Dec 10, 2012

The PC Gamer 2012 Game of the Year nominees

Dota 2

At the end of each year we hand out awards to honor the experiences that live in our best memories of the preceding months—the games that moved us with their ambition, quality, and pioneering spirit. None of the decisions are ever easy, and there's no secret formula: we pit opinion against opinion with straightforward, old-fashioned arguing until one winner is left standing in the GOTY battle cage. Look below for the first landmark of that exciting week-long debate: a list of our eligible winners in 11 categories, including Game of the Year.

Beyond recognizing what games we loved most this year, though, it’s crucial to call attention to a truth that connects them all: PC gaming is exploding. Our hobby is many-tentacled and unbridled—practically every niche, genre, and business model mutated in a meaningful way this year. Two shooters built on new, PC-only technology released (PlanetSide 2 and Natural Selection 2). Dota 2 grew into its adolescence. League of Legends’ Season 2 Championship drew an audience of 8.2 million—the most ever for an eSports event. Modders resurrected content that was thought to be lost. So many remakes and spiritual successors to old school PC games got crowdfunded that we're sure we’d miss some if we tried to list them all.

That said, the following list marks the peaks of this mountainous year, and you'll find out which games won in the next issue of PC Gamer, and here on the web soon.

Dota 2
Dishonored
Mass Effect 3
PlanetSide 2
The Walking Dead
Tribes: Ascend
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Crusader Kings II
FTL: Faster Than Light
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Guild Wars 2
PlanetSide 2
Rift: Storm Legion
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition
Diablo III
Mass Effect 3
Torchlight II

Borderlands 2
Dishonored
Far Cry 3
Max Payne 3
Spec Ops: The Line

Hawken
Natural Selection 2
PlanetSide 2
Tribes: Ascend

Dota 2
League of Legends
StarCraft II

Black Mesa: Source
Crusader Kings II: A Game of Thrones
DayZ
The Sith Lords Restored Content Mod

Lone Survivor
The Walking Dead
Thirty Flights of Loving
Resonance

FTL: Faster Than Light
Hotline Miami
Legend of Grimrock
Thirty Flights of Loving

Euro Truck Simulator 2
aeroflyFS
XPlane
Football Manager 2013

Dec 8, 2012

The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Half-Life 2

The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale If the Video Game Awards are actually an awards show, and not just a keynote for promoting upcoming games, then the big news from last night was The Walking Dead: The Game. Eminently quotable analyst Michael Pachter said before the show that if this title, a downloadable self-published game, took home Game of the Year, he'd eat his hat. To his credit, Pachter later tweeted out a request for one, presumably to consume.

But the surprises don't just stop there. The Walking Dead won Game of the Year coming out of the Best Adapted Game category. Except for 2003, the first year of the VGAs, when things were very different from today, only two adapted games have even been nominated for GOTY: Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, and neither won. This is a different time in games development, with publishers looking for games whose characters and stories they fully own.

Some might look to a licensed or adapted work and consider that the game derives its significance, or at least the attention given to it, because it draws on some other franchise in popular entertainment. So it's strange that a licensed, adapted work reminds us that story, and characters, and choices, and the memorable experiences they create, matters most.

Here's another surprise nugget: The Walking Dead: The Game earned its makers five Video Game Awards. The next big winner? Journey, with three (including a nomination for Game of the Year.) Borderlands 2 also took home three awards, the best haul for a traditional boxed console game.

So if you're thinking this might have been a different Video Game Awards, in its 10th year, you're probably right. Had the show given more attention to that purpose—only a handful of these awards were actually presented in the broadcast—we might be pondering it as a landmark year. The VGAs are often accused of being an industry popularity contest, but maybe this year they acquired recognizable critical heft. We'll have to see what happens next year, and the year after.

So here are the 25 winners of the 2012 Video Game Awards, plus the Game of the Decade. Two fan-voted awards gave Character of the Year to Claptrap from Borderlands 2, and Most Anticipated Game to Grand Theft Auto V.

The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Game of the Year

The Walking Dead: The Game

Telltale Games

Also nominated: Assassin's Creed III, Dishonored, Journey, Mass Effect 3
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Studio of the Year

Telltale Games

Also nominated: 343 Industries, Arkane Studios, Gearbox Software

The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Xbox 360 Game

Halo 4

Microsoft Studios/343 Industries

Also nominated: Assassin's Creed III, Borderlands 2, Dishonored
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best PS3 Game

Journey

Sony Computer Entertainment/thatgamecompany

Also nominated: Assassin's Creed III, Borderlands 2, Dishonored
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Wii/Wii U Game

New Super Mario Bros. U

Nintendo

Also nominated: The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, ZombiU
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best PC Game

