gaming The Video Game Awards 2017 - Who will win?

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

Another year, another video game awards is soon upon us. Lot's of categories though we may not see all of them. These awards shows have arough history, often times coming off as juevenile and idiotic, when they should simply be a celebration of the industry. This was a superb year for gaming, despite the controversies. Lot's of great titles, the debut of the Switch and Xbox One X, and it is making for an exciting holiday season.

So, who do you think will win? I have here a list of the awards and their nominees, we can take our guesses! The show debuts on December 7th.

2017 Game Awards Nominees

Game of the Year

• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Persona 5 (Atlus)
• PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Corp.)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Game Direction

• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games)
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda)

Best Narrative

• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Tameem Antoniades, Elizabeth Ashman-Rowe / Ninja Theory)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (John Gonzalez / Ninja Theory)
• Nier: Automata (Yoko Taro, Hana Kikuchi, Yoshiho Akabane / Platinum Games)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Ian Dallas / Giant Sparrow)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Jen Matthies, Tommy Tordsson Bjork / MachineGames)

Best Art Direction

• Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Persona 5 (Atlus)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Score / Music

• Cuphead (Kristofer Maddigan)
• Destiny 2 (Mike Salvatori, Skye Lewin, C Paul Johnson)
• NieR: Automata (Keiichi Okabe, Keigo Hoashi)
• Persona 5 (Shoji Meguro)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Naoto Kubo, Shiho Fujii, Koji Kondo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata)

Best Audio Design

• Destiny 2 (Bungie)
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Best Performance

• Ashly Burch, Horizon: Zero Dawn (As Aloy)
• Brian Bloom, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (as BJ Blazkowicz)
• Claudia Black, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (as Chloe Frazer)
• Laura Bailey, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (as Nadine Ross)
• Melina Juergens, Hellblade (as Senua)

Games for Impact

• Bury Me, My Love (The Pixel Hunt / Figs / ARTE / Playdius)
• Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
• Life is Strange: Before the Storm (Deck Nine / Square Enix)
• Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
• Please Knock on My Door (Levall Games AB)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Ongoing Game

• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Grand Theft Auto Online (Rockstar Games)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)
• PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG. Corp)
• Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Warframe (Digital Extremes)

Best Independent Game

• Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (Ninja Theory)
• Night in the Woods (Infinite Fall)
• Pyre (Supergiant Games)
• What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow / Annapurna Interactive)

Best Mobile Game

• Fire Emblem Heroes (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
• Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Sylvain Tegroeg)
• Monument Valley 2 (ustwo games)
• Old Man's Journey (Broken Rules)
• Super Mario Run (Nintendo)

Best Handheld Game

• Ever Oasis (Grezzo / Nintendo)
• Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
• Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam / Nintendo)
• Monster Hunter Stories (Marvelous / Capcom / Nintendo)
• Poochy and Yoshi’s Woolly World (Good-Feel / Nintendo)

Best VR/AR Game

• Farpoint (Impulse Gear / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Lone Echo (Ready at Dawn / Oculus Studios)
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
• Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Red Storm Entertainment / Ubisoft)
• Superhot VR (Superhot Team)

Best Action Game

• Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Nioh (Team Ninja / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Prey (Arkane Studios / Bethesda)
• Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (MachineGames / Bethesda)

Best Action/Adventure Game

• Assassin's Creed: Origins (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft)
• Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Role-Playing Game

• Divinity: Original Sin II (Larian Studios)
• Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix Business Division 2 / Square Enix)
• NieR: Automata (Platinum Games / Square Enix)
• Persona 5 (Atlus)
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Ubisoft San Francisco / Ubisoft)

Best Fighting Game

• Arms (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Injustice 2 (NetherRealm Studios / Warner Bros. Interactive Ent)
• Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite (Capcom)
• Nidhogg 2 (Messhof Games)
• Tekken 7 (Bandai Namco Studios / Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Best Family Game

• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris + Milan / Ubisoft)
• Sonic Mania (PagodaWest Games, Headcannon / Sega)
• Splatoon 2 (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)

Best Strategy Game

• Halo Wars 2 (Creative Assembly, 343 Industries / Microsoft Studios)
• Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (Ubisoft Paris + Milan / Ubisoft)
• Total War: Warhammer II (Creative Assembly / Sega)
• Tooth and Tail (Pocketwatch Games)
• XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (Firaxis Games / 2K)

Best Sports/Racing Game

• FIFA 18 (EA Vancouver / EA)
• Forza Motorsport 7 (Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• Gran Turismo Sport (Polyphony Digital / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• NBA 2K18 (Visual Concepts / 2K Sports)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 (PES Productions / Konami)
• Project Cars 2 (Slightly Mad Studios / Bandai Namco Entertainment)

