Academy Award nominees announced
The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for this years Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the 11th since its inception.
Among the big names across the awards are top titles from the last year, such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect, not to mention the obvious titles such as Halo 3 and The Orange Box.
That however, is unimportant to us here at Curse. Why would we bother ourselves with offline and limited multiplayer games when we have the world of MMO gaming at our fingertips? Ok... I admit I do play some of those sorts of games.
Up for the Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year Award are:
Eve Online: Trinity - Eve has been the focus of much attention, especially in the later half of 2007 due to the massive engine overhaul that CCP saw through. Praised as one of the most innovative MMO titles to date, Eve Online is a classic that will be remembered for manyyears to come. Already being blessed with multiple accolades, will Eve bag another one or will it lose out to some of the more popular MMOs?
Guild Wars: Eye of the North - When ArenaNet released Eye of the North, it was the first true expansion pack for the game to date. Guild Wars has seen rivallries with many games such as World of Warcraft and, recently, Fury but has always managed to hold its own, holding its 3,000,000+ player base despite heavy competition. With Guild Wars 2 confirmed, will Eye of the North be able to grab one more award for the PvP junkies at ArenaNet?
Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa - Tabula Rasa is another innovative and exceptionally brilliant title to come out of MMO God, Richard Garriot, a man famous for his input into the MMO world. With a lore rich world and a sci-fi take, Tabula Rasa promised to be one of the better titles of 2007 and this is obviously reflected in its nomination. Will it shoot its way to the top spot this year?
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar - Ever since LotRo come out, it has been generating buzz. Already the recipient of some of the highest accolades an MMO can recieve, LotRo is certainly turning into a run away hit and with Turbine announcing that it will hit Asian markets and be the first MMO to upgrade to a Direct X 10 engine, this title is certainly setting standards for others to meet.
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - When Blizzard Entertainment released the first expansion for World of Warcraft, no body quite knew how it was going to do. It broke multiple records, selling 2.4 million copies in 24 hours and dominating PC sales charts for months. In some countries, it is still seeing wide success and this has bolstered World of Warcraft, taking the player base to over 9,000,000. With Wrath of the Lich King due out at some point in the next 12 months, will TBC take home another award for Blizzard or will we have to wait for the next expansion to see fireworks and frenzy over this massive game?
Along with those nominations for MMO of the year, Blizzard Entertainment has managed to secure a nomination for the esteemed Computer Game of the Year award, and is the only MMO in the list, up against titles such as BioShock, Crysis, The Orange Box and CoD4.
Fingers crossed for all the nominees!
