BAFTA winners revealed News

Story and Character: God of War II

What?

Not a bad list of winners there.

Yeah, I did blink a bit at that one.

Use of Audio: Crackdown

???

The one music track it had in it and the three generic immigrant voices repeated over and over?

Right.

God of War 2 on XBLA? Anyone? Please..

Nice to see God of War II and Okami getting the recognition they deserved. And while Wii Sports is a nice demonstration of the Wii's abilities, as a full game it's perhaps a little disappointing with its lack of options and is really little more than a glorified tech demo IMO, made more palatable by the fact it was free.

Action and Adventure: Crackdown

Fucking yass, get in!

I've won a Bafta (not on my own, though).

Suck it down Miyamoto - you are denied!

@viper_h - I cannot understand how Crackdown won Best Use of Audio at all - it had average sound-effects, an extremely annoying voice-over that told you that you'd made an impressive ascent (agent!) when you'd just jumped over a car... on the ground, and had barely audible but very mediocre music. I think of dozens of games more deserving than that. An odd choice and a very undeserved award if you ask me.

I guess someone really liked either the voice of the Agency or Stuart's taste in licensed music.

Congratulations, guys, put it beside the photocopy of your Vice City award that Rockstar are keeping.

Vernon Kay didn't fucking host this again did he? And yay for Okami!!

Really pleased Crackdown got in the winners list. Same goes for Bioshock, though less unexpected to be honest. Fair play to Wii Sports (no pun intended).

But I'm also rather surprised that GoW2 for an award for character and story. Technical Achievement, yes no problem absolutely. But character and story?! When it is alongside games like Bioshock (with plenty of others not in the list that could have taken that award)?!

/is puzzled

Are these voted for by the public?

Crackdown had all original tracks, that dynamically changed as you changed location. Now I'd be the first to deliver a sarcastic "whoop dee doo" at that apparent feat of technical majesty, but that might be why it won an audio award I suppose.

And I guess the explosions sounded cool.

Crackdown's audio was great! You lot should listen to the Major nelson podcast from many moons ago where they discuss the audio features. Personally, the use of the orb sound effect alone was absolute genius.

I think this was the one: MajorNelson.com

"as a full game it's perhaps a little disappointing with its lack of options and is really little more than a glorified tech demo IMO"

I'd happily pay £50 for it, 4 player tennis has to be played to be believed. Get 4 players that know how to spin, do drop shots and power serves and it's superb - so much depth hidden beneath a very accessible control scheme.

me said "Crackdown had all original tracks"

Was that a big fat lie I told there? I thought they were original, but that might be rubbish.

Heh - no real surprise the PS3 got no awards - most of the nominated games aren't even out yet, so a bit hard to vote for. Though I reckon WarHawk deserved the nod for gameplay (or even audio - the THX in a hectic situation is as good of anything since the original Medal of Honour D Day scene).

They weren't original, just quite obscure.

Except for the Molotov and Control Machete tracks that have probably been in Saints Row and Total Overdose at least already, plus any other games to feature Latino Gangstas.

the bafta games are a joke arnt they

Wii sports won best game play over Gears and warhawk

a better innovation than Eye of judgement better Multiplayer than world of warcraft

plus half the game on their arnt ever out yet like R&C:ToD , uncharted , kane and lynch etc etc

even how much i hate halo it deserved to be in there

"Strategy and Simulation: Wii Sports" - What? STRATEGY!!! This wins the strategy and simulation award over all other games released this year??? I don't get it.

"Sports: Wii Sports" - OK, FIFA may be shite, but it is still a whole lot better than Wii sports... and there is still PES, Tiger Woods, and all the other much better sports games...

"Multiplayer: Wii Sports" - ROFL! Yeh, right. It's not even online and it wins the multiplayer award *sigh*

"Use of Audio: Crackdown" - Who gave out these awards?!? Someone who has never played games?!

"Story and Character: God of War II" - I'm so confused...

"Game: BioShock" - Not arguing with this one (Bioshock is the best game on this so called "winners" list), just not entirely sure what the award is for... "Game"?

