Honest question… Would Psychonauts 2 have been nominated if it was an Xbox exclusive?
This isn’t an issue of bias. It is an issue of badly designed awards structure. Games that release anywhere between the due date for first ballots and the supposed “deadline” will be screwed over, no matter the platform. Unless the press just decides to assume a game is GotY-quality before actually spending much time playing it, which would be an issue of bias with the press judge(s), not the show’s structure.
Also, not only are games releasing between the first ballot and the deadline positioned such that there is no practical possibility of being included, they are not eligible the following year either. To make things even dumber, the structure ignores the obvious reality that the press will mentally consider some games missing the “deadline” as being in that actual year of release the subsequent year when voting.
For instance, Halo won’t be nominated as a 2022 GotY candidate I’d wager due to the press mentally seeing it as a 2021 game (and understandably so). This even screwed Halo over this time around in the ‘Most Anticipated’ category as the press don’t think of Halo as a ‘future game’ since they had already played the betas by the time their ballots were in and they see it as a 2021 game.
As Jesse noted in the discord too, Starfield is 11/11/22, so you can bet that game also will fall victim to the bullshit timeline next year as well.
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Friendly reminder that these awards don’t actually mean anything so don’t let it ruin your day or make you punch your laptop lol
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I think it should and it deserves the nomination. I don’t believe TGA have a bias against Xbox, I believe there is a bias from great part of specialized media game criticism towards some aspects they defined as good for a game. In other words, gaming journalism in general prefers some type of game over another. PlayStation does more games like what media likes and this reflects on ratings and nominations to TGA. Psychonauts 2 is one game like this.
My main criticism over TGA (and gaming journalism) is because I think they should be more broad and consider more what a game tries to achieve and how effective it was on using gaming as a language. From this point of view, it is ridiculous that FH5 and Hitman 3 weren’t considered GOTY nominees.
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lol if “Deathloop” wins that’s gonna cause so much unnecessary controversy.
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It’s gonna be a win-win-win situation all around. Everyone gets to be happy for it in some way. Arkane will get such a boost too which they deserve.
The only consolation is Death Stranding, Fallout 4, Dragon Age and RDR2 fell within similar timeframes as Forza and got in ok. It’s easier to get people to hold their nose and vote for things if they hear good things and put faith.
Which is itself a mixed blessing too. Had Cyberpunk released in Mid November last year (day of the deadline iirc), I have zero doubt it would have made it.
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Deathloop and Ghostwire got fucked over by their deals. A shame.
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Fair point…which leads me to believe there are a large number of press judges who are straight up including games before having played the final build. All in all, the way the voting and timelines work here is a huge problem if Geoff wants these to ever have credibility.
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Yeah ok, FH5 missing is disappointing, but I didn’t expect much from this awards show. I’ll be watching it for the announcements like every year
TGA don’t understand that they can’t be like the Oscars because the industry can’t concentrate releases into a convenient timestamp and judges can’t play games in 2~3h long to give a fair opinion, like in movies. TGA should be at least in February.
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My tastes never align with these things, so I can’t say I’m disappointed or that I expected anything different. From the games I have finished, I don’t think RE Village, It Takes Two and Ratchet and Clank deserve to be there, while Deathloop and Psychonauts 2 deserve their place. Forza Horizon 5 got robbed, but it was never getting in.
Its kinda hilarious how homogenous these games seem to be every year. It’s either a third person platformer, third person action game, third person open world, an indie game, or a first person game that’s not a straight shooter. Kind of a boring selection year after year.
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no forza is dog crap
do you guys think playground should stop making them? i dont!
This 100%.
This too. I watch for the new game reveals and trailers along with the hope of a few release dates.
Nah Sony fans will ensure Returnal takes that.
Sony have managed to convince half the planet that only they can make truly great games through these types of awards. They absolutely do matter.
Guaranteed it will get more votes than it sold copies.
Would actually put money on that.
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Still trying to decide if I watch the show this year. My heart hurts. Still, Xbox did well. I hope Psychonauts takes it but I have my doubts.
Maybe the announcements will make up for it? Idk. I just… I thought Forza actually had a shot. My heart hurts.
I don’t know why I’m taking this so seriously this year. Just a tad down I guess. Need more Halo matches and Forza races to cheer up.
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Part of it is the realization that Xbox can have the highest rated, arguably best, game of the year and still not even get nominated. We knew it was bad, and things are getting much better, but gaming media is still a joke and I guess some of us hoped things were a bit different now.
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Also crazy that Sea of Thieves isn’t even nominated for best on-going game. I was sincerely thinking it was going to win this easily after A Pirate’s Life et crossing 25M players. Rare deserved this.
Don’t know what is worse between this and FH5.
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