Month: January 2019

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The annual Game Developers Choice Awards will be returning for another year this March. Ahead of the show, organizers have now revealed the list of this year’s nominees in each category, with Red Dead Redemption 2 leading the way in total nominations.

Rockstar’s critically acclaimed open-world western is up for seven awards, including Best Audio, Best Design, and Game of the Year. The title is certainly no stranger to accolades; it took home four awards during The Game Awards this past December, and it was selected as GameSpot’s overall Game of the Year for 2018.

Not far behind are two of PS4’s biggest exclusives of 2018: God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man, each of which has earned six nominations. Indie hits Celeste and Return of the Obra Dinn are also each up for multiple awards, including Game of the Year. You can take a look at the full list of nominees and honorable mentions in each category below.

In addition to the video game awards, this year’s show will present two developers with the Pioneer and Lifetime Achievement awards. The recipient of the former will be announced at a later date, while the latter will be awarded to industry veteran Amy Hennig, who has worked on Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series as a writer and director.

The Game Developers Choice Awards are scheduled to take place on Wednesday, March 20, at 6:30 PM PT. The event will be held at the San Francisco Moscone Center during this year’s Game Developers Conference, with Double Fine founder Tim Schafer set to return as the host. If you can’t attend in person, you’ll be able to watch the awards show on Twitch and other as-yet unannounced platforms.

In addition to the GDC Awards, the winners of the 2019 Independent Games Festival are slated to be announced on March 20. The nominees for this year’s awards were recently announced and include the aforementioned Return of the Obra Dinn, as well as the “voyeur simulator” Do Not Feed the Monkeys, the beautiful Alto’s Odyssey, and others.

Best Audio

• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)

Honorable Mentions

Best Debut

• Polyarc (Moss)
• Mountains (Florence)
• Nomada Studio (Gris)
• Villa Gorilla (Yoku’s Island Express)
• Sabotage (The Messenger)

Honorable Mentions

• Beat Games (Beat Saber)
• Digital Sun (Moonlighter)
• Two Point Studios (Two Point Hospital)
• Okomotive (Far: Lone Sails)

Best Design

• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions

• Frostpunk (11 bit studios)
• Minit (Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio & Dominik Johann / Devolver Digital)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
• Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

Best Mobile Game

• Alto’s Odyssey (Snowman)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Reigns: Game of Thrones (Nerial / Devolver Digital)
• Holedown (Grapefrukt Games)
• Donut County (Ben Esposito / Annapurna Interactive)

Honorable Mentions

• Furistas Cat Cafe (Runaway)
• The Room: Old Sins (Fireproof Studios)
• Pocket Run Pool (Zach Gage)
• Alphabear 2 (Spry Fox)
• Twinfold (Kenny Sun)

Innovation Award

• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Nintendo Labo (Nintendo EPD / Nintendo)
• Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)

Honorable Mentions

• Minit (Kitty Calis, Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio & Dominik Johann / Devolver Digital)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Moss (Polyarc)
• A Way Out (Hazelight Studios / Electronic Arts)

Best Narrative

• Florence (Mountains/Annapurna Interactive)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Honorable Mentions

• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod Entertainment / Square Enix)
• Where the Water Tastes Like Wine (Dim Bulb Games and Serenity Forge / Good Shepherd Entertainment)

Best Technology

• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios / Microsoft Studios)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Honorable Mentions

• Sea of Thieves (Rare / Microsoft Studios)
• Far Cry 5 (Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto / Ubisoft)
• Battlefield V (EA DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)

Best Visual Art

• Gris (Nomada Studio / Devolver Digital)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)

Honorable Mentions

• Battlefield V (EA DICE / Electronic Arts)
• Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)
• Dragon Ball FighterZ (Arc System Works / Bandai Namco Entertainment)
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Below (Capybara Games)

Best VR/AR Game

• Budget Cuts (Neat Corporation)
• Beat Saber (Beat Games)
• Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)
• Moss (Polyarc)
• Astro Bot Rescue Mission (SIE Japan Studio / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions

• Jurassic World Alive (Ludia)
• In Death (Sólfar Studios)
• Tendar (Tender Claws)
• Firewall Zero Hour (First Contact Entertainment / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Deracine (FromSoftware / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Game of the Year

• Red Dead Redemption 2 (Rockstar Games)
• Return of the Obra Dinn (Lucas Pope / 3909)
• Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games / Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Celeste (Matt Makes Games)
• God of War (Sony Santa Monica / Sony Interactive Entertainment)

Honorable Mentions

• Tetris Effect (Monstars and Resonair / Enhance)
• Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Bandai Namco Studios & Sora / Nintendo)
• Into the Breach (Subset Games)
• Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec / Ubisoft)
• Florence (Mountains / Annapurna Interactive)
• Monster Hunter: World (Capcom)

EA has announced that Count Dooku, aka Darth Tyranus, will become a playable Hero character in Star Wars Battlefront 2 this January. The Sith lord’s arrival will precede a Battle Point Event, which should help more players have a chance to try him provided they play Galactic Assault on Prequel Era maps.