"The Gamers' Award: Football Manager 2007 (PC)" - This is the one voted for by us, yeh? I figured this one would win, but only because the choice of games was so limited. Hardly "Gamers Game of the Year" when we only got to choose from six games...

Overall, I have to say that these are the most meaningless awards EVER!!! I have lost all respect for the BAFTA's. What a bunch of idiots.

Its funny I've got a 6 bafta award winning game sitting under my TV which I rarely (well never) play. It certainly is innovative, and great multiplayer but gameplay?

I've got a 6-Bafta-award winning game under my telly too. And I feel the same way I felt when Halle Berry won the Oscar for best Actress in Monster's Ball.

Completely undeserved, considering the competition and perhaps she should consider giving it back.

Best audio for Crackdown over Bioshock is a travesty

I see it's same sh''te, different day on here

The usual guys who don't get Wii Sports trodding out their rubbish.

World of Warcraft best multiplayer someone says ha ha - geekfest or what

To quote Team America:

"Matt Damon"

I like Wii sports but Im not sure it warranted all of those awards. Casual gaming is very much in this year so guess thats why it did so well also.

I again feel the need to point out that Wii Sports was out in 2006 and was ineligible for these awards as it states on their own fricking website.

Wii Sports is far from shallow.

If you are playing against a 2000+ rated computer opponent it's a challenging and skillful game where in tennis, for instancew, you have to know how to spin, slice and put the ball anywhere on the court.

I think there are probably a load of folk here who have had a quick go and are basing their judgements on that.

@L42yb

Team America. Yeah, no sh''t sherlock. Humour is obviously lost on you.
.................

To quote L42yb

"Overall, I have to say that these are the most meaningless awards EVER!!! I have lost all respect for the BAFTA's. What a bunch of idiots."

And other people having an opinion is also something which I guess is lost on you.

Welcome to the third placelol

I'd probably Give Guitar hero 2 best use of Audio, quite a clever system and some nice little FX touches.

although I hear SKATE sounds really good.

As for Crackdown I thought it sounded great, the vehicles and weapons all sounded nice, the Voiceover guy was good (although I wish he'd stop being hired now), it had it's problems like boring music but on the whole a top job. I do get a feeling they've won it for that agility orb sound though ;D

"Crackdown had all original tracks, that dynamically changed as you changed location."

hehehe so did Resident Evil 1 ;D

I just think the music was dull, can't remember whether they had cinematic boss battle music either....? to be honest I turned my own music on after a few hours play.

Wii sports definitely got the awards it deserved. Haven't had this much fun since Stock Exchange on my Acorn Electron. (seriously)

Strategy and Simulation: Wii Sports
Multiplayer: Wii Sports

lol.

Stock Exchange ruled. Any emulators about for this?

@MattDamon:

"The usual guys who don't get Wii Sports trodding out their rubbish"

It's a collection of minigames using the new controller... thats it. I'm not arguing with the inovation award, but to get "Best Sports Game" and "Best Strategy and Simulation" is pushing it WAY to far.

"World of Warcraft best multiplayer someone says ha ha - geekfest or what " - World of Warcraft multiplayer is far more impressive than a "four players on one console" game as far as multiplayer goes, but WoW would not count for this years games (altho Wii sports shouldn't have counted either as it was last year).

"Team America. Yeah, no sh''t sherlock. Humour is obviously lost on you." - And clearly irony is not lost on you...

"And other people having an opinion is also something which I guess is lost on you. " - *sigh* oh well, I guess I'll keep *my opinion* to myself next time... ;)

Big award ceremonies rewarding the "hip" and "fly" things, making it more of a politics and spur of the moment matter rather than objectively measuring the factors these things are weighed upon?

What else is new.

@L42yb

You don't understand what irony means, so don't use it in a sentence.

"It's a collection of minigames using the new controller... thats it. I'm not arguing with the inovation award, but to get "Best Sports Game" and "Best Strategy and Simulation" is pushing it WAY to far. "

And you don't understand Wii Sports, so don't talk about it. You lost all credibility when you suggest Fifa was better, despite admitting yourself that is, in fact,, sh''te.

