Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Special Hugo Award For Videogames

Posted by Zonk on from the frag-fests-go-legits dept.

techno-vampire writes "Every year, the Hugo Awards are given out at the World Science Fiction Convention, and each year's convention is allowed one special category. This year's convention, LACon IV, has decided to honor The Year's Best Interactive Video Game. As the announcement explains, games have changed over the years. 'No longer the simple flickering photons of Pong or Asteroids, the improvement in computer chips has given games not only better graphics but the capability of more involving, fully developed stories.' The time may have come that they deserve such a honor, and this year's special award is a test, to find out if they're ready."

22 comments

  1. What about comics? by xanderwilson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think it's great that they're trying something new, but I'm surprised video games gets a category before sequential art, since the latter has actually been nominated for existing category awards in the past.

    Alex.

    1. Re:What about comics? by challlen · · Score: 1

      I totally agree that if Hugo awards are given to games, they should be given to comics as well.

      There are really excellent comics, and with a Hugo award, it would be so much easier to find quality material.

    2. Re:What about comics? by Kelson · · Score: 1

      This reminds me of the time that an issue of Sandman won the World Fantasy Award, and the committee immediately changed the rules to prevent a comic book from ever winning again.

      As for the Hugos, it looks like one comic actually managed to win: They created a one-off "Other Forms" category in 1988 for Watchmen.

  2. Nominations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, anyone have any nominations for the prestigious award?
    As Sci Fi goes, I would say the homworld series,
    Homeworld 2
    It reminds me sooo much of Battlestar Galactica!

    1. Re:Nominations? by techno-vampire · · Score: 2, Informative

      Only members of the convention can nominate or vote. That's what makes them so prestigious: they're awarded by the fans. Not the authors, or the publishers, or the retailers or the critics, but the people who actually buy and use the books, films, games etc. are deciding what's best. However, if you can't attend, you can buy a supporting membership, for less money. You get all the progress reports, the program, the handouts that the attending members get and voting rights, including the right to vote on where it's held. All you don't get is the right to attend, but if you can't anyway, who cares?

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    2. Re:Nominations? by Pluvius · · Score: 1

      Since it's for this year's games, I'd say Shadow of the Colossus would be the easy guess. (I believe Hugo Awards also apply to fantasy works, which is a good thing because there are very few recent video games could be considered "science fiction.")

      Rob

    3. Re:Nominations? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How much would it cost if a publisher bought enough voting memberships to lift their product to the top in some category? Would it be worth it in terms of advertisement value? Of course, realistically such cheating could only be effective if the book/product was already a contender to win, and would only need a moderately large block of votes to ensure the win.

    4. Re:Nominations? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1
      It's been tried. Back in '84, a number of Scientologists bought supporting memberships and voted for Battlefield Earth. Although they were from all over the country, all the checks were from the same account in sequential order. After discussion, the votes were rejected and the checks returned. Not one of them objected.

      I won't say it can't be done, but you'd probably need several hundred votes. That's at least $100/"member" for the supporting membership, possibly more, so there's ten to twenty thousand dollars invested, just to have a good chance. I doubt anybody'd find it worth their while.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
  3. This should drive Gregory Benford insane by Kelson · · Score: 2, Informative

    After all, he walked out of the hugos over the rise of fantasy. Now video games? Bah!

  4. What if the top game is not Sci-Fi related? by Andy_R · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While a huge number of games have Sci Fi plots, a lot of the contenders for the title of 'best' do not. Will they ingore the next tetris/nintendogs/gran turismo/WWII Fps game or will they give the award to something inferior that fits into the right genre?

    --
    A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
    1. Re:What if the top game is not Sci-Fi related? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      It all depends on what the members of the convention vote for. The concom doesn't decide who gets the Hugos, the members vote on it, just like for the Oscars.

      --
      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    2. Re:What if the top game is not Sci-Fi related? by DrEldarion · · Score: 1

      Will they ingore the next tetris/nintendogs/gran turismo/WWII Fps game

      Hopefully, because none of those are particularly story-heavy. This isn't the Spike video game awards.

  5. Nominate Kingdom Hearts 2! by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 1

    It has transdimensional travel!

    --

    GPL Deconstructed
  6. So what if the top game is not Sci-Fi related? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This would be a problem if there weren't any great games this year that are either Sci-Fi or Fantasy in nature. I think Resident Evil 4 is very much science fiction, though decidedly different from something like Star Trek. Gradius V was a stellar shooter, though it probably did not have much of a plot, it did have spaceships and asteroids and lasers and things! God of War has an amazing fantasy storyline. Don't forget all the great indie games in sci-fi this year, like Weird Worlds. Also, there was this little fantasy game called WoW...

    People can hand out awards for whatever they want. No need to bitch them out for choosing to highlight games of a particular kind, when they haven't even chosen a game yet! Games mean different things to different people. To sci-fi fans, they probably mean an interactive story, more than a mechanic for machine/human gaming. Why is this a problem? Not all games must be Nintendogs; in fact, that is a large part of the appeal of Nintendogs.

  7. Original and released in 2005 by Anm · · Score: 3, Informative

    From the nomination form, the game must be original (not a remake of another story/game, or a port from a different platform) and it must have been released in 2005. I can't think of a single game that meets those criteria and deserves the right to be the first Hugo winner for video games.

    That said, I also second the above opinion that sequential art deserves its own category first.

    Anm

    1. Re:Original and released in 2005 by Jonny_eh · · Score: 1

      How about Indig Prophecy/Faranheit, Death to All Humans, or ...

      Ya, sequential art should be a category instead.

    2. Re:Original and released in 2005 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about Shadow of the Colossus? Was released in 2005 and an original story.

      I really like the art direction in that game. It's very beautiful. A lot of people complained about the low frames per second for not being above 30, but why complain about it that much when we all watch movies running at 24.97 fps? SotC has a very cinematic feel, and the blur effects when the camera moves fast are very fitting. For a minute, I had a hard time believing my PS2 was processing what I saw on my TV. I definately would cast a vote for Shadow of the Colossus.

  8. Cyan should get a special award... by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    They deserve one of those "lifetime achievement" awards for the Myst series.

    --
    Circumcision is child abuse.
  9. Oh Lord No... by costik · · Score: 1

    If they want to give a Hugo to best SF-themed game, I'm all for that... though I'll probably nominate something from Cheapass.

  10. I nominate Darwinia! by biovoid · · Score: 1

    It's science fiction, released in 2005, and an awesome game as well.

  11. Fahrenheit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not only it has a compelling SF story, it also redefines and revives the genre of adventure game. What more do you need? If there were some kind of time travel involved, it could easily pass as a Phillip K. Dick novel.