Tag Archive: DICE 2015


Dragon Age Inquisition prevents clean sweep by Shadow of Mordor, wins Game of the Year at D.I.C.E. Awards

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February 10, 2015

Dragon Age Inquisition pulled off an arguable upset to win Game of the Year at the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in Las Vegas last night.

With eight wins already in their pocket, some felt it was a foregone conclusion that Shadow of Mordor would pull off a Last of Us-like sweep. But Dragon Age Inquisition, which had won RPG of the Year earlier in the evening, was the title in the final envelope of the night, even to the astonishment of Inquisition’s executive producer Mark Darrah and Bioware Edmonton general manager Aaryn Flynn, who were clearly flabbergasted as they accepted the award.

Aside from the 23 awards given out in specific categories, the D.I.C.E. Awards also recognized Apple with the first ever Technical Impact Award for the creation of the App Store, and Ralph H. Baer and Al Alcorn were the seventh and eighth respective recipients of the Pioneer Award. Ralph Baer is of course considered the father of video games, and Al Alcorn created Pong.

For all of the nominees in each category, you can check out the list below. Winners have been bolded.

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Transistor

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Valiant Hearts: The Great War

Outstanding Achievement in Story
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
South Park: The Stick of Truth
This War of Mine
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The Wolf Among Us

Outstanding Technical Achievement
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Far Cry 4
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Sunset Overdrive

Outstanding Character
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare — Jonathan Irons
Far Cry 4— Pagan Min
inFAMOUS: First Light — Abigail “Fetch” Walker
inFAMOUS: Second Son — Delsin Rowe
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor — Talion

D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
The Banner Saga
Hohokum
Monument Valley
Threes!
Transistor

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Destiny
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Monument Valley
Project Spark

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gaming
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Destiny
Elite: Dangerous
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
World of Tanks: Xbox 360 Edition

Mobile Game of the Year
80 Days
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Kingdom Rush Origins
Monument Valley
Threes!

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
The Banner Saga
Bravely Default
Divinity: Original Sin
Dragon Age: Inquisition
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

Sports Game of the Year
FIFA 15
Madden NFL 15
MLB 14 The Show
NBA 2K15

Racing Game of the Year
Forza Horizon 2
Mario Kart 8
The Crew

Fighting Game of the Year
Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-
Nidhogg
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Super Smash Bros. Wii U

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Boom Beach
Dungeon of the Endless
Endless Legend
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth

Family Game of the Year
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition)
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
LittleBigPlanet 3
Project Spark
Skylanders Trap Team

Handheld Game of the Year
Bravely Default
Child of Light
Shovel Knight
Super Smash Bros. 3DS
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call

Adventure Game of the Year
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
The Wolf Among Us

Action Game of the Year
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Destiny
Far Cry 4
Titanfall
Wolfenstein: The New Order

Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Assassin’s Creed Unity
inFAMOUS: Second Son
Middle-Eart: Shadow of Mordor
Sunset Overdrive
Titanfall

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Assassin’s Creed Unity
Monument Valley
Sunset Overdrive
Valiant Hearts: The Great War
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
Dungeon of the Endless
Far Cry 4
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Titanfall

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Lumino City
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor
Monument Valley
Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter

Game of the Year
Destiny
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Far Cry 4
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

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How Call of Duty’s Zombies mode almost ceased to be

Filed under: EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly), Written — Leave a comment

A surprising theme for this year’s DICE Summit 2015 has been about how a company’s employees, and not IP and bottom lines, are the most important thing in the gaming industry right now.

To help support this argument, Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia took the stage to tell the story of how the developer’s now beloved Zombies co-op mode for Call of Duty almost hit the cutting room floor.

Lamia reminisced about how the studio, their release date for World at War fast approaching, was behind in development and extremely stressed following up Infinity Ward’s record-setting Modern Warfare with a game that returned to the World War II setting.

Without his knowledge, a rogue team within Treyarch began working on a side project that featured Nazi zombies. Word quickly spread throughout the studio of this fun prototype that was being passed around and worked on during off-hours, and finally it got back to Lamia.

Initially, right then and there, Lamia thought of pulling the plug on this project due to the extreme crunch Treyarch was in. But instead, he decided to actually play the prototype and wait to pass judgment until afterwards. Luckily for all us fans of zombies, Lamia was pleasantly surprised that it was actually more fun than the co-op mode they already had in the game.

The approval from Lamia gave the development team a much-needed second wind, as he allowed them to continue to polish the mode in their spare time and stretch their creative wings a bit, rewarding them for their dedication and extra effort.

After a bit of time, Lamia himself then championed the mode to the higher ups at Activision, with the consensus indeed being that the prototype was immensely fun. But PR and marketing chimed in saying it would have been confusing and too far off brand to just promote outright. This is why World at War originally featured Zombies mode as an Easter egg reward for hardcore fans who beat the main campaign (it later became so popular it was unlocked from the beginning via a patch).

Somewhat surprisingly, the fans then that took the next steps with the mode. Writing fan fiction through message boards and forums, a story began to form around Zombies and why you had to fend off this horde of Nazi undead in a bunker. This led to Black Ops’ Zombies mode forgoing any sort of PR campaign as well, as it allowed the fans to continue to build the lore themselves, with Treyarch employees adding more special Easter eggs and callbacks in subsequent games and DLC to continue fanning the flames. Even during Lamia’s presentation, Treyarch game design director David Vonderhaar continued to play with fans via social media about what could be next for the mode.

Zombies mode now serves as Treyarch’s signature whenever it’s their turn in the development rotation of Call of Duty. And since they’re up to bat for this year’s Call of Duty, we’d be more than a little shocked if Zombies didn’t find a way to rear its head once more.

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