Count Dooku will be added to Battlefront 2 on January 23. That same day, the Hero character will also receive a second cosmetic appearance, titled Dark Ritual, and the Republic Clone Army will get a new skin called Coruscant Guard. Neither cosmetic has been revealed yet, but given EA’s recent decision to incorporate more elements of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series into Battlefront 2, it stands to reason that we can probably look to the show for clues.

Dark Ritual probably refers to the outfit Count Dooku wears in The Clone Wars Season 6, Episode 13 “Sacrifice” when he and Darth Sidious perform a Sith sorcery spell, called dark illusion, on Yoda. In terms of the Coruscant Guard, the show devotes several episodes to events that transpire on the city planet–most notably the trial of Ahsoka Tano arc in the fifth season–where we see clone troopers in red colored armor. The show refers to this specific clone army as the Coruscant Guard, making them the most likely candidate for the upcoming Battlefront 2 skins.

The Battle Point Event starts on January 25 and continues to the 27. This event is focused on Eras, so you’ll only be able to play as Hero characters that belong to the era of the multiplayer map you’re playing on. However, the Hero fighters you can play as will receive a 50% Battle Point discount.

Most of Battlefront 2’s updates over the past year have been Clone Wars focused in some respect. Both Grievous and Obi-Wan have been added as playable Hero characters, with both Count Dooku and Anakin scheduled for the near future. To capture the tone of The Clone Wars series, EA secured Matthew Wood, James Arnold Taylor, Corey Burton, and Matt Lanter to record in-game lines for each of the characters they portrayed on the show. Geonosis was also added as a multiplayer map, a Prequel Era playlist was implemented into matchmaking, and new Republic Army cosmetic skins–such as Yoda’s 41st Elite Corps and Windu’s 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps–have been routinely included in updates.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 is available on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. The Clone Wars animated series is returning with a surprise seventh season that sees Anakin and Obi-Wan once again teaming up with Ahsoka Tano to aid in the Siege of Mandalore.

This marks the beginning of the end of Vikings. The History original series, which first premiered in 2013, will end after its sixth season. Vikings is currently in the second half of its fifth season, which returned on November 28.

The news was first reported by Deadline and has been confirmed by GameSpot. The final season of the Michael Hirst created historical drama will debut later in 2019, though production has already come to an end.

It’s not all bad news, though. In addition to the remaining Season 5 episodes and all of the installments of Season 6 still to come, a potential spin-off is in the works. According to Deadline, the new series would be co-created by Hirst and Jeb Stuart, who was one of the screenwriters on 1988’s Die Hard. It’s unclear how the new series would follow the Vikings story.

Of the original Vikings cast of regulars, only three actors remain on the series: Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha) and Gustaf Skarsgård (Floki) are still regulars, while Clive Standen returned in Season 5 in a recurring role as Rollo. Travis Fimmel, who led the series’ first four seasons as King Ragnar, saw his character killed off in Season 4 as Vikings shifted to follow the story of his sons. It’s entirely possible the proposed spin-off could follow one or more of them.

Vikings airs Wednesdays at 9 PM ET on History.

The DC movie Aquaman is one of the biggest hits that the studio has ever released, and its worldwide box office take that is expected to eclipse Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice this weekend. However, despite the movie’s huge success, director James Wan is not happy about the fact the movie hasn’t been included in the nominees shortlist for a visual effects Academy Award.

There are 10 semi-finalists for the visual effects category at the upcoming Oscars, including all three of last year’s Marvel movies, but Aquaman is not among then. Wan took to Facebook to praise the work of visual effects supervisor Kelvin McIlwain, and made his feelings known about the movie’s apparent snub.

“You and your department are the unsung heroes of this film,” he wrote. “The fact that your VFX peers in the Academy aren’t recognizing or appreciating what we/you’ve all contributed to the film and cinema is a f***ing disgrace.”

Mcllwain replied to Wan’s comment, stating: “I’m with you James. It was a complete shock to everyone that we are not in the final 10 films that will be presenting at the Academy VFX Bake-off. The selection process is very flawed in my opinion and very open to influence.”