@MattDamon:

I understand that you probably think that "Irony" means "kinda like Iron" but sympathise with your feeble intellect and will try to help u out ;)

Irony - "The use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning"

For example, you were using the reference to MattDamon in Team America ironically. I was merely pointing out that you saying (and I quote) "And other people having an opinion is also something which I guess is lost on you" as a response to me expressing my opinion about someone elses was ironic.

Finally, all of my comments were playful and said in jest, as are my comments above. Please don't take life so seriously ;)

EDIT (spellig :O)

Its politically correct to be a huge Wii/DS fanboy right now, so no surprises there. So forget about objectivity wrt these awards.

Well done to Nintendo though, they made some good decisions and are making a lot of money, I just do not believe that they target the same market as Microsoft or Sony or that they are even trying to. Trying to pass Wii Sports as a better sports sim than something like Virtua Tennis 3 is not only ridiculous, its impossible. The time has come to label the Wii as a neat, nifty little gadget primarily aimed at children and the elderly that you toy around with every now and again, however it is questionable that it can still be classified as a legitimate 'games console'.

Am I the only one with this viewpoint?

"Numerous PlayStation 3 titles were nominated, but none of them managed to win."

Ouch!

@Arnold__ - Finally, sum1 talking sense! My earlier point (which it seems was completely lost on the likes of MattDamon) that FIFA is better was only to point out just how bad WiiSports really is. I don't like Fifa at all, but I think that as far as a "Sports Simulation" game it is much better than Wii Sports.

@L42yb

You are stupid.

Your Wii Sports and Fifa comparison, let me get this straight, you think that a game where you press buttons is a more accurate simulation than one where you actually act out the motions of that sport?

Shows you have as much of an understanding of sport and video games, as you do irony, that being none whatsoever.

Think I'm putting you on my ignore list, cus you are just stupid.

'L42yB' and 'Arnold__' are from the troll convention downtown.

They are quite mad the Wii comes free with one of the best games to be released in a year.
Bioshock is good, but not Wii sports good.

What an absolute farce. Wii Sports, a game that was released in December '06 and therefore does not qualify to be considered for nomination gets 13 of them and wins 6. What really troubles me about these awards is what was nominated and what eventually won. Portal was not considered yet is one of the most innovative games to appear on any format. Halo 3 and Team Fortress 2 are also very strong multiplayer games that are again brushed aside for no apparent reason. Finally story should have gone to Halflife 2: Episode 2. That game is driven by its story and to ignore it entirely is a travesty.

A lot of great games were missed and the one that won the most didn't even qualify to win anything according to BAFTA's own rules.

I'd say it's BAFTA that don't understand Wii sports. I have absolutely nothing against it, but some of it's accolades are a little inappropriate:

Best Multiplayer: A lot of fun surely, but the game is only really suited to one form of multiplayer gaming, which is best described under another category; Social & Casual, which it deservedly won. For an all-round mulitplayer experience there were better candidates.

Best Strategy & Simulation: I'm not sure anyone could pretend this accurately simulates the sports involved - it approximates them. That's not a criticism of the game itself - full on sims are a niche, which (if they've been done correctly) are inaccessible to the mainstream. Wii Sports doesn't fall under this category, nor was it ever intended to.

Best Sports: Well this will always cause arguments, whoever wins...

Best Gameplay: As above - what constitutes good gameplay is massively subjective.

Best Innovation: An interesting one. I think this only won because it had to be a game and not a system. The Wii itself is the innovation - Wii Sports merely a showcase for it.

As for the others - I'm really pleased for Okami - although its award for Artisitic Achievement was a no-brainer. Having played God of War II, I have to say Best Technical Achievement was also well-deserved. We've been inundated with coverage of next-gen (I guess its current-gen now), but these two titles, running on a humble PS2, took my breath away with their gorgeous visuals.