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

2K Games/Firaxis Games

Also nominated: Diablo III, Guild Wars 2, Torchlight II
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Shooter

Borderlands 2

2K Games/Gearbox Software

Also nominated: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Halo 4, Max Payne 3
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Action-Adventure Game

Dishonored

Bethesda Softworks/Arkane Studios

Also nominated: Assassin's Creed III, Darksiders II, Sleeping Dogs
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Role-Playing Game

Mass Effect 3

Electronic Arts/BioWare

Also nominated: Diablo III, Torchlight II, Xenoblade Chronicles
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Multiplayer Game

Borderlands 2

2K Games/Gearbox Software

Also nominated: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Guild Wars 2, Halo 4
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Individual Sports Game

SSX

Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Also nominated: Hot Shots Golf World Invitational, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, WWE '13
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Team Sports Game

NBA 2K13

2K Sports/Visual Concepts

Also nominated: FIFA 13, Madden NFL 13, NHL 13
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Driving Game

Need For Speed: Most Wanted

Electronic Arts/Criterion Games

Also nominated: Dirt: Showdown, F1 2012, Forza Horizon
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Song in a Game

"Cities" (Beck) for Sound Shapes

Also nominated: "Castle of Glass" (Linkin Park for Medal of Honor: Warfighter); "I Was Born for This" (Austin Wintory for Journey); "Tears" (Health for Max Payne 3)

The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Original Score

Journey

Sony Computer Entertainment/thatgamecompany

Also nominated: Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Halo 4, Max Payne 3.

The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Graphics

Halo 4

Microsoft Studios/343 Industries

Also nominated: Assassin's Creed III, Dishonored, Journey
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Independent Game

Journey

thatgamecompany

Also nominated: Dust: An Elysian Tail, Fez, Mark of the Ninja
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Fighting Game

Persona 4 Arena

Atlus/Arc System Works/Atlus

Also nominated: Dead or Alive 5, Street Fighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

Sound Shapes

Sony Computer Entertainment/Queasy Games

Also nominated: Gravity Rush, LittleBigPlanet (PS Vita), New Super Mario Bros 2
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Performance by a Human Female

Melissa Hutchison for The Walking Dead: The Game

Also nominated: Emma Stone for Sleeping Dogs; Jen Taylor for Halo 4; Jennifer Hale for Mass Effect 3
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Performance by a Human Male

Dameon Clark for Borderlands 2

Also nominated: Dave Fennoy for The Walking Dead: The Game; James McCaffrey for Max Payne 3; Nolan North for Spec Ops: The Line
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Adapted Video Game

The Walking Dead: The Game

Telltale Games

Also nominated: Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Downloadable Content

Dawnguard for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bethesda Softworks/Bethesda Game Studios

Also nominated: Leviathan for Mass Effect 3; Mechromancer Pack for Borderlands 2; Perpetual Testing Initiative for Portal 2
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Downloadable Game

The Walking Dead: The Game

Telltale Games

Also nominated: Fez, Journey, Sound Shapes
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Best Social Game

You Don't Know Jack

Jellyvision Games

Also nominated: Draw Something, Marvel: Avengers Alliance, SimCity Social
The Biggest Winners Helped This Year's VGAs Tell a Different Tale

Game of the Decade

Half Life 2

Valve Corporation

Also nominated: Batman: Arkham City, BioShock, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Mass Effect 2, Portal, Red Dead Redemption, Shadow of the Colossus, Wii Sports, World of Warcraft

Dec 7, 2012

Dishonored: No Trace, episode 5: The Whaler’s Revenge

Dishonored

It's time to bring the Lord Regent's reign to an end as No Trace reaches its man-possessing, pipe-hopping, accident-staging conclusion. This time, it only takes a few tweaks to the day to day running of Dunwall Tower to turn one guard's innocent clumsiness into, well, one guard's deadly, explosive clumsiness.

Featuring the only shot fired in the series, the problem with scaffolding, and probably the last time anyone will let me near a license-free music archive.

Thus always to tyrants.

If you've watched the series so far, thanks very much! If not, you can see the rest of the episodes here and subscribe to our YouTube channel for everything else we do. Tom's Dishonored review provides a more detailed look at why the game is among the year's best.

Dec 6, 2012

Dishonored Dunwall City Trials Footage Dishonored By Song

Dishonored - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

This is why you should always chain your house down by the load-bearing columns.

The first DLC for Dishonored is, as we know, the Dunwall City Trials. Rather than expanding the story in any meaningful way, this is much more of a mechanical inclusion, a series of tests to apply skills gained from playing the game in its rather beautiful setting. And there’s a new trailer showing it in action. With the most inappropriate, dreadful music imaginable. Take action! Click below!

