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12 finalists announced for World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019
The World Video Game Hall of Fame, which is overseen by The Strong Museum of Play, has announced the finalists for this year’s crop of inductees. We’ll have to wait until May to find out which games make the final cut, but we now know that a dozen classic titles will be in the running for the Class of 2019.
This year’s finalists include several games that are taking one more shot at immortality, including Midway’s Mortal Kombat, Cyan Worlds’s Myst, Microsoft’s Windows Solitaire, and Valve’s Half-Life. All four have a strong claim to “Hall of Fame” status, as Myst helped popularize CD-ROMs, Half-Life pushed narrative games to new heights, Mortal Kombat’s controversial violence is still discussed today, and Windows Solitaire may just be the most-played game ever.
But they’ll have to compete against a slate of other titles that includes King’s Candy Crush, Atari’s Centipede, William Crowther’s Colossal Cave Adventure, Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution, Sega’s NBA 2K, Sid Meier’s Civilization, and Nintendo’s Super Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Melee.
Gaming fans from around the globe will be able to influence which games will be eligible for induction this year through the Player’s Choice Ballot, which will be open from March 21st through the 28th. The remaining ballots will come from the Hall of Fame’s International Selection Advisory Committee, which is comprised of journalists and scholars who are “familiar with the history of video games.”
The World Video Game Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019 will announced on May 2, but you can learn more about this year’s finalists after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS2, Retro
Tagged Centipede, Half-Life, Super Mario Kart, World Video Game Hall of Fame
Activision and Tencent will launch free-to-play Call of Duty Mobile this Summer
Way back in 2017, Activision announced that Candy Crush developer King was hard on a new game in the Call of Duty franchise for mobile platforms. We still don’t know when we’ll learn more about that game, but late last night the publisher revealed an entirely different Call of Duty mobile experience from Tencent’s Timi studio.
Call of Duty Mobile is currently in development for Android and iOS devices, and will be available to download throughout the world as a free-to-play Public Beta this Summer:
In Call of Duty: Mobile, players will experience the fluid, first-person combat of Call of Duty, fighting head-to-head in fan-favorite modes such as Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy and Free-For-All, in iconic maps from the series such as Nuketown, Crash, Hijacked and more. Along the way, players will earn and unlock classic Call of Duty characters, weapons, scorestreaks and other gear to equip and customize their loadouts as they battle to be among the best in the world.
Fans can pre-register to receive updates about Call of Duty Mobile’s progress at the game’s official website, and Activision has promised that “more modes of play” will be announced soon.
The Announcement Trailer for Call of Duty Mobile has been embedded above.
God of War captures “Game of the Year” at 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards
Sony Santa Monica’s God of War continued its award-winning ways this weekend with a trio of wins at the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards. The action-adventure title was awarded “Game of the Year” by SXSW’s Gaming Advisory Board, as well as “Excellence In Design” and “Excellence in Visual Achievement.”
The rest of the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards were spread out among a large number of games, and like Kratos, several managed to secure multiple victories. Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2 was the only other game to win in three categories, and it took home some hardware as the “Trending Game of the Year,” along with “Excellence in Technical Achievement” and “Excellence in SFX.”
Insomniac’s Spider-Man won two awards (“Excellence in Convergence” and “Excellence in Animation”), as did Epic’s Fortnite (“Most Promising New Esports Game” and “Excellence in Multiplayer”) and Beat Games’s Beat Saber (“VR Game of the Year” and “Most Promising New Intellectual Property”).
Congratulations to all the winners, and you can find a complete list of every award-winning game from the 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards at Video Game Canon.
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Celeste, Detroit: Become Human, Fortnite, God of War 4, No Man's Sky, Octopath Traveler, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tabletop Games, Tetris Effect
God of War receives ten nominations and leads the way at 2019 BAFTA Games Awards
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the nominees for this year’s BAFTA Game Awards and Sony Santa Monica’s God of War lead the way with ten nominations, including an unprecedented four nominations in the “Performer” category (one each for the actors behind Kratos, Atreus, Freya, and The Stranger). Boy!
Naturally, God of War is also in running for the “Best Game” Award, and it’ll be competing against Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Sony’s Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Matt Makes Games’s Celeste, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2, and Lucas Pope’s Return of the Obra Dinn
The BAFTA Game Awards will be held at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London on April 4, and the ceremony will once again be hosted by comedian Dara O’Briain. Fans across the globe are encouraged to tune in to a livestream of the ceremony at BAFTA.org.
The complete list of nominees in all categories can be found after the break. (more…)
Epic adds a human-sized hamster ball to Fortnite in Season 8
Epic Games is constantly updating Fortnite, but the game’s newest update might just be its best yet. As part of today’s kickoff to Season 8, the developer has added a new vehicle to Fortnite known as The Baller… a human-sized hamster ball with a grappling hook.
I’m not sure the world of FOrtnite is ready for a giant hamster ball of doom, but you learn more about it at the game’s official website:
Keep the good times rolling! Combine your boost and grapple to perform unbelievable feats with the newest vehicle addition to Battle Royale!
This single seat vehicle is found at Expedition Outposts and around pirate camp loot stashes. Use the attached Grappler and Boost functionality to pull yourself up cliffs or swing through the trees. The driver is protected from damage, but The Baller is vulnerable to enemy weapon fire.
A new trailer for Fortnite: Season 8, which has been subtitled Pirates and Treasure, can be found after the break. (more…)
Sony Santa Monica’s God of War wins “Game of the Year” at 2019 DICE Awards
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced the winners of the 2019 DICE Awards last night… and Sony Santa Monica’s God of War almost had a clean sweep.
The action-adventure game was competing in an astounding 11 categories, but even more astounding is that it claimed victory in nine of them, including “Game of the Year” and “Adventure Game of the Year.” God of War also picked up “Outstanding Achievements” in “Game Design,” “Game Direction,” “Original Music Composition” “Sound Design,” “Story,” and “Art Direction,” and Kratos himself won “Outstanding Achievement in Character.”
A few other games managed to snag some trophies (mostly in categories God of War wasn’t competing in), and that list included games such as Matt Makes Games’s Celeste (“Action Game of the Year” and “Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game”), Mountains’s Florence (“Portable Game of the Year”), and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (“Fighting Game of the Year”). Not surprisingly, Fortnite won “Online Game of the Year.”
You can find the full list of winners at the 2019 DICE Awards after the break. (more…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Florence, Fortnite, Forza Horizon 4, God of War 4, Into the Breach, Mario Tennis Aces, Monster Hunter: World, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Unravel 2
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…)
Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Celeste, Detroit: Become Human, Fortnite, God of War 4, No Man's Sky, Octopath Traveler, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tabletop Games, Tetris Effect
Nintendo will release Dr. Mario World for mobile devices this Summer
Nintendo delayed Mario Kart Tour‘s mobile debut earlier today, but it looks the company is planning another major mobile release for this Summer.
Dr. Mario World will be co-developed by Line Corporation and NHN Entertainment, and it’ll be released for iOS and Android devices this Summer. Like all of Nintendo’s mobile offerings, the “action puzzle” game will be free-to-download with optional in-app purchases.
More information about Dr. Mario World will be revealed at a later date.
Posted in Mobile, News
Tagged Dr. Mario World