Marvel's Spider-Man 2 may be Push Square's 2023 Game of the Year (as well as our community's number one, too), but it failed to scoop up any trophies during last month's Game Awards. However, Geoff Keighley's glitzy show isn't the only awards ceremony. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences hosts the DICE Awards early each year, celebrating the best and brightest from the previous 12 months. Nominees for this more industry-leaning ceremony have been announced, and Insomniac's sequel is included in the most categories of any game.
It's up for nine awards, including Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Art Direction, and Music Composition, as well as Game of the Year. Alan Wake 2 is hot on its heels with eight nominations, and Baldur's Gate 3 has seven. Other titles up for multiple categories include Cocoon, Hi-Fi Rush, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
The awards ceremony itself will take place on 15th February. Here's the full rundown of nominees:
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
- Alan Wake 2
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- Starfield
Outstanding Achievement in Character
- Alan Wake 2 - Saga Anderson
- Baldur’s Gate 3 - Astarion
- Baldur’s Gate 3 - Karlach
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 - Miles Morales
- Thirsty Suitors - Jala
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
- Alan Wake 2
- Diablo IV
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Planet of Lana
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Outstanding Achievement in Audio Design
- Alan Wake 2
- Cocoon
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Outstanding Achievement in Story
- Alan Wake 2
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Dave the Diver
- Thirsty Suitors
- Venba
Outstanding Technical Achievement
- Alan Wake 2
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Hogwarts Legacy
- The Finals
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Action Game of the Year
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Dead Space
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Remnant II
Adventure Game of the Year
- Alan Wake 2
- Cocoon
- Dave the Diver
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Family Game of the Year
- Disney Illusion Island
- Fae Farm
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Midnight Girl
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Fighting Game of the Year
- Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2
- Pocket Bravery
- Street Fighter 6
Racing Game of the Year
- F-Zero 99
- Forza Motorsport
- Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 - Turbocharged
- LEGO 2K Drive
Role-Playing Game of the Year
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty
- Diablo IV
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Starfield
Sports Game of the Year
- EA Sports FC 24
- MLB The Show™ 23
- WWE 2K23
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
- Against the Storm
- Cobalt Core
- Dune: Spice Wars
- The Last Spell
- Wartales
Immersive Reality Technical Achievement
- Asgard’s Wrath 2
- Assassin's Creed Nexus VR
- Horizon: Call of the Mountain
- Vertigo 2
- We Are One
Immersive Reality Game of the Year
- Asgard’s Wrath 2
- Assassin's Creed Nexus VR
- Horizon: Call of the Mountain
- Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice
- Vertigo 2
Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game
- Cocoon
- Dredge
- El Paso, Elsewhere
- Thirsty Suitors
- Venba
Mobile Game of the Year
- Gubbins
- Hello Kitty Island Adventure
- Honkai: Star Rail
- Terra Nil
- What the Car?
Online Game of the Year
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
- Diablo IV
- Omega Strikers
- Street Fighter 6
- The Finals
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cocoon
- Dave the Diver
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cocoon
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Game of the Year
- Alan Wake 2
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Cocoon
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
What do you think of all the nominees in the 2024 DICE Awards? Discuss in the comments section below.
[source interactive.org, via ign.com]
Comments 43
Dice? Is that an EA award show? Why are they sucking up to Sony?
Final Fantasy XVI not being nominated for best OST is insane.
That's what happens when you have professionals do the nominations and voting instead of "influencers," gaming websites, and fans/trolls.
@Triumph741
Totally unrelated. DICE Studio is different than the D.I.C.E. Awards.
@caiol92 Agree!!!
@Triumph741 this D.I.C.E is part of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Science.
Completely separate to EA's DICE (Digital Illusions)
Tsk… does Push Shill own the DICE Awards now too?!?! /sarcasm
I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll happily say it again, Final Fantasy XVI was easily my game of the year. I put 300 hours into Tears of the Kingdom over the summer, but then I played FF16, which beats it in pretty much every respect.
N.i.c.e. 🕷 spiderman 2 is a instant classic.word up son
The Family Game category is trash. No Pikmin 4? Heathens! A Hello Kitty game instead? Blaspheme our holy industry some more, why don’t you?
Also, as always, I’m rooting for Alan Wake 2 for everything.
It's almost as if Spider-Man 2 was actually a great game.
Really hoping that BG3 sweeps the board. I have nothing against Spiderman 2, but there really is no comparison. Spiderman 2 is basically more of the same with one way to complete the game. That's not to say it isn't a great game, but it really didn't evolve at all from its predecessor, and once you've gone through it for the first time, there really is no great need to do so again. However, BG3 is a masterpiece. Plain and simple. Massive replayability, a technical marvel; the way it changes all the way through dependant on your choices is simply astounding. You would really struggle to replicate a playthrough even once!
I also thought Alan Wake 2 to be a better game than Spiderman 2, but maybe that was just me...
Wait, so it wasn't just Pushsquare that thought this game was game of the year worthy. Would be nice to see Zelda or Spiderman 2 take home the main award.
@somnambulance Fully agree about Pikmin 4, not even nominated for the best strategy game yet looking at the nominees Pikmin is miles ahead of any of them.
@AdamNovice Almost is the important part
@UltimateOtaku91 It wouldn't be deserved though
@Triumph741 Not everyone likes BG3 lol Spiderman 2 and Zelda don't have 90+ metacritic scores and millions of sales for no reason. Who ever wins will have those that say it deserved it or didn't deserve it.