The 10 movies that have been shortlisted for the visual effects Oscar are:

• Ant-Man and the Wasp
• Avengers: Infinity War
• Black Panther
• Christopher Robin
• First Man
• Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
• Mary Poppins Returns
• Ready Player One
• Solo: A Star Wars Story
• Welcome to Marwen

Although Aquaman was the first DC movie since the flop Justice League in November 2017, there’s plenty more from the studio on the way. Shazam! arrives in April, while the Joker origin movie is set for release in October. Beyond that, we have Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 due in 2020, plus the James Gunn-written Suicide Squad reboot to look forward to.

Earlier this week, Slightly Mad Studios CEO Ian Bell announced his company was developing the Mad Box, a new standalone video game console to rival the PlayStation and Xbox. Bell has now revealed a few more details about the mysterious platform, including how an early version of it looks.

The first images of the Mad Box were shared on Bell’s official Twitter account, which you can see below. The console resembles a PC, with an M-shaped tower and the Slightly Mad Studios logo etched into one side. The system’s internal components have been blurred out in the images, however, as Bell says the team is “still in discussions” regarding that. He also notes this is “not the final design.”

According to Bell, the Mad Box is very light and features a deployable carry handle on the top so you can easily transport it. He also says the system “will talk to other Mad Boxes without cables,” although he didn’t elaborate any further on that.

Bell claims the Mad Box is “the most powerful console ever built,” featuring specs that “will be equivalent to a very fast PC two years from now.” Speaking with Variety, he said the system “will support most major VR headsets” and allow up to 90 frames-per-second “per eye” for virtual reality play. He also says the system will offer 4K visuals.

Pricing and release details for the Mad Box have yet to be announced, but Bell says the system will ship around the world in about three years and be “competitive with upcoming console prices.”

Warner Bros. is bringing back two classic Hitman games in one package, with some new bells and whistles to take advantage of this console generation. The Hitman HD Enhanced Collection will bring back Hitman Blood Money and Hitman Absolution for $60. It will be available for PS4 and Xbox One, and Warner boasts the games will be 4K resolution and run at 60 FPS. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Collection is how close it is: it’s coming next week, on January 11.

Along with the improved resolution and framerate, WB promises that the updated games will include increased texture resolution, upgraded texture formats, super-sampling, upscale support, better shadow map and mirror resolutions, better lighting, and updated controls.

Blood Money from 2006 takes Agent 47 around the globe, with iconic locations ranging from Chile to the Paris Opera House to the White House. Absolution told a more personal story about Agent 47 dealing with his own bloody history. These were the last two core Hitman games released until IO Interactive took a new approach with the episodic soft-reboot game in 2016, simply called Hitman.

“We’re very happy with this collection and how we were able to update and remaster two of our classic Hitman titles for modern consoles,” said Hakan Abrak, CEO, IO Interactive. “Hitman: Blood Money and Hitman: Absolution have helped us on our journey to where we are today, and we’re looking forward to players enjoying them in 4K and 60 FPS.”

Most recently IO released Hitman 2, which ditched the episodic format but kept some of the previous game’s live features intact, such as rotating one-chance targets. It earned a spot among our best games of 2018.

One of the less-frequently touted perks of being an Amazon Prime member is that you get a free subscription to Twitch Prime for no extra charge. Amazon owns the streaming company and presumably wants to create synergy between the two brands. All Prime members have to do is link their accounts to take advantage the perks Twitch Prime get each month. As it turns out, those perks are valuable: in 2018, Twitch Prime members received over $3,000 worth of free PC games and digital items.

Most of that value came from the games Twitch gives out to Prime members each month. Last year, subscribers received over 70 free games, including well-received titles like SteamWorld Dig 2, System Shock, Pillars of Eternity, Psychonauts, and Gone Home. In addition to games, Twitch also gave out in-game loot for titles like Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Warframe, and Hearthstone.

Right now, Twitch Prime members can grab January’s free games and loot on the company’s giveaway page. This month’s games include the action game Hyper Light Drifter, the cyber-detective game Orwell, and the Devolver Digital Holiday Pack. The latter contains highly acclaimed titles like The Messenger and both Hotline Miami games.

To access your free Twitch Prime games, you’ll need to download the Twitch desktop app for Windows. Open the app, and you’ll find all the titles you’ve claimed in the “My Games” section, where you can install and launch them.

Another bonus for Prime members is a free Twitch channel subscription each month. Normally $5, a subscription helps financially support your favorite streamers. That’s in addition to the standard set of Amazon Prime perks, like free two-day shipping on many items, access to Amazon Prime Video, and more. You can learn more about Amazon Prime here.