Nominations for DICE Awards show year’s diversity in gaming

Cristina Blanaru Digital & Media, Gaming

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences will honor year’s finest achievements in video games with nominations for 17th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, the video game industry’s premier peer-based awards show. Academy’s 22,000+ members, comprised of the interactive publishing and development communities, recognize excellence in 24 different interactive game categories in one of the highest forms of recognition in the industry. Included in the Academy’s voting body is the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) – members are invited to vote on the craft categories.

Leading the nominations is The Last of Us with 13 nods, including Game of the Year. The other nominees up for the Academy’s highest honor are: Assassin’s Creed: IV Black Flag, Bioshock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Several more titles received multiple nominations including Grand Theft Auto V with seven, Bioshock Infinite with six, and Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag and Tearaway tying with five each.

D.I.C.E. Awards gala is scheduled to take place on February 6th, at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, in the end of 2014 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit (#DICE2014). It will be streamed fully, starting 22:30 ET.

Also honored this year with Pioneer Award is the legendary video game designer Eugene Jarvis, whose games Defender and Robotron: 2084 have made lasting impact through the golden age of the arcade and beyond.

The games from 2013 are a mix of memorable, small footprint independent games and true blockbusters from the past console generation as they wind down in high style with notable games like Grand Theft Auto V, The Last of Us and Bioshock: Infinite (…) Each year our voters grapple with a surplus of impactful games, and 2013 was no different with its selection of stunning visuals, innovative gameplay and challenging narratives. It is an honor for the Academy to celebrate such a talented group of creators and their respective work at the D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony!

Martin Rae,

President Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.  

New this year is the Online Game of the Year award. This category is unique among the D.I.C.E. Awards in that it celebrates titles outside of the current calendar year alongside this year’s releases, in order to celebrate the constantly evolving experiences persistent online titles provide.

As the gaming industry continues to evolve, it’s important that we update our honors to reflect the finest achievements among modern developers and publishers (…) With the continued growth of online games and the idea of games as a service, we created the Online Game of the Year category to recognize not only the best in online games from 2013, but also online games from previous years that continue to evolve over time.

Rae

Among the nominees are the following:

Game of the Year

  •  Assassin’s Creed: IV Black Flag (Ubisoft)
  • Bioshock Infinite ( 2K Games & Irrational Games)
  • Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games & Rockstar North)
  • The Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Naughty Dog Inc.)
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo) 

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

  •  Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons (505 Games & Starbreeze Studios)
  • Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games & Rockstar North)
  • Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
  • Tearaway (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Media Molecule)
  • The Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Naughty Dog Inc.)

 

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

  • Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games & Rockstar North)
  • Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
  • Tearaway (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Media Molecule)
  • The Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Naughty Dog Inc.)
  • The Stanley Parable (Galactic Café) 

 

Adventure Game of the Year

  •  Assassin’s Creed: IV Black Flag (Ubisoft)
  • Tearaway (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Media Molecule)
  • The Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Naughty Dog Inc.)
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo)
  • Tomb Raider (Square Enix Inc. & Crystal Dymanics)

 

Action Game of the Year

  •  Battlefield 4 (Electronic Arts Inc. & DICE)
  • Bioshock Infinite (2K Games & Irrational Games)
  • Dead Rising 3 (Microsoft Studios & Capcom Games Studio Vancouver)
  • DmC: Devil May Cry (Capcom U.S.A., Inc. & Ninja Theory)
  • RESOGUN (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Housemarque)

Downloadable Game of the Year

  • Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons (505 Games & Starbreeze Studios)
  • Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Ubisoft) 
  • Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)
  • Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
  • The Stanley Parable (Galactic Café) 

 

 

Online Game of the Year

  • Battlefield 4 (Electronic Arts Inc.& DICE)
  • Borderlands 2 (2K Games & Gearbox Software)
  • Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment) 
  • The Last of Us (Sony Computer Entertainment America & Naughty Dog Inc.)
  • World of Tanks (Wargaming Public Company Ltd. 105 & Wargaming.net)

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) was founded in 1996 as a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote, advance and recognize the outstanding achievements in the interactive entertainment industry worldwide. The Academy conducts its annual awards show, the D.I.C.E. Awards, to celebrate and honor creative accomplishments in the field.

In 2013 the Academy launched D.I.C.E. Europe in London to cater to the European games market. The Academy has more than 20,000 members, including Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Wargaming, Bethesda Game Studios, Ubisoft, Valve Software, Double Fine, Gearbox Software, Nexon and Insomniac Games, among others.