[Cassie Boyle]

Hey, everyone! It's that time of year again, and Geoff Keighley is out doing his thing, regardless of the level of approval he receives from this forum. This year's awards mark the second year in a row that Keighley and gang have decided to do something a little bit different, hopefully this time it will be for the better. For those who are unaware, for many years the big event was called the VGAs, and was hosted by Spike TV. The show was quite a large spectacle, featuring game announcements, trailer premiers, awards (however poorly chosen they might have been), and (disastrously) mainstream celebrity hosts and other celebrities such as the Jonas Brothers, who were kind of just there being payed to be there. That was the case until 2013 when the show moved into Geoff's garage, got rid of the spectacle, changed its name to VGX, and kept most of the rest the same, except for a major deemphasis on awards, and a major deemphasis on any interesting new info. The show many people disliked got worse.

But this year should hopefully be different. Geoff Keighley is still in charge, but this time Spike has nothing to do with the show (Spike, I'm guessing, was previously the main source of the misplaced attention placed on non-industry celebrities). The show is called The Game Awards 2014, hence the title of this thread, The The Game Awards 2014 Thread. On top of the shedding of Spike's dark (or should I say blinding?) pop culture influence from the gaming event, TGA has some other things going for it. For the first time, the show is backed by the some big names in the industry, including Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Valve, Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, Kojima Productions, and Warner Bros. Whether to the benefit or detriment of the show, these companies are in part acting as advisors. The show is also emerging from the Spike TV man cave and going back to being a large event with an audience (which I, for one, prefer). Last but not least, this year's show could have one major upside above all others, in that Bethesda Game Studios is due to announce their upcoming game at some time within the next century, with TGA being a likely candidate for location given Skyrim's announcement at the 2010 VGAs. But who knows?

http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/10/geoff-keighley-unveils-the-game-awards-2014-to-replace-the-vgas/

http://thegameawards.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iya5ovk6t7w

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley

The event is to be held on December 5th at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific, and (I'm sorry to say) 2am in the UK.

You can watch it on a whole lot of platforms. They include, PSN, Xbox Live, Steam, Wii U, Twitch, Youtube, Gamespot, IGN, and Kotaku.

Current interesting information:

http://thegameawards.com/jury-and-advisors/

https://twitter.com/geoffkeighley/status/537773804274348033

The Nominees:

Spoiler

GAME OF THE YEAR

Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Dark Souls 2 (From Software/Bandai Namco Games)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

DEVELOPER OF THE YEAR
Blizzard Entertainment
Monolith Productions
Nintendo
Telltale Games
Ubisoft Montreal

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME
Broken Age: Act 1 (Double Fine Productions)
Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)
Transistor (Supergiant Games)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)

BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME
Bravely Default (Silicon Studio/Square Enix/Nintendo)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Monument Valley (Ustwo)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Sora Ltd/Bandai Namco Games/Nintendo)
Threes! (Sirvo)

BEST NARRATIVE
South Park: The Stick of Truth (Obsidian Entertainment/Ubisoft)
The Walking Dead: Season Two (Telltale Games)
The Wolf Among Us (Telltale Games)
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (MachineGames/Bethesda Softworks)

BEST SCORE/SOUNDTRACK
Alien: Isolation (Christian Henson, Joe Henson and Alexis Smith/The Creative Assembly)
Child of Light (Coeur de pirate/Ubisoft Montreal)
Destiny (Marty O'Donnell/Bungie)
Sunset Overdrive (Boris Salchow/Insomniac Games)
Transistor (Darren Korb/Supergiant Games)

BEST PERFORMANCE
Adam Harrington as Bigby Wolf, The Wolf Among Us (Telltale Games)
Kevin Spacey as Jonathan Irons, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
Melissa Hutchison as Clementine, The Walking Dead: Season Two (Telltale Games)
Trey Parker as Various Voices, South Park: The Stick of Truth (Obsidian Entertainment/Ubisoft)
Troy Baker as Talion, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

GAMES FOR CHANGE
Never Alone (Upper One Games/E-Line Media)
The Last of Us: Left Behind (Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Mountain (David O'Reilly/Double Fine Presents)
This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)

BEST SHOOTER
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer/Activision)
Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Titanfall (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)
Wolfenstein: The New Order (MachineGames/Bethesda Softworks)

BEST ACTION/ADVENTURE
Alien: Isolation (The Creative Assembly/Sega)
Assassin's Creed Unity (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac Games/Microsoft Studios)

BEST ROLE-PLAYING GAME
Bravely Default (Silicon Studio/Square Enix/Nintendo)
Dark Souls 2 (From Software/Bandai Namco Games)
Divinity: Original Sin (Larian Studios)
Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
South Park: The Stick of Truth (Obsidian Entertainment/Ubisoft)

BEST FIGHTING GAME
Killer Instinct: Season 2 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft Studios)
Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Arc System Works/Atlus)
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Sora Ltd/Bandai Namco Games/Nintendo)
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Sora Ltd/Bandai Namco Games/Nintendo)
Ultra Street Fighter 4 (Capcom)

BEST FAMILY GAME
Disney Infinity 2.0 (Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive)
Fantasia: Music Evolved (Harmonix/Disney Interactive)
Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
Skylanders Trap Team (Toys for Bob/Activision)
Tomodachi Life (Nintendo SPD/Nintendo)

BEST SPORTS/RACING GAME
FIFA 15 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
Forza Horizon 2 (Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Studios)
Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
NBA 2K15 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)
Trials Fusion (RedLynx/Ubisoft)

BEST ONLINE EXPERIENCE
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
Dark Souls 2 (From Software/Bandai Namco Games)
Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Titanfall (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts)

BEST REMASTER
Grand Theft Auto 5 (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games)
Halo: The Master Chief Collection (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
Pokémon Omega Ruby/Pokémon Alpha Sapphire (Game Freak/The Pokemon Company/Nintendo)
The Last of Us Remastered (Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix)

MOST ANTICIPATED GAME
Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Evolve (Turtle Rock Studios/2K Games)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment America)

ESPORTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Martin "Rekkles" Larsson (League of Legends)
Xu "Fy" Linsen (Dota 2)
James "Firebat" Kostesich (Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft)
Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
Matt "NaDeSHoT" Haag (Call of Duty)

ESPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR
Samsung White (League of Legends)
Evil Geniuses (Dota 2)
Edward Gaming (League of Legends)
Newbee (Dota 2)
Ninjas in Pajamas (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)

TRENDING GAMER
Evan "Vanoss" Fong
Jeff Gerstmann (note: this guy's on the jury, so I spy a conflict of interests)
PewDiePie (note: [censored] this guy)
StampyLongHead
TotalBiscuit

BEST FAN CREATION
"BEST Zelda Rap EVER!!" By Egoraptor
Luigi Death Stare by CZBwoi and Rizupicorr
"Mine the Diamond (Minecraft Song)" by Tobuscus
Minecraft - Titan City by Colonial Puppet

Twitch Plays Pokemon by Anonymous

Some of these can be voted for online, so if you care at all, feel free to check the website. So, what do you guys think of the awards lineup, the change in format, the new-found industry support, and the looming possibility of an announcement from everyone's best friend and favourite man, Todd Howard?

[Melung Chan]

Thanks for posting this, w/ links.

[Paul Rice]

"Most Anticipated"? How is that even a measurable thing?

I remember what a debacle everyone was saying these were the last few years, so yet again I probably won't watch or care, but maybe as it's going on I'll hear such good things that I'll tune in