but Desperados 3 is also a good shout.

[Julius]

Crazy. 

Absolutely agree with you @Ganepark32, DOOM Eternal is lucky to be on that GOTY shortlist - I'm sure it was a great game, but it's almost already nullified by the fact that Demon's Souls would have been eligible, it just ended up in the hands of press so late on. Don't see it winning anything on the night 

The only award I actively care about is TLOU2 winning for Accessibility, I don't think anything else this year comes remotely close.

GOTY is really hard for me, I think Animal Crossing: New Horizons is awesome and could deservedly win (I wouldn't question it), but at the same time, I do feel like its relevance here has more to do with how the year has unfolded with COVID more so than the qualities of the game itself. To be clear: not suggesting it shouldn't win or isn't deserving of its spot in that shortlist, just think more than any ever game, it has that "against" it in how critics and fans might has it out. 

I was hoping Ghost of Tsushima wouldn't be there simply because it would've put my three most likely to win down to two (VII Remake and The Last of Us Part II), but yeah, we've ended up with a shortlist where I've played 4 of the 6 GOTY nominees, and I think all would be deserving of the win. Only heard great things about Hades too, and still really want to check that out, because I have no doubt from what I've read here and heard elsewhere that it deserves to be there. 

Awesome year for games. That's the biggest takeaway for me. Well, that and Xenoblade once again getting snubbed in the music nominees (if I'm remembering right, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 didn't get nominated in 2017 either?). 

[Ronnie]

54 minutes ago, Julius said:

The dramatic pause for effect at the end of the GOTY list of nominees was so unnecessary 

He did that for Breath of the Wild too, which obviously ended up winning... will history repeat itself haha...

I came away from that nomination video feeling a bit underwhelmed, some quality games in there but the year as a whole seemed a bit lacklustre. Obviously Covid + the gen winding down.

Would love to see Animal Crossing win, but I imagine TLOU will. Maybe even Hades. 

Pleased to see Origami King get some love in Family game but it absolutely deserved a nod for score/soundtrack. The music in that game is outstanding.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Ronnie

[Happenstance]

I'm hoping FFVIIR does well. I really did love that game. Glad to see it nominated for quite a few.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Happenstance

[Kav]

Pretty much this, it’d be hilarious to watch!

 

[Jonnas]

Well, I'm happy AC was, indeed, nominated. Hades is also a nice surprise, I'll be rooting for that one as well.

Last of Us is this year's Death Stranding, I see

As promised, I won't rag too much on nomination choices, so I'll get it off my system right now:

-Spiritfarer should've been in Art Direction;

-Among Us should've been in Ongoing;

-Paper Mario should've been in Adventure/RPG, instead of Family;

-The Fighting game award is a joke as it is, it should be reworked.

Changing the subject, I wonder why they don't mention the directors' names in Game Direction? Feels like that should be a thing.

[CrowingJoe79]

A few days ago, I was looking up news about Silent Hill, and I noticed that there was a site called 'We Got This Covered' talking about a possible Netflix series based on the franchise, coming in the future, provided a certain actress inks a deal. Now, you tell me. If no game was even on the way, why would there be talk of a TV series happening? In most cases, it's like a seminal joint collaboration to revive something as a game and then do something related to that game for added publicity, right? 

So I hope there's news about the reboot coming on 10 December. To me, the time is now. Indeed, the time is now. I'm kind of tired of the hearsay!  

[Hero-of-Time]

I see the Game Awards site has been hacked due to The Last of Us Part II being ahead in the Players Choice voting. The salt is real. People really don't want that game winning anything. 

[nekunando]

On 06/12/2020 at 7:36 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

I see the Game Awards site has been hacked due to The Last of Us Part II being ahead in the Players Choice voting. The salt is real. People really don't want that game winning anything. 

I really need to keep playing to find out why not!

[Julius]

Ghost of Tsushima is the Player's Voice Game of the Year:

Very much deserved in my opinion, one of my favourite games of this year for sure, and probably my favourite, realistically styled open world. Sucker Punch smashed it 

[Nicktendo]

Really don't care what Nintendo show us tomorrow, if anything. 

All my anticipation is for SILKSONG!

Please deliver, Team Cherry. It is my #1 anticipated game right now and I need to see more.