Fire up your Internet Argument Machines -- the nominations for Game Critics: Best of E3 2010 have been revealed today!
You can find the full list after the jump, but first a few notes. id Software's Rage received the most nominations across multiple categories (five), including "Best in Show." It's followed closely by Disney's Epic Mickey, Harmonix's and MTV Games' Dance Central, and Valve's Portal 2, each of which received four nominations a piece.
Electronic Arts has the most to write home about, with a whopping 17 nominations; Microsoft's Xbox division trails behind with 11. You can check out more stats here. For those interested in "console wars" (really? still with this?), note that the Xbox 360 platform received 46 nominations, the PlayStation 3 getting 39, and the Wii only 14.
The Games Critics panel consisted of top industry writers and critics, including folks from 1UP, Kotaku, Joystiq, Entertainment Weekly, GiantBomb, IGN, and more. Oh, and I was on the panel representing Destructoid. Feel free to yell at me directly in the comments if you don't agree with the nominations.
Best of Show
Dance Central (Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)
Disney's Epic Mickey (Junction Point/Disney Interactive Studios for Wii)
Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo)
Portal 2 (Valve for PC / Mac, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Rage (id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Best Original Game
Bulletstorm (People Can Fly/Epic Games/Electronic Arts for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Child of Eden (Q Entertainment/Ubisoft for PS3, Xbox 360)
Dance Central (Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)
Disney's Epic Mickey (Junction Point/Disney Interactive Studios for Wii)
Rage (id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Best Console Game
Disney's Epic Mickey (Junction Point/Disney Interactive Studios for Wii)
InFamous 2 (Sucker Punch/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Good-Feel/Nintendo for Wii)
Portal 2 (Valve for PC / Mac, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Rage (id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Best Handheld Game
Ghost Trick (Capcom for Nintendo DS)
God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Ready at Dawn/Sony Santa Monica for PSP)
Okamiden (Capcom for Nintendo DS)
SuperScribblenauts (5TH Cell/WBIE for Nintendo DS)
Valkyria Chronicles 2 (Sega for PSP)
Best PC Game
Civilization V (Firaxis/2K Games)
Crysis 2 (CryTek/Electronic Arts)
Portal 2 (Valve)
Rage (id Software/Bethesda)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin/LucasArts/EA)
Best Hardware
Kinect (Microsoft for Xbox 360)
Move (Sony for PlayStation 3)
Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo)
Rock Band 3 Pro Guitars (Harmonix/MTV Games/Mad Catz)
Rock Band 3 Keyboard (Harmonix/MTV Games/Mad Catz)
Best Action Game
Bulletstorm (People Can Fly/Epic Games/Electronic Arts for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (TreyArch/Activision for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Gears of War 3 (Epic Game/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
Halo: Reach (Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
Rage (id Software/Bethesda for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360)
Best Action/Adventure Game
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Dead Space 2 (Visceral Games/Electronic Arts for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Disney's Epic Mickey (Junction Point/Disney Interactive Studios for Wii)
Portal 2 (Valve for PC / Mac, PS3, and Xbox 360)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo for Wii)
Best Role Playing Game
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal/Square-Enix for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Fable III (Lionhead/Microsoft Game Studios for PC and Xbox 360)
Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian/Bethesda for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin/LucasArts/EA for PC)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (CD Projekt RED STUDIO/Atari for PC)
Best Racing Game
Gran Turismo 5 (Polyphony Digital/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)
MotorStorm: Apolcalypse (Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (Criterion Games/Electronic Arts for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Test Drive Unlimited 2 (Eden Games/Atari for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Best Fighting Game
Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (Capcom for PS3 and Xbox 360)
Mortal Kombat (NetherRealm/WBIE for PS3 and Xbox 360)
WWE All Stars (THQ San Diego/THQ for PS3 and Xbox 360)
Best Sports Game
EA Sports MMA (EA Tiburon/EA Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
Madden NFL 11 (EA Tiburon/EA Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
NBA Jam (EA Canada/EA Sports for Wii)
NCAA Football 11 (EA Tiburon/EA Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
NHL 11 (EA Canada/EA Sports for PS3, Xbox 360)
Best Strategy Game
Civilization V (Firaxis/2K Games for PC)
Company of Heroes Online (Relic/THQ for PC)
End of Nations (Petroglyph/Trion Worlds for PC)
Shogun 2: Total War (The Creative Assembly/Sega for PC)
Best Social/Casual Game
Dance Central (Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)
DJ Hero 2 (FreeStyle Games/Activision for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
Kinect Adventures (Good Science Studio/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
Rock Band 3 (Harmonix/MTV Games/Electronic Arts for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
Best Motion Simulation Game
Child of Eden (Q Entertainment/Ubisoft for PS3 and Xbox 360)
Dance Central (Harmonix/MTV Games/Microsoft for Xbox 360)
Socom 4 (Zipper/Sony Computer Entertainment for PS3)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo for Wii)
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for Xbox 360)
Best Online Multiplayer Game
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360)
Gears of War 3 (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 )
Halo Reach (Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)
Medal of Honor (EALA/DICE/EA for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (BioWare Austin/LucasArts/EA for PC)
I gotta say, I am hyped for inFamous 2, but the trailer didn't actually blow me away.