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Dec 6, 2012

Dishonored’s Dunwall City Trials DLC trailer features combat, explosions and rapping

Dishonored

In preparation for next week's release of Dunwall City Trials, Dishonored's first DLC drop, Bethesda have released a trailer showing off what the challenge pack contains. It's full of creative murder, combat and traversal through the Outsider's fragmented world, and is backed by Dan Bull's Dishonered rap - which is quite good in a "why would you ever do this?" sort of way.

The DLC is a collection of time-trial and score attack missions, set it a Dunwall that's been handily abstracted to heighten the scope for challenges. While it's unlikely to be the addition that anyone was really praying for, I think there is some benefit to a consequence-free series of playgrounds in which you can mess about with the game's skills and powers.

My Corvo is the silent, slow type who doesn't particularly enjoy murdering people (unless it looks cool or funny). A place outside of the campaign to mess about and let loose with grenades, crossbows and flesh-eating rat armies does have a certain appeal.

We'll find out if the Dunwall City Trials DLC has the depth and variety to satisfy that wish on December 11th.

Dec 6, 2012

Skulk, Stab and Speed Through Dishonored’s Dunwall City Trials Trailer

Dishonored

Revenge may solve everything, according to Dishonored's marketing spiel. But it doesn't fill the burning need to teleport, slow down time or possess enemies once you've finished Arkane's masterpiece. Thankfully, DLC that lets you craft more gloriously choreographed kills hits next week. Get your glimpse of the Dunwall City Trials in the video above.

Dec 4, 2012

Dishonored Updated

Dishonored - Valve

Dishonored 1.2 Update

BUG FIXES
• Support for playing the game on multiple screens.
• Game Settings are now saved and restored properly even when using Steam offline.
• Fixes for some interactions with Granny Rags that invalidated nonlethal playthroughs under certain circumstances. (Note: These fixes work even for savegames AFTER the final Granny Rags encounter.)
• Fix for a crash that could happen during loading/transition between areas – notably near Dr. Galvani’s house.
• Reworked “Choke” interaction to make it more reliable in valid contexts.
• Fixed global post-process that sometimes worked improperly during some missions.

Dec 4, 2012

Dishonored's Star Can Do Everything (Except Pour a Beer)

Dishonored

Corvo, the star of Dishonored, is a deft man with a blade. He can leap, and sneak, like a cat. Dude even has magic powers. You'd think, then, he could do anything and everything, but no.

This clip, showing him trying to pour a pint, is heart-breaking. Won't someone just pour it for him?

Corvo wants a nice, cold beer [YouTube]

Nov 28, 2012

Looks Like We'll Be Getting More Dishonored Games, For Better Or For Worse

Dishonored

It warms my disease-ridden, whale-oil tainted heart to hear that the wonderful Dishonored was a financial success for its publisher Bethesda. In this age of sequels and iron-sights, games this original, smart and flat-out good don't come around that often.

As quoted by Destructoid, Bethesda PR boss Pete Hines said of the game's success, "We're very pleased and appreciate all the fans that have supported Dishonored and Arkane. We clearly have a new franchise."

Of course, it's always a bit strange to see a gameworld that could've existed as a one-off be spun out into a series of games. As I played Dishonored, I grew genuinely interested in the islands beyond Dunwall, and the world that Arkane had created. But on the flip side, I also enjoyed the weirdly romantic notion of a world that we get to see once, and never again. A small taste that leaves the rest to our imaginations.

My ambivalence echoes Dishonored designer Harvey Smith, who told Jason earlier this fall, "Part of me would love to see future games leverage this world, and part of me would love it if the vault door was just closed and that's it. This is your one view into the Empire of the Isles and into the city of Dunwall."

But who am I kidding? If a game is amazing and makes a lot of money, it'll get a sequel. As good as Dishonored was, there are certainly things that can be improved in a second game. I can only replay the first one so many times. And judging by how these things tend to go, the series will make it at least until the third or fourth game before they turn the whole thing into a cover-based shooter.

(Just kidding. I hope.)

Bethesda: Dishonored sales 'exceeding expectations' [Destructoid]

Nov 28, 2012

Dishonored Sold An Awful Lot Of Copies: Franchise Born

Dishonored - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (John Walker)

Starting to feel like home?

I wonder what sales projections look like for Bethesda. The splendid news today is that Dishonored has outsold the publisher’s expectations. But when they sell games like Skyrim, what must those expectations be like! Talking to Destructoid, the Mouth Of Bethesda, Pete Hines, was disappointingly cagey about saying exactly how many copies had sold (oh could this industry just GROW UP), but did explain that they were so impressive that Bethesda now have a new franchise on their hands.

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