Game Awards of 2014

For those of you who don't know, the Game Awards were playing not too long ago (they are ending so as we speak), and I just woke up and got word of the winners for all the awards.

Game of the Year: Dragon Age Inquisition
Developer of the Year: Nintendo
Best Independent Game: Shovel Knight
Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Hearthstone
Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Best Score/Soundtrack: Destiny
Best Performance: Trey Parker As Various Voices, South Park: The Stick Of Truth
Games for Change: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Best Remaster: Grand Theft Auto V
Best Shooter: Far Cry 4
Best Action/Adventure: Shadow of Mordor
Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age Inquisition
Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Wii U
Best Family Game: Mario Kart 8
Best Sports/Racing Game: Mario Kart 8
Best Online Experience: Destiny

Fan's Choice
Most Anticipated Game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Esports Player of the Year: Matt “NaDeSHoT” Haag (Call Of Duty)
Esports Team of the Year: Ninjas In Pajamas (Counter-Strike: GO)
Trending Gamer: Totalbiscuit
Best Fan Creation: Twitch Plays Pokemon

There's a lot of announcements that I missed about the events, I think there was some gameplay footage of the upcoming Zelda game for the Wii U. I don't know if there was anything else out there. So for the time being, let us discuss the awards.

Game of the Year: Dragon Age Inquisition
I agree that Dragon Age was wonderful and all but....Bayonetta 2 guys??? I mean, I can understand that video-game taste is highly subjective and all, but I really wanted to see Bayonetta up there. Oh well. Maybe it'll have a shot at best action game. But yeah, good on Bioware for this year I suppose. Forgive me; I'm just not a fan of medieval games in general.

Developer of the Year: Nintendo
It would just seem like a head-scratcher if anything other that Nintendo won this award. Maybe Telltale could come in second, but definitely Nintendo on top this year.

Best Independent Game: Shovel Knight
The only game that I have played on this list was Transistor, and the only feedback I can offer is why Transistor didn't win. It's a great wonderful game, sure, but the combat does feel a little too simplistic with not all that many consequences for failing. Shovel Knight, I've heard from time to time again how outstanding it is, from friends, from reviewers, from everyone. Can't seem to disagree on this one.

Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Hearthstone
This was a very odd category for me. You have iOS mixed in with 3DS games and Vita games, and by the way, not a single Vita game can be found. Nope. Not even Freedom Wars. Begs the question: was this really necessary? I mean, it was basically trying to sell the idea that Androids and Apple products are on the same tier as the 3DS and Vita, which I strongly disagree about. Of course, putting in Hearthstone would obviously make it win; it is a highly-successful F2P game. Seems a little unfair for all the other handheld games on dedicated systems.

Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Odd winner. Not only does it come out on top, but it also beats not one, but TWO Telltale games. I'd like to believe that I am severely underestimating this game, which probably is the case since I decided not to look into it at all to avoid spoilers.

Best Score/Soundtrack: Destiny
People here are aware of my passionate hate for Destiny, but I will give them this: the soundtrack was still good. Didn't hear the soundtracks for the other games so I can't vouch for them. Anyhow, this is the most I am doing for Destiny! I don't want this winning anymore awards.

Best Performance: Trey Parker As Various Voices, South Park: The Stick Of Truth
Let's be honest, this was not a very fair category. A guy who can do a bazillion voices would obviously win.

Games for Change: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Would have preferred that This War of Mine would win this, but since it's very similar to Valiant Hearts in terms of the theme, not too upset about this one. Still would have wanted This War of Mine; that game was brilliant.

Best Remaster: Grand Theft Auto V
Seems reasonable to me seeing as how glorified the new GTA V was. I would probably give my vote to Pokemon since it does add in a lot of new gameplay features which weren't previously there in the originals, but I guess GTA V would still win cause of the FPS mode alone. Not upset about this one though; I too was excited for FPS mode, but I would have preferred Pokemon.

Best Shooter: Far Cry 4
Thank GOD for a shooter that wasn't bollox! I was very nervous about this one seeing Call of Duty, Titanfall, and Destiny all in there, but NOPE! Far Cry 4 takes it all! Very happy with this one seeing as Far Cry 3 was my favorite shooter from 2012. A little sad that Wolfenstein didn't win, but hey, at least we got Far Cry.

Best Action/Adventure: Shadow of Mordor
Oh COME ON PEOPLE! REALLY?! SHADOW OF MORDOR BETTER THAN BAYONETTA 2? REALLY?!?!? Sigh. I mean, I still respect Shadow of Mordor, but no way in hell is it better than Bayonetta 2. Then again, it probably doesn't help that not a lot of people played Bayonetta 2 to begin with, in contrast to Mordor.

Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age Inquisition
I expected nothing else honestly. Seemed clear as rain that it would win.

