The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) presented the 21st annual D.I.C.E. awards on February 22 at a ceremony following the 2018 D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the night’s most-awarded game, receiving four awards, while Cuphead earned a total of three awards.
The D.I.C.E. Awards also celebrated Genyo Takeda, Special Corporate Advisor at Nintendo, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He was recognized for having been at the forefront of shaping the video games hardware industry in his career-long tenure at Nintendo with the development of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube and the Wii system.
The AIAS membership honored video games in 24 award categories:
Game of the Year
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
Immersive Reality Technical Achievement
Lone Echo/Echo Arena
- Publisher: Oculus Studios
- Developer: Ready At Dawn
Immersive Reality Game of the Year
Lone Echo/Echo Arena
- Publisher: Oculus Studios
- Developer: Ready At Dawn
Mobile Game of the Year
Fire Emblem Heroes
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS and Nintendo
Handheld Game of the Year
Metroid: Samus Returns
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: MercurySteam and Nintendo
D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
Snipperclips
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: SFB Games
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
- Publisher: Bluehole
- Developer: PUBG Corporation
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle
- Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
- Developer: Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris
Sports Game of the Year
FIFA 18
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Developer: Electronic Arts
Role-Playing Game of the Year
NierR: Automata
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Developer: PlatinumGames
Racing Game of the Year
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
Fighting Game of the Year
Injustice 2
- Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
- Developer: NetherRealm Studios
Family Game of the Year
Snipperclips
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: SFB Games
Adventure Game of the Year
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
Action Game of the Year
PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS
- Publisher: Bluehole
- Developer: PUBG Corporation
Outstanding Technical Achievement
Horizon Zero Dawn
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Developer: Guerrilla Games
Outstanding Achievement in Story
Horizon Zero Dawn
- Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
- Developer: Guerrilla Games
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Super Mario Odyssey
- Publisher: Nintendo
- Developer: Nintendo
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Cuphead
- Publisher: StudioMDHR
- Developer: StudioMDHR
Outstanding Achievement in Character
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – Senua
- Publisher: Ninja Theory
- Developer: Ninja Theory
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Cuphead
- Publisher: StudioMDHR
- Developer: StudioMDHR
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Cuphead
- Publisher: StudioMDHR
- Developer: StudioMDHR
It says something about the industry that the vast majority of awards are going to remakes and continuations of old games.
@Rose Embolism:
Ehh. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was, by all accounts, extremely good (I haven’t had a chance to play it yet as I don’t have a Switch yet – I’m waiting on my tax refund).
Plus, there’s newer games like Cuphead, Hellblade, and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Rose Embolism on February 25, 2018 at 1:05 pm said:
Zelda is a continuation however part of the reason it’s winning so many awards is how it breaks from previous games in the series, the level of technical expertise involved in the open world structure (it truly has some wonderful animations and object interactions), while maintaining the identity of the series itself. I don’t think it was the best game of last year personally though I can see why it’s considered so and it is a incredible technical achievement.
Part of which is also that due to the fact that it’s a continuation of a long popular and highly regarded so they can take spend more on development and take more risks.
Horizon had one of the best, if not so, stories of any sci-fi fantasy game I’ve ever played and glad to see it recognized. NieR: Automata is also pretty incredible. Glad to see them and the beautiful hand drawn and very difficult Cuphead get recognition in a year with a lot of great games.