Best Multiplayer

• Call of Duty: WWII (Sledgehammer Games / Activision)
• Destiny 2 (Bungie / Activision)
• Fortnite (Epic Games)
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
• PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corp.)
• Splatoon 2 (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)

Most Anticipated Game

• God of War (Santa Monica Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Marvel's Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Monster Hunter World (Capcom)
• Red Dead Redemption II (Rockstar Games)
• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Trending Gamer

• Andrea Rene (What's Good Games)
• Clint Lexa ("Halfcoordinated")
• Guy Beahm ("Dr. Disrespect")
• Mike Grzesiek ("Shroud")
• Steven Spohn (AbleGamers)

Best eSports Game

• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Valve)
• Dota 2 (Valve)
• League of Legends (Riot)
• Overwatch (Blizzard)
• Rocket League (Psyonix)

Best eSports Player

• Lee Sang-hyeok "Faker" (SK Telecom 1, League of Legends)
• Marcelo "coldzera" David (SK Gaming, Counter-Strike: GO)
• Nikola 'NiKo' Kovac (FaZe Clan, Counter-Strike: GO)
• Je-hong "ryujehong" Ryu (Seoul Dynasty, Overwatch)
• Kuro "KuroK"” Salehi Takhasomi (Team Liquid, Dota 2)

Best eSports Team

• Cloud 9
• FaZe Clan
• Lunatic-Hai
• SK Telecom T1
• Team Liquid

Student Game Award

• Falling Sky (Jonathan Nielssen, Nikolay Savoy, Mohsen Shah / National Film & TV School)
• From Light (Alejandro Grossman, Steven Li, Sherveen Uduwana / USC)
• Hollowed (Erin Marek, Jerrick Flores, Charley Choucard / University of Central Florida)
• Impulsion (Hugo Verger, Remi Bertrand, Maxime Lupinski / IIM)
• Level Squared (Kip Brennan, Stephen Scoglio, Dane Perry Svendsen / Swinburne University)
• Meaning (Hariz Yet / DigiPen Institute of Technology Singapore)

Best Debut Indie Game

• Cuphead (Studio MDHR Entertainment)
• Golf Story (Sidebar Games)
• Hollow Knight (Team Cherry)
• Mr. Shifty (Team Shifty)
• Slime Rancher (Monomi Park)

I am happy to see that Destiny 2 was not nominated for Game of the Year, though I have no idea what PUBG is doing there since...well, the game isn't even out of development. It's not likely, but I would love to see Splatoon 2 win best multiplayer. It absolutely annihilates that outdated Call of Duty trash. It also seems like Nintendo will be destroying it this year with all of these nominations.

[Ganondorf8 11,718]

For Game of the Year, I'd like to see Super Mario Odyssey take the prize.

[Sovereign Leader Rarity 12,025]

The best art direction easily goes to Cuphead. It makes the game so memorable and gives it such a brilliantly unique identity and atmosphere when compared to any other video game that I've seen in my life. It was honestly what drew me, me in the minute that I witnessed the game's trailer when it first released all that time ago.

Call me biased if you want, but I personally believe that the best game of the year was Super Mario Odyssey. Nintendo dominated the year in my opinion and I really couldn't ask anything more out of a Mario game then what we got with Odyssey a game that was so technically sound, so enjoyable to play and the capture gimmick adds a whole new layer to the formula that has never been done before. I can also really appreciate it being a completely new and original concept for the series and the risk that Nintendo attempted and succeeded in pulling off. A truly outstanding game that I cannot put down. If you have a Nintendo Switch, get this game as soon as you possibly can, it's a must-have for any Mario or even simply Nintendo fan to own. And, before people say, yes I do also love the sheer scope of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. and the respective risks that that game took. I think that both games are the strongest releases that their franchises have ever witnessed and Nintendo should be extremely proud of them. I just believe that Odyssey ever-so-slightly edges Breath Of The Wild out.

Also, I've got to agree with Kyoshi. Splatoon 2 offers a much more varied, interesting and original multiplayer experiance than something like Call Of Duty which has been done to death by this point. And actually ARMS (also for the Switch) is also a fantastically original multiplayer which, just like Splatoon 2, deserves a lot more recognition for it's accomplishments in my opinion.

All that fan-boying out of the way, can I just say what an absolutely phenomenal year 2017 has been for video games all across their board. There have been missteps, certainly, there always are, but considering how last year was a very forgettable year for video games in my opinion, this year has had non-stop great games and whichever one you think deserves the title of the year's best is up to you. All things considered, I'm still going with Super Mario Odyssey.

[Ganondorf8 11,718]

Best Family Game... I wouldn't exactly call Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a family game because of how it can cause a lot of anger especially if said family were to play it online excessively.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Ganondorf8
Fixed the post.

[StrawCherry 1,673]

Cuphead pisses me off so bad. For some reason I absolutely can’t stand that game.

