For the last couple of years, Gaming Award shows have been a hit or miss and with last year’s debacle we deserve a decent one. It came with no surprise when they announced a new gaming award show that we might get a proper one this time around. This one will take place in Las Vegas a day before The PlayStation Experience Event which is also in Vegas, on December 5th,2014.

Today, the list of the nominees were announced to the grand public. Personally, i find it really odd to have a 2014 award show when the year is not over, and it clearly states on their website that only games before November 25, 2014 are eligible. Anyway, lets see what The Game Awards 2014 has to offer us:
Game Of The Year

-Bayonetta 2 – Platinum Games/Nintendo
-Dark Souls 2 – FROM Software/Bandai Namco
-Dragon Age : Inquisition – BioWare/EA
-Hearthstone : Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard
-Middle-earth : Shadow of Mordor – Monolith/Warner Bros.

Most Anticipated Game(Voted By Fans)

-Batman : Arkham Knight – Rocksteady/Warner Bros.
-Bloodborne – FROM Software/Sony
-Evolve – Turtle Rock/2K Games
-The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt – CD Projekt
-Uncharted 4 : A Thief’s End – Naughty Dog/Sony

Developer Of The Year

-Blizzard
-Monolith
-Nintendo
-Telltale Games
-Ubisoft Montreal

Best Independent Game

-Broken Age Part 1 – Double Fine
-Monument Valley – Ustwo
-Shovel Knight – Cellar Door
-Transistor – Supergiant Games
-The Vanishing of Ethan Carter – The Astronauts

Best Mobile/Handheld Game

-Bravely Default – Square Enix
-Monument Valley – Ustwo
-Hearthstone : Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard
-Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – Nintendo
-Threes – Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson

Best Narrative

-South Park : The Stick of Truth – Obsidian/Ubisoft
-The Walking Dead Season 2 – Telltale Games
-The Wolf Among Us – Telltale Games
-Valiant Hearts – Ubisoft
-Wolfenstein : The New Order – Machine Games/Bethesda

Best Score/Soundtrack

-Alien : Isolation – Joe Henson and Alexis Smith, The Creative Assembly/Sega
-Child of Light – Coeur de pirate, Ubisoft Montreal
-Destiny – Marty O’Donnell, Bungie/Activision
-Sunset Overdrive – Boris Salchow, Insomniac Games/Microsoft
-Transistor – Darren Korb, Supergiant Games

Best Performance

-Adam Harrington as Bigby Wolf, The Wolf Among Us – Telltale Games
-Kevin Spacey as Jonathan Irons, Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare – Sledgehammer Games/Activision
-Melissa Hutchison as Clementine, The Walking Dead : Season Two – Telltale Games
-Trey Parker as Various Voices, South Park : The Stick of Truth – Obsidian/Ubisoft
-Troy Baker as Talion, Middle-earth : Shadow of Mordor – Monolith/Warner Bros.

Game For Change

-Mountain – David O’Reilly/Double Fine Presents
-Never Alone – Upper One Games
-The Last of Us : Left Behind – Naughty Dog/Sony
-This War of Mine – 11bit Studios
-Valiant Hearts : The Great War – Ubisoft

Best Remaster

-Grand Theft Auto V – Rockstar Games
-Halo : The Master Chief Collection – 343 Industries/Microsoft
-Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire – Game Freak/Nintendo
-The Last of Us – Naughty Dog/Sony
-Tomb Raider : Definitive Edition Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix

Best Shooter

-Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare – Sledgehammer/Activision
-Destiny – Bungie/Activision
-Far Cry 4 – Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft
-Titanfall – Respawn/EA
-Wolfenstein : The New Order – MachineGames/Bethesda

Best Action/Adventure

-Alien : Isolation – Creative Assembly/Sega
-Assassin’s Creed Unity – Ubisoft
-Bayonetta 2 – Platinum Games/Nintendo
-Middle-earth : Shadow of Mordor – Monolith/Warner Bros.
-Sunset Overdrive – Insomniac/Microsoft

Best RPG

-Bravely Default – Square Enix
-Dark Souls II – From Software/Bandai Namco
-Divinity : Original Sin – Larian Studios
-Dragon Age : Inquisition – Bioware/EA
-South Park : The Stick of Truth – Obsidian/Ubisoft

Best Fighting Game

-Killer Instinct : Season Two – Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft
-Persona 4 Arena Ultimax – Arc System Works/Atlus
-Super Smash Bros. 3DS – Nintendo
-Super Smash Bros. Wii U – Nintendo
-Ultimate Street Fighter IV – Capcom

Best Family Game

-Disney Infinity 2.0 – Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive Studios
-Fantasia : Music Evolved – Harmonix/Disney Interactive Studios
-Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo
-Skylanders : Trap Team – Toys for Bob/Activision
-Tomodachi Life – Nintendo

Best Sport/Racing Game

-FIFA 15 – EA Canada/EA Sports
-Forza Horizon 2 – Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft
-Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo
-NBA 2K15 – Visual Concepts/2K Sports
-Trials Fusion – RedLynx/Ubisoft

Best Online Experience

-Call of Duty : Advanced Warfare – Sledgehammer Games/Activision
-Dark Souls II – From Software/Bandai Namco
-Destiny – Bungie/Activision
-Hearthstone : Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard
-Titanfall – Respawn/EA

That is a hefty list and a lot of contenders that I wouldn’t personally have chosen to be in certain list like I would replace Assassin’s Creed Unity with Far Cry 4 in the running for Best Action/Adventure Game. In all cases, what do you think of the list we have at hand? Would you see different contenders? I know I’m not fully on board with all of them but we will just have to wait and see.

Follow Me-Time Gamer on Facebook and Twitter! You can also read Jonathan’s articles at Gambitcon.com