Well another
Game Awards
has come and gone. There are few dates on the calendar that get gamers as pumped as the yearly awards show. The
Geoff Keighley
headed and hosted event was going into its sixth year with the 2020 show, and has become a showcase that combines the trophies of the Oscars with the unbridled excitement of E3.
With COVID-19, viewers knew they were going to be getting a bit of a different product than in years past. Gone were the screaming crowds, the on-stage handshakes and the backdrop of the Microsoft Theater. In their place was a digital event, featuring virtual acceptance speeches and even a few holograms.
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In case you missed it, or you just wanted to relive the fanfare, here are the seven best moments from the 2020 Game Awards.
SEPHIROTH IN
SMASH
Can’t say anyone saw this one coming. With one of the first announcements of the main show, Nintendo unveiled that
Final Fantasy VII’s
Sephiroth would be coming to
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
and that the One Winged Angel would be available to download later this month.
After it was teased that
Smash
would be at The Game Awards just hours before the show started, speculation went wild. Sora, Jonesy, and Master Chief were all names thrown out, but nobody could have predicted
FFVII’s
main antagonist would be joining the fight.
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THE INITIATIVE’S
PERFECT DARK
TEASED
When Xbox unveiled The Initiative as the world’s first
“AAAA studio”
it turned some heads. Xbox has been beefing up their first party line up in the past couple of years and the first fruits of that labor are finally here.
The Initiative teased their first game, a reboot of
Perfect Dark
at the event. All that was shown off was a trailer setting up the tone the team is going for with their new game, but there are a few tidbits fans can take from it. Developers used the phrase
“Eco Sci-fi”
to describe their take on
Perfect Dark
(originally a Rare franchise on the N64) and that was the perfect descriptor to use. The trailer showed off a mix of plant life and nature with drones and robotics.
The trailer highlights various shots of overgrowth and technology with the closing shot panning up and revealing the iconic series hero Agent Joanna Dark.
ADVERTISEMENT
DRAGON AGE
TRAILER DEBUTED
Yes it is finally happening!
The next installment in the
Dragon Age
series was officially revealed at The Game Awards
. While fans have gotten teases from BioWare over the past couple of years,
including concept art just this week
, we now have concrete details. The trailer focuses on a
“new hero”
and looks to possibly be of a reboot for the franchise as it is simply titled
Dragon Age
.
The full trailer can be seen below:
VIN DIESEL IS IN A VIDEO GAME?
Yes, Vin Diesel is in a video game and, no, it has nothing to do with the
Fast and Furious
franchise.
Vin is actually staring in
Ark 2,
the sequel to hit survival game
Ark: Survival Evolved
from Studio Wildcard
.
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At first, it was a little confusing to figure what exactly this game was based on the footage shown, with prehistoric humans taking on a T-Rex then hiding away in a futuristic cave. But once the Ark logo appeared, it all made sense.
EDDIE VEDDER PERFORMS
THE LAST OF US PART 2
TRIBUTE
Probably the biggest tearjerker of the night was Pearl Jam front-man Eddie Vedder performing “Future Days”
as a tribute to
The Last of Us Part 2
. In a word, it was beautiful. The Pearl Jam tune serves as the emotional backbone of
TLOU2
and hearing it performed live was chilling.
Keen eyed gamers may have noticed a change in performance strategy over the past couple of years at The Game Awards, and this was a perfect example. Gone seem to be the days of
Green Day
getting on stage with the
Schick Hydro Man
and just playing their music. In their place have come performances of actual in-game music or gaming adjacent performances, something fans have been enthusiastic about since they started happening on The Game Awards stage.
ADVERTISEMENT
MORE
MASS EFFECT
TEASED
Yes, BioWare doubled up on announcements at this year’s show, but there is nothing wrong with that all.
The Canadian RPG masters debuted a tease of the next entry in the
Mass Effect
series
and it was glorious.
Based upon the trailer, this next project looks to be a straight continuation of the original trilogy, revealing a piece of Commander Shepard’s iconic N7 armor to end the trailer. Not much else is known about the game; however with the
Mass Effect
trilogy remaster coming early next year, EA is doing their best to prove to fans
Mass Effect
is not dead.
THE LAST OF US PART 2
WINS GAME OF THE YEAR
The big award of the night went to Naughty Dog’s
The Last of Us Part 2
, beating such hits as
Final Fantasy VII Remake
,
Hades
, and
Ghost of Tsushima
. While it was exciting to see
TLOU2
get the final award, it was not hard to predict it would happen after the game was awarded a few times earlier in the evening.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Last of Us Part 2
team was featured multiple times on the stream after winning numerous awards throughout the night like Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Audio Design. So after a few wins, it became clear that
Neil Druckmann
of Naughty Dog would be getting put on screen for the big award of the evening.
The Last of Us Part 2
And that is it! Another Game Awards in the books. In a year that has been headlined by a global pandemic and being separated from one another, Geoff Keighley and team provided something that brought gamers together. Something that the world could use much more of right about now.