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Wii U
No contest really. A lot of the choices here were very odd however. We've had quite a handful of fighting games this year, and yet, the ones we nominate are Ultra Street Fighter IV and the other Smash game. No BlazBlue. No Arcana Hearts. None of that. At least Persona 4 Arena Ultimax got an honorable mention, and so did Killer Instinct.

Best Family Game: Mario Kart 8
Pretty sure people went nuts over Tomadachi Life more so than on Mario Kart, but whatever.

Best Sports/Racing Game: Mario Kart 8
What exactly are you, Mario Kart? A family game or a sports game? Make up your mind! But in all seriousness, yeah. Anything that rubs it into FIFA's and NBA's faces will do.

Best Online Experience: Destiny
.
.
.
Can I kill something?

I'm sorry, no. No. NO! I can deal with Bayonetta 2 not winning game of the year, I can deal with it not winning action game of the year, I can deal with so much more! But Destiny as best online experience of the year?
NO!
NO!
YOU
ARE
ON
MEEEEEEEETTTTHHHHHH!!!!

As someone who's not only bought, but PRE-ORDERED Destiny, I feel like I am entitled to talk about this. First of all, Destiny had EXTREMELY LIMITED PLAYER INTERACTION! You couldn't trade, you couldn't find party members all that easily, you couldn't voice chat (this was implemented really late sometime soon), the connection timeouts were so very often, the game hub was so limited in what you could do, the..IT'S HORRIBLE!

Do you have any idea how boring Destiny is? It's to the point that people are seen playing Duck Duck Goose. The only things you can do with other players is dance, sit around, point fingers, and kick a soccer ball that has a very strange physics to it. Even the PvP mode, which a lot of people claim is the one thing this game has going for it, is extremely unbalanced because of players bringing in Exotic weapons to the fights.

Well, what were the other contenders then? Call of Duty? Perhaps on PC, dunno about console. Dark Souls II? Dunno so I can't say much. Titanfa-ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! AT LEAST THAT FUNCTIONED AS IT SHOULD. Hearthst-ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! Please explain to me how Destiny beats a successful F2P online TCG video-game, and then hand me a sledgehammer so I CAN SMACK THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF YOU!

I'm sorry...just...I really hate this game. I really hate all the lies put into it. You thought Watch Dogs was bad? This...THIS...IS AN ABOMINATION! I...

*sobs*

Oh well. That's my opinion on the Game Awards, people. Kinda okay with all of them save for maybe Bayonetta 2 not winning Action game of the year and that last one...just...you just know something's wrong when a game wins an award over something it obviously doesn't deserve....

EDIT
Well, it looks like they added in the awards for the fan's choice section. Bit of an odd section, but oh well. I added the winners up above. Below is my opinion on it.

Most Anticipated Game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
It's to be expected. The Witcher took the world by storm. I mean, if your sequel got pirated 2 million times according to what people claim, that probably speaks a lot about your franchise. Anyhow, I respect The Witcher a lot but it isn't my kind of game. I'm personally in the minority of people who are excited for Batman: Arkham Knight, with Bloodborne right behind.

Esports Player of the Year: Matt “NaDeSHoT” Haag (Call Of Duty)
Not an Esports person, moving on.

Esports Team of the Year: Ninjas In Pajamas (Counter-Strike: GO)
Same thing. What's surprising though is that this isn't a Korean team. You'd think a Korean team would make that award but apparently not. I heard that Korea had a lot of rough situations this year when it comes to Esports, so it could be that.

Trending Gamer: Totalbiscuit
This definitely makes up for Destiny as best online experience. The title of trending gamer though is a bit weird; Totalbiscuit is more of a critic than of a trending gamer. Sure, he plays games on Twitch from time to time, but not all too often. I could be wrong. If I had the potential to nominate someone, I would probably go with Markiplier. Oh well. Very happy to see him win nonetheless. Totalbiscuit does an extraordinary service to the PC gaming scene, and it would be shameful that such a feat was not acknowledged at some point. I dunno who the other people are save for Pewdiepie. Yeah, he has enough attention as it is. Glad to see that his fans didn't turn the votes into his favor.

Best Fan Creation: Twitch Plays Pokemon
This one is a bit odd honestly. This is basically memes. You vote for your favorite gaming meme of 2014. I mean, Twitch Plays Pokemon and Luigi's Death Stare do count, the others aren't that popular for trending memes. Well, regardless, Twitch Plays Pokemon won without a shadow of a doubt, being the only meme you can interact with yourself.

Alright, folks. That's it for the Video-Game Awards this year. If you'd like to see the other nominees for all the other categories, you can check in the link down below. I'll also include a link to Totalbiscuit receiving the award from Boogie2988 (yay) and iJustice (not a fan but whatever) because I'm just so darn happy.

http://thegameawards.com/nominees/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6h9k7DZZ68

Game of the Year: Dragon Age Inquisition
I guess...I think other games like Shadow of Mordor should have got it, oh well.

Developer of the Year: Nintendo
I understand why they won this year with all the things they've done.