@AdamNovice Both Critcic and User ratings/reviews say it's a great game, but obviously the usual haters have to disagree.
@UltimateOtaku91 You should have stopped at 'Spiderman 2 don't have 90+ metacritic score'. It's only 90. BG3 is GOAT.
@Triumph741 "BG3 is GOAT."
The 16 games higher than it on metacritic say otherwise.
@TheCollector316 And who are these "professionals"? The ones that get early review copies and advertise new releases on their website for money? While I agree the public and influencers can be untrustworthy, these "professionals" are often shills lobbying for the industry.
@UltimateOtaku91 There are only 14 games with higher rating actually
I hope Tears of the Kingdom wins Outstanding Technical Achievement.
I know people here probably think that's a ridiculous notion, but when you consider what that game allows you to do and the hardware that it's running on, it's a pretty amazing feat of engineering - especially when games running on considerably more powerful hardware don't have the same level of interactivity and creativity.
Plus, when you consider the size of the world that has no load screens (except for fast travel and going into Shrines), it makes you scratch your head as to why Starfield makes you load into just about every place you go!
Best Audio Design should go to Hi-Fi Rush since the Audio Design IS the game design as well.
Not exactly sure how Starfield ended up in a Best Art Direction category. I guess the more grounded "NASA-punk" aesthetic is different than the typical space-faring game that leans more into "futuristic" design. Even still, it seems very out of place in that category - honestly, I would replace Starfield with any first-party Nintendo release from 2023.
Congrats to Spider-Man 2 for all the nominations (just being nominated is still a pretty high honor), I just think there are more suitable winners for the categories - except for Action Game of the Year where I think it has a real chance of winning.
Given that Final Fantasy XVI is nowhere to be found in the category below, I seriously question these awards objectivity.... I can't remember a single tune from Spider-man 2 (except maybe a bass beat), then I can have several from FF......
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Alan Wake 2
Diablo IV
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Planet of Lana
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
@Pat_trick
In this case, the professionals are game developers who had to release at least two games. Not journalists, not "influencers," and not fans. The people nominating and voting are the same folks who know how it's done and can respect the amount of work it takes to create a city like in Spider-Man 2 or crazy branching storylines like in Balder's Gate 3.
Spider-Man 2 really doesn't deserve all those nominations IMO.
Nice to see that there have been no real driving games nominated.
Considering the different constituents of these polls, I think the nominees look very fair.
Hopefully BG3 gets the nod for whichever category reflects the systems design that's going on under the hood to implement all the DnD rules. I'm reminded of the anecdote from an interview with Sven where he said that at one point in development no-one had thought to test whether gaseous form allowed a character to pass through a hole that was only big enough for tiny creatures (e.g. a druid wild-shaped into a cat, or a cat summon, or a small creature that has been shrunk by a spell). It should be possible, but no one had specifically coded "gaseous form can pass through all holes". So they loaded up a relevant area, cast gaseous form on a character, and sure enough, they were able to pass through. It's all these little and creative interactions between the rules that make BG3 so special, in my view. The community continues to find new ones all the time, even months on from release.
The category „Outstanding Achievement in Game Design“ seems to be the real GotY category.
C'mon Hogwarts Legacy! Lets give that game some love!
Some people just can't handle it when a game they don't like gets a higher amount of nominees than the ones they want.
@TheCollector316 so the games are nominated by people in the industry who understand the efforts it takes to make said games?
@CharlieChooChoo
Yes, exactly. That's why the DICE Awards (and the BAFTA Game Awards) are so prestigious. They don't devolve into popularity contests and the people doing the nominating/voting are credible.
@UltimateOtaku91 It’s utterly baffling how such a solid game was fully ignored. I mean, yeah, 2023 was a year for the ages, and, yeah, Pikmin is always ignored, despite being perhaps, pound for pound, (might be a controversial opinion) the most solid IP Nintendo has, but I feel like Pikmin 4 deserved better. It was critically well-received and was one of the better selling entries in the series. I feel like people just sort of left the game behind because of Baldur’s Gate, Starfield, Spider-Man, etc all dropping at once and there was more critical pressure to play them, even though I’d place Pikmin 4 above any of them. There’s not much that tops a Pikmin game for me. Just Alan Wake and maybe Mario for those fall releases last year.
@somnambulance Is Pikmin a family game or is it just colorful and cute? I love it but it seems like it would be a terrible game for kids. It’s complicated and the Pikmin frequently die while screaming for their lives.
@TheCollector316 I like it
Alan Wake 2 will win more than Spidey, outstanding game
It’s surprising to me that these nominations seem to favor commercial success much more so than other major awards.
@RBRTMNZ My six year old son loves it. My wife and my favorite co-op gaming experience to date is probably playing Pikmin 3 together. It’s a family game in my house, but that’s a personal choice. Lol.
Got "Spider-Man 2" for Christmas and finished it yesterday. It was fine but Insomniac are treading water in my opinion. I came away from it pretty disappointed, honestly.
I really enjoyed FF16 soundtrack. Not sure how I’d rank it against the older games as those are classics. But I played Diablo 4, Jedi Survivor and Spiderman 2. I think FFXVI’s music was far better and memorable than anything in those 3.
@somnambulance I can’t argue with that but it does feel like Nintendo games that are not family friendly always get nominated for best family game and as someone who loves couch coop I wish it was treated more thoughtfully.
Maybe this time it wins something.
Tap here to load 43 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...