I heard that people playing it backstage were really impressed, and seeing this got nominated as best console game over GT5, Killzone, Halo, GoW and Zelda, really gets me curious...
"The Games Critics panel consisted of top industry writers and critics, including folks from 1UP, Kotaku, Joystiq, Entertainment Weekly, GiantBomb, IGN, and more."
So it's a panel of over-rated semi-writers with no real skills other than talking about what they like and dislike. I will take these "awards" with a grain of salt, as these pretentious snobs tend to worry more about their nerd cred than anything else. I can guess how this is gonna go down:
Maybe they should have opened it up to trash-talking Internet commenters with big mouths, too.
More seriously, shouldn't you take any "awards" with a grain of salt? Doesn't that go without saying? But at the same time, shouldn't some weight be given to those with full access to the games at the show? I'd also hardly call all of the folks on the panel "pretentious snobs"; I spent an entire week with them leading into E3, and they're just as passionate and interested in games as you are.
I thought it was pretty much unanimous that nintendo destroyed e3, yet they got the least nominations. I guess Microsoft is the true winrar! Time to go buy kinect and dance central.
Original Game- Epic Mickey. For being the only one with really good original content and not a spiritual sequel or a shooter.
Best Console Game- Kirby's epic Yarn. Not only my MUST BUY title of 2010, but takes our little mascot into a whole new realm of possibilities. I welcome it.
Best Handheld Game- Super Scribblenauts. They fixed it. Not much else to say.
Best PC Game- SWtoR. While I too am looking IMMENSELY forward to Portal 2, nothing new was said about the product at E3. It was all said in the Gameinformer article. SWtoR though got great coverage for the masterpiece it will be.
Best Hardware- 3DS. C'mon guys.
Best Action Game- Rage. Just my preference. Me likey Borderlands type stuff.
Best Action/Adventure- Portal 2. Told ya I was excited for it ;)
Best RPG- SWtoR. Take a great nerdgasm concept into the MMO world. Bam, smash hit.
Best Racing Game- GT5. Totally a great start to the conference and I like the tactics. Can't buy, but looks good from my angle.
Best Fighting Game- MvC3. While MK was cool to see and I really do hope that movie takes off, MvC3 is what EVERYONE wants.
Best Sports Game- NBA Jam. Ressurection of old school. Always nice.
Best Strategy Game- Civ5.
Best Social Game- Rock Band 3. Keyboards are awesome and easy to play.
Best Motion Sim Game- LoZ: SS. It may had problems on stage but everyone who tried it out said it worked great. Besides, Nintendo has years ahead on this. I think it's no surprise.
Best Online Multiplayer Game- Halo Reach. It's interesting that you put SWtOR on here, but as far as MMOs go it's a rather long prospect and not something you can jump right into. I feel the true definition of multiplayer is that you can go in and out of it. Still love OR though.
Rage does look good... and in regards to what the critics say, I always figure it's a bit like movie reviews... critics often tend to prefer original, deep, meaningful movies (or games)... but the general movie going public will often buy the new Adam Sandler flick because they just want to kick back with a comedy... or Killzone 3. :)
Kinda off putting to see 3DS in the Best of Show category. It was good but not that good haha. Christ, the hype man.
Also, here is the disconnect between the Game Critics stuff and us: They get to play some games that are otherwise not open to anyone else.
Portal 2 and Rage looked good at E3 but I didn't think they were anything to write home about. Obviously, these guys saw and played something we didn't. Well, let us see it then, for god's sake.
Nice to see EA and Microsoft up for most nominations though.
And Dance Central getting the respect it deserves.
Best list so far. No Kirby: Epic Yarn on Best of show list is sad.
I'm a tad confused by the Best Action Game category. 4 FPS's and a 3rd Person Shooter? Is this meant to be the Best Shooter category? That would make more sense to me, but they're still good choices - Bulletstorm looks badass.
I'm personally rooting for InFamous 2 for Best Console Game, I'm super excited for that. From what I can tell, the only disappointment is the lack of Sorcery in the Motion Simulation group - that's the only motion control game I'm genuinely excited for. Good choices all round, nice list guys!
Oh and one more thing: what's with all the Rage love? Obviously I haven't played it but from what I saw I didn't get all the hype. Admittedly it does look fun but to me it looks like Borderlands sans the funky graphical style. But that's just my opinion, I trust the judgement of everyone involved in this list.
I am quite excited about Rage and Epic Mickey impressed the hell out of me. These awards are always fun for the debate and internet garbage they spawn but really I just want the games.