Best Independent Game: Shovel Knight
Agree 100%

Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Hearthstone
I don't agree with this, I thought the 3DS had a lot of cool games.

Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
No opinion.

Best Score/Soundtrack: Destiny
Never played Destiny so I don't know.

Best Performance: Trey Parker As Various Voices, South Park: The Stick Of Truth
Yes...yes.

Games for Change: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
No opinion.

Best Remaster: Grand Theft Auto V
Agree 100%

Best Shooter: Far Cry 4
Fuck yeah it is.

Best Action/Adventure: Shadow of Mordor
I agree with this.

Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age Inquisition
Sure I'll give DA this one.

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Wii U
Let the flame wars burn ever brighter...also what competition did they even have?

Best Family Game: Mario Kart 8
I guess.

Best Sports/Racing Game: Mario Kart 8
I guess.

Best Online Experience: Destiny
I gue-oh what...is that Kimo ranting in the distance?

Just wanted to update on a few things: the fan choice section got update with the new winners. I'll be adding my opinion in the first post.

Ya ready to get hype bros?! About the hypest of things! Cause we be raising the HYYYYYYYPE!

is basically what the VGAs are and have always been. The hype-est things will get the awards to confirm that the things that were hype throughout the year, were indeed hype. That's why they are kinda pointless, and maybe something contributing to why they were dropped (other than the awful ones last year). They are just here to tell us what we already know. Going in, we know what has the most "hype" in each category, so why watch, why care, you knew before, you know now, nothing changed.

Even if they end up disagreeable, I think more opinionated lists that have actual justifications, are preferable to gathering together all the hype in one big pile to figure out which had the most, waiting for the real justification which is "look at all that hype". No, really, go through all the winners, go and find how many of the winners had less general media exposure than their competition. You may find a couple of categories. And yeah, you could say Ubisoft had a lot more coverage than their competition, but that was 90% horrible.

Iunno, there are things I agree with there, but everything is something the majority agrees with there, the pope's awards are kinda boring.

Game of the Year: Dragon Age Inquisition
Eh. There where better games in the series overall but it definitely was a solid entry.

Developer of the Year: Nintendo
Given the fact that I feel other developers have been dropping the ball recently, I can agree with this. They've made a hell of a turn around but they've just barely met my ability to say, "they release enough games for me to always have something to play on their console as long as I buy all of them regardless of if it's something I was looking forward to or not." They still need 3rd party support, but for not getting it they're doing an amazing job.

Best Independent Game: Shovel Knight
I can agree with this. Probably one of the best things to ever come out of a kickstarter.

Best Mobile/Handheld Game: Hearthstone
Woah, Hearthstones on mobile? If so then sure, I can agree with this being best mobile/handheld.

Best Narrative: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Haven't played it, but heard great things about it.

Best Score/Soundtrack: Destiny
Definitely not my favorite music score but it's still a strong one.

Best Performance: Trey Parker As Various Voices, South Park: The Stick Of Truth
I'm not even a fan of South Park and I can get on board with this vote. I've seen the game played and he did an amazing job.

Games for Change: Valiant Hearts: The Great War
Same as above.

Best Remaster: Grand Theft Auto V
Very yes. That is all.

Best Shooter: Far Cry 4
Another game I opted not to buy immediately, this time as to not feed Ubisoft and their recent corporate bullshit with my money until I knew the thing was a good game. I've heard good things about it though thus far.

Best Action/Adventure: Shadow of Mordor
Another game I passed up due to corporate BS, so I couldn't say.

Best Role Playing Game: Dragon Age Inquisition
I can agree with this. RPGs have been pretty weak this year.

Best Fighting Game: Super Smash Bros. Wii U
While fighters have also been weak this year, I doubt even a strong year for fighters would've dethroned Smash Bros.

Best Family Game: Mario Kart 8
Sounds about right.

Best Sports/Racing Game: Mario Kart 8
Also sounds about right.

Best Online Experience: Destiny
Just no. Destiny was a travesty and one of the worst online experiences I've ever had with a game on a console, and this was a few nights at a buddies place while he was away at work. Thank god I don't preorder unless it's for collecting sake because I would've been sorely disappointed if I actually spent money on this game. I can't believe it's doing so well.

Pretty much 100% with you Kimo on this game being garbage.

Most Anticipated Game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Definitely a game I'm looking forward to.

Esports Player of the Year: Matt “NaDeSHoT” Haag (Call Of Duty)
Kind of blown away that Call of Duty even has an eSports community.

Esports Team of the Year: Ninjas In Pajamas (Counter-Strike: GO)
I can dig it. I don't follow CS:GO much at all but I do know Ninjas and Pajamas. Was hoping to see a LoL team but alas.

Trending Gamer: Totalbiscuit
Couldn't agree more.

Best Fan Creation: Twitch Plays Pokemon
Also couldn't agree more.