The nominees for the BAFTA video game awards have been announced and it’s a triumph for PC gaming. While there are many cross-platform titles among the nominees, several PC-only games are included and the indie scene is represented by titles like Thomas Was Alone, Dear Esther, Proteus and Super Hexagon.
It’s tremendous. Five years ago, Dear Esther was another mod for Half-Life 2. Now, it stands beside the such big budget titles as Borderlands 2, Far Cry 3 and Diablo 3 as a BAFTA video game nominee. Click through for the the full list of PC game nominees.
Right then. Take a deep breath, stop to enjoy the view, and tell me when you’re ready. We have a lot to look through.
Here we go.Everything you can play on PC is bolded.
In the category of Best Game:
- Dishonoured
- Far Cry 3
- FIFA 13
- Journey
- Mass Effect 3
- The Walking Dead
Up for the Best British Game are:
- Dear Esther
- Forza Horizon
- LEGO: The Lord of the Rings
- Need for Speed Most Wanted
- The Room
- Super Hexagon
And up for the Game Design award we have:
- Borderlands 2
- Dishonored
- Far Cry 3
- Journey
- The Walking Dead
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
What is the best Debut Game? It’s one of these:
- Deadlight
- Dear Esther
- Forza Horizon
- Proteus
- The Room
- The Unfinished Swan
Now, before I move on to the awards in all the other categories, I just want to spotlight the Strategy Games section because it’s… rather unusual. Are you ready?
The nominees in Strategyare:
- Dark Souls: Prepare To Die
- Diablo III
- Football Manager 2013
- Great Big War Game
- Total War Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Honestly, what on earth is going on here? I was heartened to see Football Manager included, as sports management games aren’t always considered as strategy titles, but absolutely deserve their place among them. Similarly, it’s great to see the reborn XCOM recognised, but why are Diablo III and Dark Souls in there? Is this some sort of misprint, or is somebody playing a joke on us?
That said, there’s no role-playing category, which seems like a bizarre omission and means there’s nowhere to put a game like Diablo III, Dark Souls or any of their peers.
Up for the Action award are:
- Borderlands 2
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
- Far Cry 3
- Halo 4
- Hitman: Absolution
- Mass Effect 3
For the Artistic Achievement award we have:
- Borderlands 2
- Dear Esther
- Far Cry 3
- Halo 4
- Journey
- The Room
In the Audio Achievement category are:
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Beat Sneak Bandit
- Dear Esther
- Far Cry 3
- Halo 4
- Journey
The best Family games are:
- Clay Jam
- Just Dance 4
- LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
- LEGO the Lord of the Rings
- Minecraft: XBOX 360 Edition
- Skylanders Giants
In the category of Game Innovation we have:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Fez (which we may see on PC soon)
- Journey
- Kinect Sesame Street TV
- The Unfinished Swan
- Wonderbook: Books of Spells
I suppose we should nod to the Mobile and Handheld nominees. They are:
- Incoboto
- LittleBigPlanet (Vita)
- New Star Soccer
- The Room
- Super Monsters Ate My Condo
- The Walking Dead
Included in the Online – Browser category we have:
- Amateur Surgeon Hospital
- Dick and Dom’s HOOPLA!
- Merlin: The Game
- Runescape
- The Settlers Online
- SongPop
While in Online – Multiplayer we have:
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Borderlands 2
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Halo 4
- Journey
- Need For Speed Most Wanted
My favourite category is next, that’s Original Music. Here are those nominees:
- Assassin’s Creed III
- Diablo III
- Journey
- Thomas Was Alone
- The Unfinished Swan
- The Walking Dead
This year’s best Performer will be selected from:
- Adrian Hough – Haytham in Assassin’s Creed III
- Danny Wallace – The Narrator in Thomas Was Alone
- Dave Fennoy – Lee Everett in The Walking Dead
- Melissa Hutchinson – Clementine in The Walking Dead
- Nigel Carrington – The Narrator in Dear Esther
- Nolan North – Nathan Drake in Uncharted: Golden Abyss
The Sports and Fitness nominees largely have an emphasis on the former of those two things. Theyare:
- FIFA 13
- F1 2012
- Forza Horizon
- New Star Soccer
- Nike+ Kinect Training
- Trials Evolution
The nominees in the Story category are:
- Dishonored
- Far Cry 3
- Journey
- Mass Effect 3
- Thomas was Alone
- The Walking Dead
And finally, the winner of the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award will be drawn from:
- Pixel Story Project
- Thanatos
- Starcrossed
Thanks to the Guardian.