At the 2013 BAFTA Video Game Awards, hosted by comedian Dara O’Briain, the critically acclaimed indie PSN game Journey swept the board with a total of five BAFTAs, including Game Design, Original Score and Artistic Achievement.
It was long hinted at that Journey would maintain its winning streak after a successful performance at the D.I.C.E awards in February this year, and even a nomination for a Grammy in Best Soundtrack Score for Visual Media, an historic first. Critics and gamers alike has described That Game Company’s creation as a highly unique and emotional experience, with a very unique on-line multiplayer .
Dishonored surprisingly snatched the BAFTA for Best Game of 2013, with The Walking Dead and Far Cry 3 originally tipped to be the winners.
Chief Executive for Valve was honoured with the with Academy Fellowship, for his contribution to such excellent games as Portal and the Half-Life series, as well as creating the widely popular online system Steam.
Overall, 2013 appears to be the year for indie and marketplace gaming, with The Walking Dead Series winning Best Story and Best Handheld/Mobile awards, The Unfinished Swan winning Most Innovative and Debut Game awards, as well as the unusual and controversial indie game Thomas Was Alone winning an award for its narrator Danny Wallace.
Full list of nominations and winners are below in bold:
Best Game
· Dishonored
· Mass Effect 3
· FIFA 13
· Far Cry 3
· Journey
· The Walking Dead
Action
· Borderlands 2
· Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
· Far Cry 3
· Halo 4
· Hitman: Absolution
· Mass Effect 3
British
· Dear Esther
· Forza Horizon
· LEGO: The Lord of the Rings
· Need for Speed Most Wanted
· The Room
· Super Hexagon
Multiplayer
· Assassin’s Creed III
· Borderlands 2
· Call of Duty: Black Ops II
· Halo 4
· Journey
· Need For Speed Most Wanted
Performer
· Adrian Hough (Haytham) – Assassin’s Creed III
· Danny Wallace (The Narrator) – Thomas Was Alone
· Dave Fennoy (Lee Everett) – The Walking Dead
· Melissa Hutchinson (Clementine) – The Walking Dead
· Nigel Carrington (The Narrator) – Dear Esther
· Nolan North (Nathan Drake) – Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Mobile
· Incoboto
· LittleBigPlanet (Vita)
· New Star Soccer
· The Room
· Super Monsters Ate My Condo
· The Walking Dead
Audio Achievement
· Assassin’s Creed III
· Beat Sneak Bandit
· Dear Esther
· Far Cry 3
· Journey
· Halo 4
Family
· Clay Jam
· Just Dance 4
· LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
· LEGO the Lord of the Rings
· Minecraft: XBOX 360 Edition
· Skylanders Giants
Strategy
· 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
Game Design
· Dishonored
· Borderlands 2
· Far Cry 3
· Journey
· The Walking Dead
· XCOM: Enemy Unknown
BAFTA Ones to Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital
· Pixel Story
· Project Thanatos
· Starcrossed
Online Browser
· Amateur Surgeon Hospital
· Dick and Dom’s HOOPLA!
· Merlin: The Game
· Runescape
· The Settlers Online
· SongPop
Artistic Achievement
· Borderlands 2
· Dear Esther
· Far Cry 3
· Halo 4
· Journey
· The Room
Innovation
· Call of Duty: Black Ops II
· Fez
· Journey
· Kinect Sesame Street TV
· The Unfinished Swan
· Wonderbook: Book of Spells
Sports/Fitness
· FIFA 13
· F1 2012
· Forza Horizon
· New Star Soccer
· Nike+ Kinect Training
· Trials Evolution
Story
· Dishonored
· Far Cry 3
· Journey
· Thomas Was Alone
· Mass Effect 3
· The Walking Dead
Original Music
· Assassin’s Creed III
· Diablo III
· Journey
· Thomas Was Alone
· The Unfinished Swan
· The Walking Dead
Best Debut Game
· Deadlight
· Dear Esther
· Forza Horizon
· Proteus
· The Room
· The Unfinished Swan
4 Comments
Feel The Walking Dead was shunned for Best Game but otherwise good list of winners. Well done to Journey, to be fair the game is amazing, I played it all in one sitting!
You know it’s a bad year when an indie game sweeps the awards, though from what I’ve seen it deserves it.
I also love how FIFA13 somehow gets nominated for best game, but fails to win it’s own category (not that it deserves to win anything when EA sits on it’s ass all year twiddling thumbs waiting for kit announcements and transfers)
An Indie game sweeping the board certainly doesn’t mean it’s a bad year, on the contrary, it shows that Award ceremonies like Bafta are broadening their horizons and considering new games other than block-buster titles for recognition. It’s good that these smaller, independent companies are getting as much, if not more recognition for their achievements, because these are the kind of companies that represent and support gamer’s rights and interests and respect us. They need this kind of support,
I understand what you’re saying entirely, indie games that deserve recognition should get it. But really if a game on a tiny budget that’s only 2 hours long is seen as a better quality game than high budget games in a year, then I think that the AAA games market should really feel like they’ve dropped the ball.
Granted though, the categories that Journey won are irrelevant to the size of budget for the most part