Well another
Game Awards
has come and gone. There are few dates on the calendar that get gamers as pumped as the yearly awards show. The
Geoff Keighley
headed and hosted event was going into its sixth year with the 2020 show, and has become a showcase that combines the trophies of the Oscars with the unbridled excitement of E3.
With COVID-19, viewers knew they were going to be getting a bit of a different product than in years past. Gone were the screaming crowds, the on-stage handshakes and the backdrop of the Microsoft Theater. In their place was a digital event, featuring virtual acceptance speeches and even a few holograms.
ADVERTISEMENT
In case you missed it, or you just wanted to relive the fanfare, here are the seven best moments from the 2020 Game Awards.
SEPHIROTH IN
SMASH
Can’t say anyone saw this one coming. With one of the first announcements of the main show, Nintendo unveiled that
Final Fantasy VII’s
Sephiroth would be coming to
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
and that the One Winged Angel would be available to download later this month.
After it was teased that
Smash
would be at The Game Awards just hours before the show started, speculation went wild. Sora, Jonesy, and Master Chief were all names thrown out, but nobody could have predicted
FFVII’s
main antagonist would be joining the fight.
THE INITIATIVE’S
PERFECT DARK
TEASED
When Xbox unveiled The Initiative as the world’s first
“AAAA studio”
it turned some heads. Xbox has been beefing up their first party line up in the past couple of years and the first fruits of that labor are finally here.
The Initiative teased their first game, a reboot of
Perfect Dark
at the event. All that was shown off was a trailer setting up the tone the team is going for with their new game, but there are a few tidbits fans can take from it. Developers used the phrase
“Eco Sci-fi”
to describe their take on
Perfect Dark
(originally a Rare franchise on the N64) and that was the perfect descriptor to use. The trailer showed off a mix of plant life and nature with drones and robotics.
The trailer highlights various shots of overgrowth and technology with the closing shot panning up and revealing the iconic series hero Agent Joanna Dark.
DRAGON AGE
TRAILER DEBUTED
Yes it is finally happening!
The next installment in the
Dragon Age
series was officially revealed at The Game Awards
. While fans have gotten teases from BioWare over the past couple of years,
including concept art just this week
, we now have concrete details. The trailer focuses on a
“new hero”
and looks to possibly be of a reboot for the franchise as it is simply titled
Dragon Age
.
The full trailer can be seen below:
VIN DIESEL IS IN A VIDEO GAME?
Yes, Vin Diesel is in a video game and, no, it has nothing to do with the
Fast and Furious
franchise.
Vin is actually staring in
Ark 2,
the sequel to hit survival game
Ark: Survival Evolved
from Studio Wildcard
.
At first, it was a little confusing to figure what exactly this game was based on the footage shown, with prehistoric humans taking on a T-Rex then hiding away in a futuristic cave. But once the Ark logo appeared, it all made sense.
EDDIE VEDDER PERFORMS
THE LAST OF US PART 2
TRIBUTE
Probably the biggest tearjerker of the night was Pearl Jam front-man Eddie Vedder performing “Future Days”
as a tribute to
The Last of Us Part 2
. In a word, it was beautiful. The Pearl Jam tune serves as the emotional backbone of
TLOU2
and hearing it performed live was chilling.
Keen eyed gamers may have noticed a change in performance strategy over the past couple of years at The Game Awards, and this was a perfect example. Gone seem to be the days of
Green Day
getting on stage with the
Schick Hydro Man
and just playing their music. In their place have come performances of actual in-game music or gaming adjacent performances, something fans have been enthusiastic about since they started happening on The Game Awards stage.
MORE
MASS EFFECT
TEASED
Yes, BioWare doubled up on announcements at this year’s show, but there is nothing wrong with that all.
The Canadian RPG masters debuted a tease of the next entry in the
Mass Effect
series
and it was glorious.
Based upon the trailer, this next project looks to be a straight continuation of the original trilogy, revealing a piece of Commander Shepard’s iconic N7 armor to end the trailer. Not much else is known about the game; however with the
Mass Effect
trilogy remaster coming early next year, EA is doing their best to prove to fans
Mass Effect
is not dead.
THE LAST OF US PART 2
WINS GAME OF THE YEAR
The big award of the night went to Naughty Dog’s
The Last of Us Part 2
, beating such hits as
Final Fantasy VII Remake
,
Hades
, and
Ghost of Tsushima
. While it was exciting to see
TLOU2
get the final award, it was not hard to predict it would happen after the game was awarded a few times earlier in the evening.
The Last of Us Part 2
team was featured multiple times on the stream after winning numerous awards throughout the night like Best Game Direction, Best Narrative, and Best Audio Design. So after a few wins, it became clear that
Neil Druckmann
of Naughty Dog would be getting put on screen for the big award of the evening.
And that is it! Another Game Awards in the books. In a year that has been headlined by a global pandemic and being separated from one another, Geoff Keighley and team provided something that brought gamers together. Something that the world could use much more of right about now.
