Journey leads Spike VGA 2012 nominations

by David Hinkle on Nov 15th 2012 9:00PM

The nominees for this year's Spike Video Game Awards have been outed, featuring a cavalcade of 2012's best titles. Journey led the pack with seven nods this year, including Game of the Year. Other stand-outs include The Walking Dead, Assassin's Creed 3 and Dishonored, which are each nominated for five awards. The complete list of nominees and special "Viewer Voted" categories are available on Spike's award page.

In addition to being broadcast on television, the Spike VGAs will be presented on Xbox Live with special SmartGlass functionality. Viewers can check out the festivities through their Xbox 360 on December 7 at 9pm ET when Samuel L. Jackson takes the stage as host.

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Uncharted 3 leads AIAS 2011 award nominations

by David Hinkle on Jan 12th 2012 9:00PM

We've already told you what our favorite games of 2011 are, but the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences apparently needed a bit more time to ruminate on the matter. The final awards will be given at the annual DICE summit in Las Vegas on February 9, giving us all tons of time to pressure the AIAS into giving Rayman Origins the awards for Outstanding Animation and Outstanding Art Direction.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the belle of the ball this year, with a total of 12 nominations across several categories. Other notable titles include Portal 2 (10 nominations) L.A. Noire (9 nominations), Bastion (3 nominations), and Battlefield 3 (6 nominations). 2010's top game from the AIAS was Mass Effect 2, which walked away with awards in the RPG and storytelling categories.

Jay Mohr will be hosting again -- here's his monologue from last year -- and the entire show will be streamed online through GameSpot, starting at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm ET. Or you could buy a plane ticket and fly to Vegas, hoping to somehow sneak in. We wouldn't suggest that, though, as your time and money can be better spent petitioning for Rayman Origins.

Hit the jump for the full list of this year's nominees.

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition L.A. NoireLittleBigPlanet 2Uncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionInFamous 2Portal 2Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3L.A. NoireNeed For Speed: The RunUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Story BastionL.A. NoirePortal 2The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Character Performance Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Adam Jensen)L.A. Noire (Cole Phelps)Portal 2 (Wheatley)Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Nathan Drake)Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (Victor Sullivan)Downloadable Game of the Year BastionDrawn: Trail of ShadowsInsanely Twisted Shadow PlanetMs. Splosion ManOrcs Must Die!Casual Game of the Year Fruit Ninja KinectTiny WingsJetpack JoyrideMonsters Ate My CondoWhere's My Water?Social Networking Game of the Year Army AttackCastleVilleGardens of TimeThe Sims SocialTriple TownRole-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year Dark SoulsDeus Ex: Human RevolutionStar Wars: The Old RepublicThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Witcher 2: Assassins of KingsOutstanding Innovation in Gaming BastionL.A. NoirePortal 2Skylanders Spyro's AdventureThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimSports Game of the Year FIFA 12Madden NFL 12MLB 11 The ShowNBA 2K12NBA Jam: On Fire EditionRacing Game of the Year Forza Motorsport 4Mario Kart 7Real Racing 2 HDFighting Game of the Year Fight Night ChampionKing of Fighters XIIIMortal KombatSuper Street Fighter 4: 3D EditionUltimate Marvel vs Capcom 3Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year Iron BrigadeOrcs Must Die!Total War: Shogun IIToy Soldiers: Cold WarWarhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - RetributionFamily Game of the Year Dance Central 2Just Dance 3Kinect Disneyland AdventureLittleBigPlanet 2Skylanders Spyro's AdventureMobile Game of the Year Contre JourDead SpaceInfinity Blade IITentaclesThe Dark MeadowHandheld Game of the Year Ghost Trick: Phantom DetectiveKirby Mass AttackMario Kart 7Professor Layton and the Last SpecterSuper Mario 3D LandAdventure Game of the Year Batman: Arkham CityL.A. NoirePortal 2The Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Online Game Play Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Gears of War 3LittleBigPlanet 2Star Wars: The Old RepublicOutstanding Achievement in Connectivity Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Dragon Age IIPortal 2Uncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionAction Game of the Year Battlefield 3Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Dead Space 2Gears of War 3Saints Row: The ThirdOutstanding Achievement in Animation Assassin's Creed: RevelationsBatman: Arkham CityL.A. NoireRayman OriginsUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Art Direction Batman: Arkham CityBattlefield 3Portal 2Rayman OriginsUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering Battlefield 3Crysis 2L.A. NoireRAGEUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionOutstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering Batman: Arkham CityPortal 2Skylanders Spyro's AdventureThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordOutstanding Achievement in Game Direction Batman: Arkham CityL.A. NoirePortal 2The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimUncharted 3: Drake's DeceptionGame of the Year Batman: Arkham CityPortal 2The Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimThe Legend of Zelda: Skyward SwordUncharted 3: Drake's Deception

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Gaming leads to rape...

Gaming leads to rape... Didn't feel this was newsworthy, but it is video game related. Another insightful article from the good people at Fox News, titled "Is Bulletstorm the Worst Video Game in the World?". If you can't make it through a Fox News article without vomiting all over your keyboard, here are a few intellectual gems extracted from the article:

Quote:“If a younger kid experiences Bulletstorm's explicit language and violence, the damage could be significant,” Dr. Jerry Weichman, a clinical psychologist at the Hoag Neurosciences Institute in Southern California, told FoxNews.com. “Violent video games like Bulletstorm have the potential to send the message that violence and insults with sexual innuendos are the way to handle disputes and problems,” Weichman said.

