Most Recent: Tabletop Games

Control leads the way with seven nominations at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards

The SXSW Gaming Awards will once again play a big role in the annual Austin arts festival, and this year’s nominees were announced earlier this week.

Remedy’s Control and Kojima Productions’s Death Stranding lead the way with seven nominations apiece, but Kojima’s latest mindbender won’t be competing for “Video Game of the Year.” Instead, Control will do battle with Capcom’s Devil May Cry 5, ZA/UM’s Disco Elysium, From Software’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order for the coveted award.

Winners at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards will be determined by a split vote between the festival’s advisory board and a public poll, which is now open at SXSW.com through Sunday, February 23.

This year’s ceremony will be held on on Sunday, March 15, and it’ll be hosted by Wil Wheaton and Star Wars: Battlefront II‘s Janina Gavankar. All SXSW registrants will be able to attend the ceremony as part of their festival ticket, and the rest of us will be able to tune in to the festivities via SXSW’s Twitch channel.

You can find a complete list of this year’s nominees in all categories after the break. (more…)

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Space Invaders: The Board Game is looking for funding on Kickstarter

Taito’s Space Invaders celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2018, and now the classic arcade cabinet is being adapted into a board game by 612 Entertainment.

The developers behind Space Invaders: The Board Game are seeking $45,000 from backers on Kickstarter to produce several special editions of the game. A Limited Edition with basic components can be pre-ordered for $30 (or $20 through the “Early Bird” tier), while a Deluxe Edition with premium components can be supported for $55. As of this writing, more than $14,000 has already been pledged towards the game’s funding goal.

Just like the revolutionary video game, Space Invaders: The Board Game asks players to move their cannons across the board while blasting away at the Space Invaders at the top of the playing field. Players will also be able to collect Energy Cards and Action Cards to augment their alien-killing arsenal, and research new technologies in search of the elusive High Score:

Space Invaders: The Board Game combines today’s popular deck-building genre with a more traditional strategy board game by allowing 2-4 players to collect Space Invaders cards and add them to their hands, while moving across the board and shooting enemies with their laser cannons. The game’s visual presentation and atmosphere are as close to the original arcade game as possible, creating a brilliant retro gaming experience.

The Kickstarter campaign for Space Invaders: The Board Game will come to an end on June 15, and 612 Entertainment hopes to make it available to backers by the end of the year, before launching a Retail Edition in 2020.

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Celeste, God of War, Spider-Man, Red Dead 2, Smash Ultimate will compete for “Video Game of the Year” at 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards

The SXSW Gaming Advisory Board has sifted through all of 2018’s biggest games and announced the nominees for this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards.

As you might have expected, Sony Santa Monica’s God of War, Insomniac’s Spider-Man, and Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 claimed the most nominations. Each of the three games will compete in a total of nine categories, and all three are in the running for “Video Game of the Year.” Matt Thorson’s brutal platformer, Celeste, and Nintendo’s crossover fighter, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, were also nominated for the big prize.

The public will get the chance to vote for the winners in all categories at this year’s SXSW Gaming Awards, and the final winner in each category will be determined by a weighted total between public and advisory board votes. Voting is open now at SXSW Gaming’s official website, and will close on Sunday, February 17 at midnight (Eastern Time).

The SXSW Gaming Awards will be given out on March 16 and you can find the full list of nominees in all categories after the break. (more…)

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Square Enix will bring Dragon Quest XI, Life Is Strange 2, Kingdom Hearts III, and more to Gamescom 2018

Germany’s annual Gamescom event is the biggest gaming show in Europe, and organizers are getting ready to host the 2018 edition from August 21st through the 25th. As usual, Square Enix will have a big presence in Cologne, and the publisher has unveiled their slate of playable demos coming to Gamescom this year.

