Games Awards: BAFTA Vs Golden Joystick

Posted on October 30, 2006
Filed Under Fun on the Web, Games, Rants |

Golden Joysticks: The aftermath
The Baftas - Latest Winners

Remember trying to explain a game to your dad? Remember his endearing but oh so futile attempts to connect with you by suggesting games you might like to play? The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is your dad. I have no problem with some of the awards they gave out (Innovation to Dr Kawashima for instance) but there are a couple which make me think “What the hell? Have they actually played these games? Do they actually play games at all?”

Firstly the award for multiplayer game went to D&D:Stormreach. Now I know its hard to judge a MMO game as it depends alot on the community and interaction between players, but it was up against Battlefield 2 and Guild Wars for gods sake. I have played all three and IMHO Stormreach shouldn’t even have been nominated.
Secondly the award for best game overall went to (deep breath for longest game title ever) Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (phew, what a mouthful). The panel must have been distracted by the pretty pictures and forgot to actually wonder about gameplay, originality, depth, characterisation, storyline. Sure it looks good and it has really good physics but that about sums it up. You run around shooting things, the end. Lego Star Wars II (also nominated) has more playability and depth.
Frankly the Gaming BAFTAs have lost the little cred they ever had with those two awards. They should stick to what they know, ie. film and television. Leave games to the people who play them. Which neatly brings me on to…

The Golden Joysticks. Much better, voted for by the people who play the games and not the people who make them. Oblivion deservedly stomped home with 3 awards (Ultimate Game of The Year, PC Game of the Year, and XBox Game of the Year.) I am a little worried about EA and Game getting publisher and retailer of the year respectively. Now I used to work for Game, and they were good to work for and fair to the customer when I worked there but insider sources tell me that its all gone to the dogs since then. It seems that allegedly they now make more money selling shelf space to publishers than they do selling games to customers. This would explain the huge drop in levels of customer service and the terrible selection of titles that are on offer. I buy online now and will never buy in Game again (even though I still know people that work there and can still get my staff discount)
As for EA… don’t get me started. I hold them personally responsible for the downfall of the games market since they rose to power as it were. They smother originality and innovation with their relentless churning out of franchises and licenses. I actually checked and they haven’t produced a truly original game (one that is not a sequel, franchise, movie license, or annual sporting outing) since American McGee’s Alice in 2000. They’re killing the industry and this awards is very worrying.

All in all though I’d watch the Golden Joysticks over the Games BAFTAs any day.

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