Quote:Carol Lieberman, a psychologist and book author, told FoxNews.com that sexual situations and acts in video games -- highlighted so well in Bulletstorm -- have led to real-world sexual violence.
“The increase in rapes can be attributed in large part to the playing out of [sexual] scenes in video games,” she said.

Quote:“Games without sufficient quality of gameplay -- games that include highly objectionable violent or sexual content -- often pump up the level of this kind of content to gain media attention. This tactic typically fails, as can be seen in the poor sales performance of titles such as BMX XXX and Postal,” said Billy Pidgeon, a video game analyst with M2 Research.

Quote:“The marketing is clearly aimed at children and young adolescents,” Killen said.

Hard to believe that (allegedly) educated people could be this ignorant, or just plain stupid. I know it's just Fox News being Fox News (remember they published a story a few years ago calling Mass Effect borderline pornography), but it is amazing that such an article could exist today.   

Wii #: 4903 7495 3015 2654

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Mistwalker's Wii-Exclusive The Last Story Leads Japanese Charts

In a plentiful week for new releases, the Nintendo-published The Last Story debuted on top of the Japanese retail game charts, reports tracking firm Media Create.

Created by Nintendo and Blue Dragon developer Mistwalker, The Last Story is an action role-playing game from Hironobu Sakaguchi, perhaps best known as the creator of the Final Fantasy series.

For the week ended January 30, Sega's Valkyria Chronicles 3 and Namco Bandai's visual novel My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute Portable rounded out the top three.

Spike's PSP brawler Kenka Bancho 5: Laws of Manhood debuted at number four, followed by ASCII Media Work's fighting game Magical Index Term at number five.

For the first time since its launch, Capcom's popular Monster Hunter Freedom 3 fell from the top three amidst the slew of new releases, and landed at number seven.

Last week's top-selling title, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - Final Mix slipped down the charts to number nine.

Other new titles this week include the Spike-published Dragon Age: Origins and D3 Publisher's Dream Club Zero.

Below is Media Create's top 20 sales chart for the week ended January 30, 2011.

LWTWTitlePublisherPlatformWeekly SalesMy Little Sister Can't Be This Cute PortableKenka Bancho 5: Laws of ManhoodKingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - Final MixInazuma Eleven 3: World Challenge!! The OgreMonster Hunter Frontier Online (Season 10 Premium Package)

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DICE award nominees announced, Red Dead leads the pack

by Griffin McElroy on Jan 19th 2011 9:20PM

The nominees for the 2011 Interactive Achievement Awards -- the annual awards ceremony held during the Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain (DICE) Summit -- have been announced. The list includes a number of surprises (including a Game of the Year nod for Angry Birds HD), but, somewhat less surprisingly, Red Dead Redemption leads the pack with nine nominations across the show's various categories.

Check out all the nominees after the jump for even more familiar and unfamiliar titles. (Alan ... Wake? That's a game? Never heard of it, bub.)

Game of the Year
Angry Birds HD (Publisher: Chillingo; Developer: Rovio)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (Publisher: Activision; Developer: Treyarch)
God of War III (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Mass Effect 2 (Publisher: Electronic Arts; Developer: Bioware)
Red Dead Redemption (Publisher: Rockstar Games; Developer: Rockstar San Diego)

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Angry Birds HD (Publisher: Chillingo; Developer: Rovio)
Dance Central (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games; Developer: Harmonix Music Systems)
Heavy Rain (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: Quantic Dream)
LIMBO (Publisher: Playdead; Developer: Playdead)
Red Dead Redemption (Publisher: Rockstar Games; Developer: Rockstar San Diego)

Action Game of the Year
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (Publisher: Electronic Arts; Developer: Digital Illusions CE)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (Publisher: Activision; Developer: Treyarch))
God of War III (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Halo: Reach (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios; Developer: Bungie)
Red Dead Redemption (Publisher: Rockstar Games; Developer: Rockstar San Diego)

Adventure Game of the Year
Alan Wake (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios; Developer: Remedy Entertainment)
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Publisher: Ubisoft; Developer: Ubisoft Montreal)
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Publisher: Namco Bandai; Developer: Ninja Theory)
Heavy Rain (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: Quantic Dream)
LIMBO (Publisher: Playdead; Developer: Playdead)

Casual Game of the Year
Angry Birds HD (Publisher: Chillingo; Developer: Rovio)
Bejeweled 3 (Publisher: PopCap Games; Developer: PopCap Games)
Kinect Sports (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studio; Developer: Rare)
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (Publisher: Namco Bandai; Developer: Namco Bandai)
Plants vs. Zombies (Publisher: PopCap Games; Developer: PopCap Games)

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (Publisher: Nintendo; Developer: Square Enix)
Fable III (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios; Developer: Lionhead Studios)
Fallout: New Vegas (Publisher: Bethesda Softworks; Developer: Obsidian Entertainment)
Mass Effect 2 (Publisher: Electronic Arts; Developer: Bioware)
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment; Developer: Blizzard Entertainment)

Social Networking Game of the Year
Cityville (Publisher: Zynga; Developer: Zynga)
Family Feud (Publisher: iWin/Backstage Technologies; Developer: iWin/Backstage Technologies)
FrontierVille (Publisher: Zynga; Developer: Zynga)
Nightclub City (Publisher: Booyah; Developer: Booyah)
Ravenwood Fair (Publisher; Lolapps; Developer: Lolapps)

Download the full list of nominees and categories here [PDF]

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