The Biggest Surprises From The Game Awards Nominees And More Of The Week's Top Takes

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This week, perhaps nothing sparked more discussion than the announcement of the 2024 Game Awards nominees. We weighed in ourselves with a breakdown of the seven biggest surprises in what got nominated, and what didn’t. Also this week, both Sony and Microsoft announced new forays into game streaming, and we took a look at what these streaming wars could mean for the near future of the industry. We’ve also got impressions of both Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D and STALKER 2, should you be considering leaping into either of those adventures. Read on for all this and more.

Game Awards host Geoff Keighley revealed the 2024 nominees across dozens of categories on Monday. It included something for everyone, unless you’re a fan of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, which is quickly becoming this year’s Starfield. - Ethan Gach Read More

Solas looks at something off-screen with cuts and blood on his face.

In case you missed it, the nominees for the 10th annual Game Awards, set to air on December 12, have been announced. Some frontrunners were predictably nominated in multiple categories, such as Astro Bot and Metaphor: ReFantazio, which scored seven and six nominations, respectively. But there were some pleasant surprises, too, like indie darling Balatro also being nominated for the show’s top award. But after all these years, the timing of the award show confounds me, especially as I see it unintentionally sabotage games that are eligible for nomination, but release too close to the cut-off date to get a proper shot at consideration. Yes, I’m talking about BioWare’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

Dragon Quest 3 fighters sit down by a camp fire.

I was worried that Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake might feel like an uninspired and overpriced cash-in on 1990s RPG nostalgia. Instead, it’s the latest in a string of excellent Square Enix tributes to past classics. Like 2022's Tactics Ogre: Reborn and 2023's Star Ocean: The Second Story R, it strikes a great balance between faithful port and modern refresh that makes Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake feel distinctly new without abandoning the virtues of the 1988 game it’s based on. - Ethan Gach Read More

Rook looks at something off-screen with Lucanis behind him.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard had a lot to live up to. Its predecessor, Dragon Age: Inquisition, launched in 2014 and left the series on a devastating cliffhanger, a cliffhanger that went unresolved as developer BioWare went through 10 years of development hell and internal reboots, before ultimately making its way to a divisive game that resembles the legendary releases of the studio’s golden era. But as much as The Veilguard can be defined by its similarities to games of the past, so, too, is it notable for its differences. More than probably any sequel BioWare has put out in nearly 20 years, The Veilguard makes a calculated attempt at a clean break from previous games in its series in terms of choice and consequence. It lets you recreate one of your old heroes, but only import three choices, significantly fewer than previous games. Inquisition in particular dwarfed this, using a companion app to let you painstakingly create a world state shaped by hundreds of previous choices. - Kenneth Shepard Read More

Image: Xbox / PlayStation / Kotaku / Peter Dazeley (Getty Images)

The ability to stream video games via the cloud might not be something you, a person reading Kotaku, personally enjoys or uses very much. But the reality is that streaming video games on your phone, console, or PC is becoming more and more popular, and that’s led to Xbox and Sony (and other companies) investing more into the tech. - Zack Zwiezen Read More

It was nighttime and I was creeping through grass of S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2's digital recreation of the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. I needed to meet up with someone, but getting anywhere in the “Zone”— the eerie, desolate, but oddly beautiful irradiated setting of the game—is dangerous. To make sure I was going the right way I pulled out my map and plotted out my next path. And then a large feral pig slammed into me out of nowhere and nearly killed me. I got up, fired a few rounds at the hog and healed, right before another pig barreled me over. - Zack Zwiezen Read More