The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Named 'Best of Show' at E3 2016

[Lizzy Finnegan]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Named 'Best of Show' at E3 2016

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Nintendo made a big gamble when it decided to feature exactly one playable demo at E3 this year - but it's a gamble that has paid off in the minds of critics.

The Game Critics Awards winners, which are determined by members of 40 different media outlets, were revealed today, and it appears that the Hero of (yea, we still don't know his title yet) and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild took the top honor of Best of Show. The upcoming addition to the Zelda franchise pulled in three wins overall, with honors for Best Console Game and Best Action/Adventure game in addition to the top Best of Show honor. If you're interested in my thoughts on the game (spoiler: I loved it), you can check out my hands-on preview from E3 here [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/17112-The-Legend-of-Zelda-Preview#&gid=gallery_6296&pid=1].

For a full list of the categories and winners, see below.

Best of Show
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo/Nintendo for Wii-U/NX)

Best Original Game
Horizon Zero Dawn
(Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4)

Best Console Game
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo/Nintendo for Wii-U/NX)

Best VR Game
Batman: Arkham VR
(Rocksteady/Warner Bros. Interactive Ent for PlayStation 4)

Best PC Game
Civilization VI
(Firaxis/2K)

Best Hardware/Peripheral
PlayStation VR
(Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Best Action Game
Battlefield 1
(DICE/EA for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

Best Action/Adventure Game
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo/Nintendo for Wii-U/NX)

Best Role Playing Game
Final Fantasy XV
(Square-Enix for PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

Best Racing Game
Forza Horizon 3
(Playground Games/Turn 10/Microsoft Studios for PC, Xbox One)

Best Fighting Game
Injustice 2
(NetherRealm/WBIE for PS4, Xbox One)

Best Sports Game
Steep
(Ubisoft Annecy/Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

Best Family Game
Skylanders: Imaginators
(Toys for Bob/Activision for PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, Wii-U)

Best Online Multiplayer
Titanfall 2
(Respawn/EA for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)

Best Independent Game
Inside
(Playdead for PC, Xbox One)

Special Commendation for Graphics
God of War
(Sony Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4)


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[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Injustice 2, God of War, Zelda, Final Fantasy 15, and Resident Evil 7 were the ones that interested me.

I am especially eager to listen to God of War and Zelda Breath of the Wilds orchestral soundtrack.

I would be into BF-1 but I fear that game will destroy my Rig.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Oh I dunno, I thought the Australian Great Pyrenees put on a great show. Just a fantastic dog.
And Breath of the Wild does have that NX thing, and it surprised me the judges didn't subtract more than they did.

 

[Link XL1]

i think im starting to agree with yahtzee about e3, especially after seeing these "awards". i mean, seriously, how can you give an award to something that youve never played and isnt even finished?

 

[weirdee]

how can you give an award to something that youve never played and isnt even finished?

Because... They're literally only competing against other games which you haven't played and isn't finished.

They had playable builds available to attendees, so basically they won for actually showing up. Of course, since it takes dev time to have solid playable builds for E3 (and in many cases the time and effort spent on making that build is rarely useful for actual development so it's mostly a waste), for the most part they won by having more budget to spend on these things than any game currently in development that would have been able to compete with them on the basis of gameplay, assuming that any of those games actually made it to E3 in the first place.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

*Slow clap* Well done, games. Well done. You've impressed some...people? Thing? The hive? I dunno. You've made something pleased anyhow, you've worn your prettiest dresses, cutest smiles and...waait a minute...best online multiplayer? How did they test that one out?? Bah! All pretence has disintegrated. You lost me. How about longest delayed title? Best/most cliched title? Some awards we can get behind?

 

[FPLOON]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/5f/46/57/5f465711d5922c373064c064ab50f6b1.gif

Other than that, I can't see myself complaining about the winners given that I barely watched E3 2016 "live", anyway...

 

[weirdee]

They had playable builds available to attendees, so basically they won for actually showing up. Of course, since it takes dev time to have solid playable builds for E3 (and in many cases the time and effort spent on making that build is rarely useful for actual development so it's mostly a waste), for the most part they won by having more budget to spend on these things than any game currently in development that would have been able to compete with them on the basis of gameplay, assuming that any of those games actually made it to E3 in the first place.

There is literally no basis for your complaint.

And by the by, of course the content produced for the demos are useful. Assets, animations, programming, key design aspects etc all get carried over. Literally just the composition of the vertical slices go to waste.

I really don't get why you're drawing up an issue with this.

Not a complaint, just possible reasons for E3 irrelevance to consumers. Most of this stuff is largely done for investors.

Also, as we've seen from a lot of preview builds, final products can be largely different, and demos are usually created by taking existing assets and repackaging them or adding things to them that make them look good for a demo, but ultimately don't get used in the actual game. The process of making a demo usually doesn't create anything new that wasn't already there in the first place. Then they have to test it. Since the testing is on a build that isn't going to be used in the final game, that testing doesn't really help much either.