[KrazyDashie 1,847]

im hoping splatoon 2 wins best multiplayer *shrugs*

[Vocal Analyst 665]

Having not played many new games this year, I just have to go with what I know:

• Breath Of The Wild deserves to win every award its nominated for, with the exception of Best Art Direction. If that doesn't go to Cuphead, riots will probably ensue.
• Persona 5 will most likely win RPG of the year, without doubt.
• Overwatch deserves best ongoing game... all because its the only experience of the nominees I have.
• I'd love Sonic Mania to win best family game, but it'll probably go to Super Mario Odyssey
• FIFA will probably win Sports Game, even though Forza/Project Cars or Gran Turismo Sport probably deserves it more... as they're better overall games but lacking the popularity to potentially sway voters.

[Celli 4,349]

For GOTY I'd go with Zelda

Cuphead for best art direction, music, and indie game.

Best Handheld would go to Metroid Samus Returns.

The others I don't really care about.

On 12/5/2017 at 6:11 PM, StrawCherry said:

Cuphead pisses me off so bad. For some reason I absolutely can’t stand that game.

Why? Is it because you see it everywhere? Don't knock a game you haven't given a shot, dude.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Celli

[KirbyFluttershy 2,524]

Well As a Nintendo player, I would definitely say that Super Mario odyssey, LoZ BotW, Mario & rabbids kingdom battle, and Mario Kart 8 DX would win. I would say that pokemon ultra sun / moon would win a game reward as well for best role-playing (or RPG) or multiplayer, but I guess it wasn't listed here.

I would say (although I know everyone or some people would hate me for saying this) that Maple story doesn't deserve a reward to be the best online multiplayer (or MMORPG) game in terms of lack of customer support and international player base needs and I believe it's gonna be a joke for them if they don't win rewards against the opposing game they're participating against on that category like best community (although more like the worst community to me) and I would like to see the outcome and not to mention how long it would take the fix up the issues and we have to wait every Thursdays or random days for maintenance.

I don't have the best mobile game on my list, but usually my most played games which are pokemon duel, yo-kai watch wibble wobble, and MLP apps. I'm not sure if I should count animal crossing: pocket camp to be the best mobile game.

[StrawCherry 1,673]

3 hours ago, Celli said:

Why? Is it because you see it everywhere? Don't knock a game you haven't given a shot, dude.

Perhaps so.  I watched one episode of one let’s play of it and I didn’t see the appeal of it. I don’t understand what the hype’s all about, but that might just be me. Maybe I will give it a proper chance someday.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

As a head up, the Game Awards will begin streaming tonight (December 7th) at :

5:30 pm PST

8:30 pm EST

1:30 am (Friday) GMT

2:30 am (Friday) CEST

9:30 am (Friday) JST

I am quite excited for this show, it was a good year for gaming.

7 hours ago, Celli said:

For GOTY I'd go with Zelda

Cuphead for best art direction, music, and indie game.

Best Handheld would go to Metroid Samus Returns.

The others I don't really care about.

Why? Is it because you see it everywhere? Don't knock a game you haven't given a shot, dude.

The one thing keeping me away from Cuphead is the supposed extreme difficulty. I have beaten the Dark Souls trilogy, yet this kind of old school game difficulty would be a bit too much for me, judging by its reputation. XD Cuphead better win best art direction though. There is absolutely no contest to it in that regard.

[Celli 4,349]

3 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

As a head up, the Game Awards will begin streaming tonight (December 7th) at :

5:30 pm PST

8:30 pm EST

1:30 am (Friday) GMT

2:30 am (Friday) CEST

9:30 am (Friday) JST

I am quite excited for this show, it was a good year for gaming.

The one thing keeping me away from Cuphead is the supposed extreme difficulty. I have beaten the Dark Souls trilogy, yet this kind of old school game difficulty would be a bit too much for me, judging by its reputation. XD Cuphead better win best art direction though. There is absolutely no contest to it in that regard.

Maybe give it a shot, worst that could happen is you don't like it and refund it

And I agree, it's hand drawn animation is fantastic.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Celli

[Ganondorf8 11,718]

Well... I wasn't expecting that particular game to win the coveted Game of the Year award.

[Azure Envy 1,093]

Glad to see Hellblade pick up some well-deserved wins.

[Celli 4,349]

Glad to see Cuphead won best indie game.

57 minutes ago, Ganondorf8 said:

Well... I wasn't expecting that particular game to win the coveted Game of the Year award.

How so? I think it was a close call, any of them could have won.