RPG fans will no doubt be drawn to Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age and Kingdom Hearts III, while gamers looking for something a little more action-packed will be able to try out Avalanche Studios’s Just Cause 4 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Dontnod Entertainment will also be on hand to showcase their upcoming narrative adventure, Life Is Strange 2.

More information about all the demos set to be available within Square Enix’s Gamescom booth can be found after the break. (more…)

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Horizon, PUBG, Nier: Automata, Zelda: BOTW, Super Mario Odyssey will compete for “Game of the Year” at 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards

The nominees for the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards have been announced, and for once, there doesn’t appear to be a clear-cut favorite in any of the categories.

Six games are currently leading the pack after receiving a total of six nominations apiece. Horizon: Zero Dawn, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Nier: Automata, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild all pulled off the double hat trick, and each game also secured a nomination for “Video Game of the Year.” Cuphead and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice were shut out of the “Video Game of the Year” category, but both games also managed to earn six total nominations.

Rounding out the “Video Game of the Year” field is Super Mario Odyssey, which earned five total nominations.

As in years past, fans are invited to vote for their favorites at IGN.com. The winners in each category will ultimately be decided by a 50/50 vote between the public and the SXSW Gaming Advisory Board.

The 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards will be held on Saturday, March 17, and the full list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)

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Indie Megabooth will bring 84 games to PAX West 2017

PAX West 2017 is rapidly approaching, and the Indie Megabooth recently announced (via their official website) what they’ll have available for attendees to play at the big show.

This year’s Indie Megabooth installation will include full-sized booths for 43 games, along with kiosks for another 24 titles in the Minibooth. And developers in the Tabletop Area will be pulling double duty. In addition to their spot on the show floor, all 17 games from the Tabletop Area will be playable at the ACT Theatre in an event that’s open to the public.

PAX West 2017 will open its doors from September 1st through the 4th at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. You can find the complete list of titles available to play this year in the Indie Megabooth after the break. (more…)

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Uncharted 4 wins “Video Game of the Year” at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards

Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End was named “Video Game of the Year” at the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards last night, finally putting an end to Overwatch‘s winning streak. Nathan Drake’s final adventure also earned the big prize in the “Excellence in Narrative” and “Excellence in Animation” categories, and the treasure hunter himself won for “Most Memorable Character.”

However, don’t feel too bad for Blizzard, Overwatch took home three SXSW Gamnig Awards including “Esports Game of the Year,” “Most Promising New Intellectual Property,” and “Excellence in Multiplayer.”

The WWE’s Austin “Xavier Woods” Creed hosted the 2017 SXSW Gaming Awards, and he also handed out statuettes to a wide variety of other games including Pokemon Go (“Mobile Game of the Year”), Doom (“Excellence in Gameplay” and “Excellence in Musical Score”), Battlefield 1 (“Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in SFX”), and Dishonored 2 (“Excellence in Design”). And this year’s “Tabletop Game of the Year” award was given to Fantasy Flight’s Arkham Horror: The Card Game.

You can find all the winners from last night’s SXSW Gaming Awards show at Video Game Canon.

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More than 80 games will be on display in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017

PAX East 2017 will open its doors in exactly 336 hours, and the Indie Megabooth has finally announced which games it’ll have on display at the Boston-based convention this year.

Dozens upon dozens of indie titles will get a chance to shine in a couple of weeks, including some of our favorites from years past. We selected Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine, Hypersect’s Inversus, and Pocketwatch’s Tooth & Tail for our Best of PAX East 2016 roundup and all of them will be on display in the Indie Megabooth this year. Refactor, an alumnus of our Best of PAX East 2014 roundup (when it was known as Tetropolis) has also earned a spot in the PAX East 2017 edition of the Indie Megabooth.

The Indie Megabooth continues to grow and change, and this year, in addition to the Minibooth area and the Tabletop area, it’ll also have a “Visual Novel Reading Room” within its carpeted confines for PAX East attendees.

You can find the full list of games set to be included in the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2017 after the break. (more…)

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