E3 2007 Award Nominees Announced

[Logan Frederick]

E3 2007 Award Nominees Announced

Rock Band and Electronic Arts stamp a lasting impression on this year's E3 by topping the Game Critics Awards.

The nominees for the 2007 Game Critics Awards have been released. Music game Rock Band grabbed a leading five nominations, followed closely by Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock. Electronic Arts titles dominated this year's E3, earning 14 nominations for the publisher.

The full list of nominees reads:

Best of Show
[ul]
[li]Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Mass Effect (Bioware/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Original Game
[ul]
[li]Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]de Blob (Blue Tongue/THQ for Wii)[/li]
[li]Little Big Planet (Media Molecule/SCEE for PS3)[/li]
[li]Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Wii Fit (Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[/ul]

Best PC Game
[ul]
[li]Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward/Activision)[/li]
[li]Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts)[/li]
[li]Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/id/Activision)[/li]
[li]Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)[/li]
[li]World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment/Sierra)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Console Game
[ul]
[li]Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward/Activision for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Handheld Game
[ul]
[li]Contra 4 (WayForward/Konami for Nintendo DS)[/li]
[li]Dead Head Fred (Vicious Cycle/D3 for PSP)[/li]
[li]God of War: Chains of Olympus (Ready at Dawn/SCEA for PSP)[/li]
[li]Silent Hill: Origins (Climax/Konami for PSP)[/li]
[li]The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo for Nintendo DS)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Hardware
[ul]
[li]PSP-2000 (Sony Computer Entertainment)[/li]
[li]Rock Band Instruments (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Wii Balance Board (Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[li]Wii Zapper (Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Action Game
[ul]
[li]Call of Duty 4[/li] (Infinity Ward/Activision for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Crysis (Crytek/EA for PC)[/li]
[li]Halo 3 (Bungie/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Retro Studios/Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[li]Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic Games/Midway for PC, PS3)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Action/Adventure Game
[ul]
[li]Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Bioshock (Irrational Games/2K Games for PC, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory/SCEE for PS3)[/li]
[li]Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[li]Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Naughty Dog/SCEA for PS3)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Fighting Game
[ul]
[li]Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 (Yuke's/THQ for Nintendo Wii)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Role Playing Game
[ul]
[li]Eternal Sonata (Namco Bandai Games for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Fable 2 (Lionhead/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Hellgate: London (Flagship Studios/EAP for PC)[/li]
[li]Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Racing Game
[ul]
[li]Burnout Paradise (Criterion Games/EA for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Need for Speed ProStreet (EA Black Box/EA for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Project Gotham Racing 4 (Bizarre Creations/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Stuntman: Ignition (Paradigm/THQ for PS2, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Sports Game
[ul]
[li]Madden NFL 08 (Tiburon/EA for All Systems)[/li]
[li]Skate (EA Black Box/EA for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Tiburon/EA Sports for PC, PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Neversoft/Activision for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Strategy Game
[ul]
[li]Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution (Firaxis/2K Games for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)[/li]
[li]Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (Relic/THQ for PC)[/li]
[li]Halo Wars (Ensemble Studios/Microsoft Game Studios for PC, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Universe at War: Earth Assault (Petroglyph/Sega for PC, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment/Sierra for PC)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle Game
[ul]
[li]Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Neversoft/Red Octane/ATVI for PS2, PS3, 360, Wii)[/li]
[li]Little Big Planet (Media Molecule/SCEE for PS3)[/li]
[li]Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games/EAP for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Wii Fit (Nintendo for Wii)[/li]
[li]Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Capcom for Wii)[/li]
[/ul]

Best Online Multiplayer Game
[ul]
[li]Burnout Paradise (Criterion Games/EA for PS3, Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage/Nerve/id/ATVI for PC, PS3, 360)[/li]
[li]Halo 3 (Bungie/Microsoft Games Studio for Xbox 360)[/li]
[li]Little Big Planet (Media Molecule/SCEE for PS3)[/li]
[li]Unreal Tournament 3 (Epic Games/Midway for PC, PS3)[/li]
[/ul]

Permalink

 

[Automatic Meat [deprecated]]

Wait, wait, wait.

A new Contra.

For the Nintendo DS.

...

I'm divided between a scowl and a smile. The series has been in a rut ever since it left the 16-bit era, but the DS hardware has the potential to produce something worthwhile. I definitely need to know more about this.

 

[Logan Frederick]

Automatic Meat, you definitely should look into it. I've been watching the project on the 1Up Show, and they do appear to truly be taking the series to its roots. One of the developers said something along the lines of, "We're going back to Contra 3 and pretending the rest never happened." So, if you're a fan of the older games, should be a good fit.

 

[Automatic Meat [deprecated]]

Thanks for the heads-up, appreciate it.

My only concern is that Konami's intentions won't translate very well to the game. Contra 3 is a great framework, but if these screens at Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/gaming/e307/contra-4-hands+on-impressions-278358.php] are any indication, the project seems to be geared into a pseudo-remake instead of a new entry - the same problem which undermined their Advance title.

I'll be looking into it, nonetheless.

 

[Logan Frederick]

The 1Up Show edition I mentioned was the June 29th episode

 

[Automatic Meat [deprecated]]

I managed to track down that video.

Funny thing, one of the 1UP guys had the same reaction as I did. Contra Hard Corps was excellent and in some ways superior to Contra 3 - why ignore it? The gameplay footage is showing some good graphics and animations but suggests me the worse concerning gameplay - a souped up Contra remake, with some additional levels shoved between the classic ones like riding that waterbike and fighting off a gigantic fish just to inflate length and throw a modicum of variety at the face of those who grew up playing those levels.

There's nothing wrong with a remake but if it turns out to be one they should acknowledge that instead of pulling the same stunt Treasure did with Super Gunstar Heroes.

I hope I'm wrong, since Contra's one of those franchises which has been lacking a worthwhile transition into the so-called next-gen field.

 

[Ajar]

Was Civilization Revolution playable? The only trailer I saw was a bunch of pre-rendered video that didn't tell me anything about the game, and I haven't seen any writeups about it.

 

[lepidus]

Was Civilization Revolution playable? The only trailer I saw was a bunch of pre-rendered video that didn't tell me anything about the game, and I haven't seen any writeups about it.

You clearly don't read the glorious WarCry Network then! =)

http://www.warcry.com/news/view/75193

It was playable by the developers, they never gave me a turn. They had a rather fake game set up to show off the most content possible, but on the other hand, they showed off all eras of the game, so no complaints here.

 

[Ajar]

Interesting. Thanks for the link!

 

[Logan Frederick]

So, I say we get the betting pool going. My money is on Rock Band stealing the show.