[CheeryFox 23,824]

**The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild**

Nintendo Co., Ltd., Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

Game Of The Year

 

What Remains of Edith Finch

Giant Sparrow, Annapurna Interactive

Best Narrative

 

Guy Beahm

Trending Gamer Award

 

The Last of Us Part II

Naughty Dog, Sony Interactive Entertainment

The Game Award for Most Anticipated Game

 

Faker

Best ESports Player

 

Injustice 2

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, NetherRealm Studios

Best Fighting Game

 

Cuphead (Original Soundtrack)

Studio MDHR

Best Independent Game

 

Melina Juergens

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Best Performance

 

Super Mario Odyssey

Nintendo Co., Ltd., Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

Best Family Game

 

Persona 5

Atlus

Best Role Playing Game

 

Forza Motorsport 7

Microsoft Studios, Turn 10 Studios

Best Sports/Racing Game

 

Carol Shaw

Industry Icon Award

 

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

Bethesda Softworks, MachineGames

Best Action Game

 

Overwatch

Blizzard Entertainment

Best ESports Game

 

Cuphead (Original Soundtrack)

Studio MDHR

Best Art Direction

 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Nintendo Co., Ltd., Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development

Best Action/Adventure

 

Cloud9

Best ESports Team

 

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Capcom

Best VR Game

 

Nier: Automata

Best Score/Soundtrack

 

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Ubisoft, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Milan

Best Strategy Game

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

The awards that were handed out were good, but did anyone else get a sense of apathy towards this show? Quite a few awards, I think at least half of them, were thrown under the bus with a hand wave acknowledgement, and then half of the show was ads. Like that McDonald's Uber service which lasted for about 4 hours. Um, yay? The moment they casually mentioned at least 5 of the awards during the friggin' pre-show was when I already started to feel disinterested.

Not that the whole show was bad or anything, it had quite a few good segments, like the video game orchestra and like I said, most of the winners of the awards I was totally fine with. The world premieres were a bit hit and miss for me. A few of them weren't world premieres at all, since we saw some of those games at E3, like Metro and A Way Out. Then there was From Software thinking they are so good that they can show absolutely nothing and then their logo and that counts as an announcement. It doesn't, it is just them stroking their own egos. The VR games did not interest me in the slightest, including that Accounting + game, which came off to me as insanely tryhard and idiotic. LOL, they said 'fuck' like 15 times, they are so funny LOL. No, it was just cringeworthy and I don't use that phrase often. Also, as someone that loves Xbox, and plays primarily on Xbox, Microsoft disappointed me here. The main thing they mustered up was...just more hype for PUBG. We get it, it is the Jesus Christ and Muhammad mecha combiner robot of gaming, enough already. It isn't so damn good that you can just announce nothing else.

On a more positive note, Bayonetta 1, 2 and the newly announced Bayonetta 3 coming to the Switch is pretty rad. In the Valley of the Gods intrigued me a lot, I am excited to see more of that one, Soulcaliber 6 was a pleasant surprise, Witchfire was cool looking and gave me a Darkwatch vibe, and GTFO, while the title is terrible, does look interesting for a co-op experience.

So yeah, there were definitely good things on display here, but overall, I found myself disappointingly burned out by the end of it. I would probably give this show a 4/10, maybe a 5/10 at the most.

[Ganondorf8 11,718]

15 hours ago, Celli said:

Glad to see Cuphead won best indie game.

How so? I think it was a close call, any of them could have won.

I was expecting Super Mario Odyssey to take the prize given how I think it reinvented the Mario series.

[Celli 4,349]

47 minutes ago, Ganondorf8 said:

I was expecting Super Mario Odyssey to take the prize given how I think it reinvented the Mario series.

You could say the same for Zelda. Mario oddysey didn't do anything new in terms of the gaming industry, but for the Mario series. Same with Zelda

[Azure Envy 1,093]

So they did just completely ignore the Multiplayer category, huh?

[Celli 4,349]

9 hours ago, Azure Envy said:

So they did just completely ignore the Multiplayer category, huh?

PUBG won.

But who cares about Multiplayer, EA thinks single player is dead, they can have their b.s. thrown back at them.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 42,202]

3 hours ago, Celli said:

PUBG won.

But who cares about Multiplayer, EA thinks single player is dead, they can have their b.s. thrown back at them.

Funny how EA said that before and most of the winners were single player games. XD That ad about single player games was pretty funny, I will admit.

I still feel that PUBG being nominated for anything was stupid.

[Megas 28,139]

55 minutes ago, Kyoshi said:

Funny how EA said that before and most of the winners were single player games. XD That ad about single player games was pretty funny, I will admit.

I still feel that PUBG being nominated for anything was stupid.

PUBG really stuck out like a sore thumb compared to everything else in the GOTY category 

[Celli 4,349]

5 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

Funny how EA said that before and most of the winners were single player games. XD That ad about single player games was pretty funny, I will admit.

I still feel that PUBG being nominated for anything was stupid.

As someone who likes PUBG, I completely agree. And anything to shit on EA is fine by me.