Game Developer / Indie Game Award Winners

Last night, past the red carpet, under the swirling light and through thrumming bass, the Game Developer's Choice Awards and Independent Game Festival awards were handed out in front of an audience of some 3,500 people. The evening went by very quickly, for a nice change of pace, with few speeches lasting longer than 30 seconds or so. There was a marriage proposal (accepted), several humorous skits that were actually funny, and several moments of Shigeru Miyamoto awesomeness. The big winners of the night were Gears of War, which walked away with three GDCAs, and Aquaria, which won the Seamus McNally grand prize from the IGF. Later today Gamespot is going to be airing video of the awards, a first for the event. While there may not be much in the IGF event that captures your interest, definitely check out the GDCAs. The acceptance speeches from Greg Costikyan, The Fatman, Shigeru Miyamoto, and CliffyB should not be missed.

Comments

Game Design: Wii Sports

[HappySqurriel]

Wii Sports was nominated for two awards and the one that seemed most appropriate for it to win is the one it won (game design) ...

As I see it, Wii Sports demonstrates that sometimes the best design is the simplest; Nintendo could have (easily) made each of the sports games a full simulation but the greatness of Wii sports is how unintimidating it is which (in my opinion) comes from its simplicity.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[Xest]

I have to agree - I find Wii sports more fun and more addictive than any other Wii game, to me Zelda and Red Steel aren't enhanced particularly well by the Wii mote, I could just as well play them on a classic controller but Wii sports really stands out to me as demonstrating what the Wii mote was made for.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[kamapuaa]

It was designed for a novelty that gets old after 15 minutes? Nothing against the Wii, but Wii Sports is a tech demo, and nothing to get excited about.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[AnonChef]

It was designed for a novelty that gets old after 15 minutes? Nothing against the Wii, but Wii Sports is a tech demo, and nothing to get excited about. 15 minutes for you but hours of fun for many many others.
Wii's new controller deserves recognition, it's the most innovative thing to come to gaming in a long time.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[bobetov]

My wife, son, mother, father, and half my friends disagree with you. We play bowling and tennis constantly, have been for 3 months now. My father loves playing golf.

It's a pick-up game, for blowing 30 minutes doing something engaging and somewhat physical. It can be team-based and cooperative, something that's very hard to come by in "normal" games.

I can't think of any other game that fits those criteria. We used to play scrabble or cards, but those take time, are competitive, and just don't have the sense of fun that Wii Sports has. It's revolutionized how my wife and I spend our free time.

Two cents, and all that.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[zstlaw]

Nothing but a tech demo? Maybe if tech demo means show how game technology can leverage abilities from real life.

In wii sports tennis the position, speed, and angle of your racket determines angle, speed, and spin of the ball in a manner quite similar to real tennis. I was sad that I could not move around thus eliminating one strategy aspect of the game, and I grant you, the controls are simplified so non-tennis players can play, but an amazing number of real motions are actually used and give you an advantage in the game.

Only baseball and golf felt poorly translated, I can top out the golf swing way slower than a normal swing and baseball loses a lot of depth when every pitch is hittable and you don't control the fielding.

The controls are simplified so my friends can play almost as well as me, but my experience in these sports gave me an edge initially because normal motions translated well. I have tried playing tennis games on other platforms but after the Wii the other games felt sluggish and poorly modeled.

I wish there wore more tech demos like this out there, the other platforms could sorely use some decent games. ;-P

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[Anonymous Coward]

So I guess the follow-up game to Wii Sports will be "Wii Ball-in-Cup"? How about "Wii Walk and Chew Gum?"

The fact that such simple games are so popular is a sad commentary on the intelligence of the general public.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[HappySqurriel]

So I guess the follow-up game to Wii Sports will be "Wii Ball-in-Cup"? How about "Wii Walk and Chew Gum?"

The fact that such simple games are so popular is a sad commentary on the intelligence of the general public.

You do realize that games like chess and checkers are also very simple games and require a lot of intelligence, aren't you? Sudoku is an amazingly simple puzzle which is not easy.

Whether you like to admit it or not, often the shiny graphics and convoluted storyline are there to give lazy (and potentially unintelligent) people a reason to complete brainless and repetitive tasks in a game.

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[Anonymous Coward]

You're comparing chess and sodoku to wii sports or ball-and-cup?? All I gotta say is: yikes..

Re:Game Design: Wii Sports

[HappySqurriel]

You're comparing chess and sodoku to wii sports or ball-and-cup?? All I gotta say is: yikes..

Your initial comment was "The fact that such simple games are so popular is a sad commentary on the intelligence of the general public" to which I pointed out that just because a game is simple doesn't mean that only the unintelligent would enjoy it.

Since it is obvious that you have never played Wii sports I can try to explain why it is so popular ...

When you play Wii Sports: Bowling you will notice that Nintendo has produced such a simple interface that everyone who is between the age of 4 and 125 can understand how to play; at the same time it is the best approximation of bowling that has ever been produced. Tennis, Boxing, Baseball and Golf are all have the same intuitive easy to use interface and yet capture the enjoyment of the sport for a lot of people.

Aquaria

[Danse]

Aquaria looks pretty amazing, especially for an indie game. Can't wait to try that one out.

Re:Aquaria

[powerpants]

I second the notion!

(Does the look remind anyone else of Super Metroid?)

Re:Aquaria

[DataSpring]

Watching the video reminded me of the gameplay of Castelvania: Symphony of the Night, as well - the general layout of passageways, getting locked off with a boss (the one under-water statue-looking thing definitely reminded me of SOTN) and just some of the general movement styles/techniques... and yes, I agree, reminiscent of Super Metroid, as well. I loved both of those games, and although the last PC games I played with any devotion of time were Unreal Tournament and Starcraft, I want to give this one a try!

Re:Aquaria

[Emetophobe]

It reminds me of Contra and Ecoquest. Looks pretty awesome IMO.

Re:MARRIAGE?!

[beef curtains]

I believe what you meant to say was:

"OMG OMG OMG ZOMG 1 <3 J00!!11!!one!1"

Get with the times. Sheesh.

Why do unreleased games win?

[GrumpySimon]

In all of these competitions, why is it that the unreleased games are the ones that win?

metroid

[sentientbrendan]

For some reason it reminds me of metroid. I'd always missed how metroid introduced the plot without actually having any dialog... until the newer games of course.

Re:metroid

[bVork]

The developers doing Aquaria previously did the excellent Metroid-style game Eternal Daughter. They also did the infamous I'm O.K. game in response to Jack Thompson's even more infamous modest proposal. Check out all the games here: http://www.derekyu.com/games.html