2018 D.I.C.E. Video Game Awards

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

 

3 thoughts on “2018 D.I.C.E. Video Game Awards

  1. It says something about the industry that the vast majority of awards are going to remakes and continuations of old games.

  2. @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.

  3. Rose Embolism on February 25, 2018 at 1:05 pm said:

    It says something about the industry that the vast majority of awards are going to remakes and continuations of old games.

    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.

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