@Zereta
Valve is currently putting out the footage of the entire E3 Portal 2 demo in seven parts. So, it's not like we're not seeing anything with which to base a third-party opinion on.
i'd go
dance central game of show
bulletstorm for original
rage for console
scribblenauts for handheld
crysis for pc
pro guitars for hardware
bullet for action
dead space for a/a
new vegas rpg
need for speed for racing
mma for sports
mk for fighting
rb3 for social
gears for multi
The mention of the Strategy section being all PC actually makes me want to see somebody make an RTS game for the 360 using Kinect. The thing holding consoles back from getting good RTS games is the controller just doesn't work for it.
3DS is on the best of show list so it's automatically going to win best hardware. Rage is also a best of show nomination so you know it's going to win best action game. Dance central is going to win best motion simulation game. Unless they just chose the 5 best of show nominations at random. I mean if they don't win in those categories the whole list is suspect.
Then again I usually don't give a flip about the awards like this because your arguing opinions. Sure most people already know that, but I guess my mind just sees all this differently than others. Best way I can describe it is you're giving your opinion an award. Way I see it anyway. Opinions can be bought. Even if they aren't bought it's still a bold faced lie to say something is the "best of" when there is no solid goal. It's not like getting first place in a marathon where you saw the guy pass the line first.
Guess I just don't understand awards of this type and never will. I mean hell I hate dancing so my opinion is that dance central is going to suck ass. Yet it's on the best of show list. Not saying it doesn't belong there, but that's the whole point. What does belong there? Guess all I really have to say is fuck all "awards" and screw whoever thought up of giving them to completely subjective things.
Does Rage have anything going for it aside from good graphics? I’ve only seen pics but it’s always enemies holding that wrench-chain thing running straight at the player, it just doesn’t seem very interesting.
I’m not trying to put it down here, I’m genuinely curious, it’s just that it flew completely under my radar.
Has everyone just plain forgotten about Littlebigplanet 2?
That game is shaping up to be my most anticipated game of the past couple of years but apart from that looks like the ones I'd expect although I'd of thought 'Best of Show' was in regards to games not hardware.
Best console game
Kirby's Epic Yarn ( I don't consider it a console game when the pc version is probably better so no rage nor Portal 2)
Best Handheld Game
Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (not on the list) (I know to little about the 3ds games to choose them)
Best PC game
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings( not on the list )
Best Hardware
Nintendo 3DS
Best Action Game
Crysis 2 ( not on the list)
Best Action/Adventure Game
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Best RPG
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (yes even better than fallout)
Best Racing
I am not into racing games at all so no vote
Best Fighter
Mortal Kombat
Best Sports Game
Have never played one game from all the series listed here so no vote.
Best strategy
Shogun 2: Total War
Best social/casual
Wii Party (I had some fun With Mario party some time ago so hey not at least its better than the milked out Rockband, DJ Hero and "Looking Gay While Dancing"
Best Motion Simulation Game
wtf is this category I will just read it as most accurate simulation using motion controls so "Your Shape: Fitness Evolved"
Best Online Multiplayer Part of a Game
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Wow, I didn't even suspect Rage being all that big at this year's E3. It's kind of strange to see it take nominations for EVERY category it is eligible for. On the surface, it doesn't look that original. But it sure looks nice.
inFamous 2 being up there surprises me! Guess I'll keep a bigger eye out on that one. Good to see Deus Ex "3" on there as well, if it's based on actual game playing instead of a hands-off demo at least.
Jesus--I have seen some shit lists before but this one takes the cake. I disagree with almost everything there! Was E3 really that bad??? Why am I so excited then?? Am I crazy??
If dance central wins game of the year (or anything for that matter) then you people are f'ed in the head and there is no hope for the videogame industry!!!. And it will also be proof that videogame "journalists" can be bought out by free xboxs.
While im on the subject i might aswell as why in the F@#$ did dance central even get the nom for game of the year (or anything for that matter)??? I mean all i have heard from videogame "journalists" is how they are worried about looking like an idiot while playing a game...Well you cant look any worst while playing this f@#$@$ game!!!. And trust me im not saying that as some fanboy, i just dont see why kinect and esp. this game is so worthy of so much hype. If any next gen controller is going to move videogame control forward and out of the monotony of lastgen control pads its going to be the ps-move/eye not this crap!!!.
its odd that you say that dcsucks, cause all i have been hearing is that you look like an idiot playing it sure, but that it is actual legitimate fun. I have also heard that unlike Just Dance for the Wii, this game actually seems to be able to track your movements for real, giving you actual feedback based upon your full body movement instead of prefabricated gestures with the wii remote. Plus its being made by harmonix and they tend to make ok things. Although it would be wierd to me if it actually did win game of the show based upon the data that my eyeballs have collected. But then again I have no data from the rest of my body about the game so i will reserve judgement. But i do agree that DC sux, go marvel. Also, seriously is Shogun 2 under embargo from your playtime cause i have only seen screens from E3 and no hands on previews or anything.
Why so many shooters in the original category? That's bogus and you know it! The only original one is child of eden, which doesn't follow the shooter path of the the bland, dancing games for kinect was captain obvious, and epic mickey ain't so epic.
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