@MattDamon - Well, if u've ignored me then so be it. Good to see you respect others opinions. So far you have yet to actually make a decent argument, rather you seem to think that calling me stupid and being dismissive make for a strong opposition. Whatever.

I believe I explained the meaning of Irony and how it applied to what I said. If you don't understand or disagree then say so. Calling someone stupid in the face of a debate only shows your own ignorance and inability to support your opinion with an actual argument.

And finally, yes I believe that FIFA (or any of the other EA Sports nonesense) are better sports simulations than WiiSports for the following reasons:

1) Graphically, they look far more like the game they are representing than any WiiSports equivalent.
2) Controller wise, I don't believe that waving a piece of plastic at a TV is any more "realistic" than pressing buttons. It's a nice gimmick, but it does not even come close to representing the real thing. To give an example, practising you golf swing on Wii Sports is highly likely to mess up your golf swing rather than improve it. This is because the way you need to swing the controller to get a good hit is *very* different from the way you swing a golf club. Now in Tiger Woods, you may only press a button to initiate you golf swing, but the *simulation* is far better in that you can customise your swing to *look* not only like a real swing but you can even get it to look like *your* swing.

Those are the main points, I have more but I don't see the point in making this post even longer than it already is. The main point is that people seem to be dismissing all the the incredible advances we have made in sports simulation games over the last few years - impressive and immersive graphics looking as close to the real thing as possible, gameplay and player movement that matches how people really move, commentary and sound effects that add to immersion and atmosphere... all of these things make a "simulation" more realistic and therefore a better sports simulation game. Just adding new control method and then dismissing all of the other criteria does not make for the "Best Sports Simulation and Strategy game". I still think these are just a bunch of (admittedly quite fun) minigames that use a new controller. The only award they truly deserved was the innovation one.

Anyway, that's my argument. Since the all knowing Matt "Respector of all's opinions (that agree with mine) and master of Irony" Damon is ignoring me I don't expect a reply, but then having him come back with another "your stupid" comment wudn't be constructive anyway ;)

@smoison - Why is anyone expressing a negative opinion a troll? I am more than willing to debate the point intelligently if anyone cares to.

IMO, MattDamon is the troll because so far his comments back to me have consisted only of remarks at me personally (which I don't mind, I give as good as I get) but the bit that annoys me is that his replies have been completely devoid of any argument whatsoever. Isn't that what makes you a troll?

Saying "WiiSports is the best because it is and anyone who disagree's is stupid!" makes you a troll.

Saying "WiiSports is not all that and doesn't deserve a BAFTA for the following reasons" is an argument. Yes, I backed it up with a strong opinion at the end ("I have lost all respect for the BAFTA's. What a bunch of idiots.") but is just my way and doesn't make me a troll. I still preceded my comment with an actual argument.

Did it ever occur to anyone that the award for use of sound going to Crackdown could be about the great use of positional audio to hunt the orbs?

Audio is about more than songs, you know.

I have to agree with L42yB. What is also a bit concerning is that these days if you issue a single criticism towards the Wii or DS, then you are labelled a 'troll'. Its called legitimate criticism people. Freedom of speech and press versus dictatorial regimes where no criticism is tollerated.

One can only speculate as to how 'free' these BAFTA awards were. If Wii Sports was included, then surely GOW should be included as well. However it is safe to assume that somewhere, somehow, money was involved and exchanged, similar to all these 10/10 ratings we are seeing these days. Just out of control.

We might as well start comparing sales of Bicycle Playing cards to sales of Wii Sports because they belong more or less in the same category.

Wise up.

@L42by

This should help you with irony

http://webweevers.com/irony.htm

As for not putting up arguments, well what about that I said simulating the motion of a game ala Wii Sports is more of a simulation than pressing buttons on a control pad. I think that's a reasoned opinion.

Fifa is absolutely nothing like real football in any sense whatsoever. Football Manager may have been a contender, but it could be argued that it is more management you are simulating rather than the actual sport.

I respect all opinions, but don't be stupid L42. Think before you write. Branding the Bafta guys idiots just because they haven't picked the games you like..... spoilt brat.