BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Nominations – Part 2
Hailed as the Oscar’s smaller and slightly less impressive sibling the BAFTAs are still growing in stature, especially the gaming ones which I consider are the most important! This is the second half of a look at the 91 nominations from this year which includes the GAME award which anyone can vote for. If you’ve missed seeing the BAFTA Video Games Awards 2010 Nominations – Part 1, then be sure to check out that list too!
So on with this year’s awards, and we’ve already seen the first half of the nominations with those for the Action, Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Family and Social, Gameplay, Handheld – all of which looked very competitive and which heavily featured the top four of this year: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Assassins Creed 2 and of course Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. So on with the rest of the awards…
Multiplayer
Having been won by Left 4 Dead last year Left 4 Dead 2 is definitely in with a good chance this year (although arguably some of the originality has gone) but just like year it will be up against a Call of Duty representative (Modern Warfare 2), a rock band (The Beatles: Rock Band) as well as Battlefield 1943, Halo 3 ODST and Uncharted 2. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this went to Modern Warfare 2, with The Beatles and Left 4 Dead 2 running it close, but we shall have to wait and see!
Original Score
This is one of those categories which is very hard to have an opinion on if you’ve not specifically looked for this in the game, because although it is incredibly important you tend not to notice it – good game music nowadays builds up the tension or excitement without being overpowering. In the running this year to fill Dead Space’s boots is all of the ‘big four’ (Batman, Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) as well as PixelJunkShooter up for their second award, and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Sports
A genre still undeniably popular it was won last year by Race Driver: Grid, and this year the competition is once again tough with a nice split between Football, Racing and Wii games, with Colin McRae: DiRT 2, Forza 3, FIFA 10, Football Manager 2010, Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports Resort respectively. Whether or not we see another Racing win I don’t know, but with the Wii Fit and FIFA 09 having lost last year I imagine both their successors will be keen to win this one!
Story
The Story award (which has now dropped the character part, which in my opinion should be another award!) last year went to the immersive albeit short COD4 and this year will be contested by Batman, Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s Cut (which incidentally also wins the award for longest nominee title), Brutal Legend, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2 and Assassins Creed 2. Whilst I may be a little biased as I do love this game, I do think that the latter should definitely win this award if for nothing else other than the effort they have obviously put into it!
Strategy
Last year brought very few surprises when Sid Meier’s Civilisation Revolution won, but this year proves to be a little tighter with Command and Conquer 3: Uprising, Empire: Total War, FIFA Manager 10, Football Manager 2010, Halo Wars and Plants vs Zombies all in the running, and all with a good chance.
Use of Audio
Slightly renamed from ‘Use of Sound’ and appearing remarkably similar to ‘Original Score’ (in fact the same game ‘Dead Space’ won both last year) this too features Batman, Uncharted 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 along with the disk spinning DJ hero, relaxing Flower and incredibly un-relaxing Left 4 Dead 2. Subtly different to ‘Original Score’ (as anyone who’s heard the tank music on Left 4 Dead 2 will tell you) this won’t necessarily provide anyone with a double, and could go to any of the six!
Use of Online
A new award for this year is the Use of Online, which as it sounds is almost synonymous with Use of Multiplayer seeing as most of that is via the internet! Presumably among the key differences is downloadable content which will be why the list of nominees differs: Battlefield 1943, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10, LIttleBigPlanet (PSP), Singstar TakeThat and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Ones to Watch
The last new and penultimate award is the one that awards the games to watch, which is in association with Dare to Be Digital. With only three nominees this promises to be closer than the others, and it will go to one of Colour Coded, Quick as Thieves and Shrunk!
GAME
Finally there’s the GAME award, which is perhaps the most valued as it is voted for by gamers, and which was unsurprisingly won last year by COD4. This year the competition is equally tough as all the big names are here, and I imagine every fan boy will be fighting their cause! So, the list in full: Assassin’s Creed 2, Batman Arkham Asylum, The Beatles: Rockband, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10, GTA China Town Wars, Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks, Street Fighter 4, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Wii Sports Resort.
So that’s all the nominations, head over to the BAFTA Video Games Awards website to cast your vote and then it’s just a wait till the awards ceremony which will be on 19th March 2010, and will be hosted again by Dara O’Briain. Hope you can wait!
Via – BAFTAs
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I do like the BAFTA Awards, especially the gaming ones, always interesting to see these nominations and the actual winners – just a shame there’s no way to actually see the awards ceremony!
I’m sure Dara O’Briain will do a great job, especially after seeing his Gameswipe appearance a few months back when he was talking about his gaming experiences.