Note: If you haven't played Bioshock, don't read this comment.

@JustThisGuy: Saying that someone has bad taste is not an insult. Saying they're a dick, now, that's an insult. I believe this warrants a callback: is your life so tied into your personal identity as a literary connoisseur that you feel compelled to call anyone who denounces your literary tastes a dick? Perhaps my critique of your comment ruffled some feathers.

Bioshock and Mass Effect were at the very least decently written. You're alternating between saying the games are not worthy of an award for writing (a defensible point) and implying that their writing is just crap. It's the latter that I object so strongly to.

Ryan certainly was not a two-dimensional character. I really don't see how you can say that, in light of how he reacts to you once you reach him and how the people in the audiotapes paint such different pictures of him. Some members of the cast, such as Tannenbaum, were pretty flat, but I have to strongly disagree with your claim that Ryan himself lacks dimensionality.

To be honest, it sounds like you're just bitter that they re-used the twist from System Shock 2 and you are subsequently throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I can see how having been tricked by that twist once already would weaken the story of Bioshock quite a bit, but being betrayed by a trusted ally is a pretty standard plot device. It's not like they duplicated it lock, stock, and barrel either; the mind control element is a pretty significant additional layer.

That layer was actually my favorite part of the plot. My mind was blown by how it reflected the very issue of linearity in videogames. Up until I met Ryan, I felt frustrated that I couldn't just go anywhere in the city that I wished, and that I couldn't forge my own path through the game. When it was revealed that I was effectively an obedient zombie, it was like all those you-must-do-this-to-proceed funnels in the plots of all other games were smashed to pieces. It was liberating. The subsequent chapters of the game were rather disappointing, though, since they failed to capitalize on the player's newfound freedom and you became Tennenbaum's thug, but I think that was mitigated somewhat by Fontaine directly pointing it out to the player.

All in all, I think that Bioshock has at least a decent overall story to tell, but the telling of the story is where its excellence lies.

Toasticus

I've always thought that Mass Effect and Bioshock were over-hyped.

I mean, Mass Effect is riddled with game design flaws and incredibly tedious/boring parts. The inventory system needs some serious work, the lame "blue = paragon and red = rebel" conversation system, too much time spent in that darned AT vehicle, the overly repetitive security mini-games, and the AI partners tendency to be as unhelpful as possible in combat unless you order them to do everything exactly. To Mass Effect's credit, however, it does feature an incredibly deep and well thought out universe and a fairly interesting story. Still a good game, just not as perfect as many claim it to be.

Bioshock has virtually no replay value (despite the 2 endings, the game itself hardly changes at all), the liquid-tube security mini-game gets old real fast, and even on the hardest setting the game is mostly a breeze, especially when you've acquired almost all the plasmids. Bioshock's story is still pretty well thought out and, like Mass Effect, has a thoroughly deep and well constructed "universe" or in this case the undersea city of Rapture. Actually, come to think of it, Bioshock and Mass Effect are pretty similar in their bad and good points.

Alright, rant aside and to tie back into the main article: Besides Mass Effect and Bioshock (yes, I still think they belong up there despite the rant), I think that Portal really should have been up there. Although fairly simplistic as far as story is concerned, the dialog throughout the game is pure genius.

chillblain

@JustThisGuy: i also played system shock 2 and came away from bioshock with similar sentaments. i've also been exposed to a lot of dsytopian media so bioshocks take on crime, free will, and free markets et al was closer to derivative than intellegent.

tetracycloide

I wonder if the voters just get copies of the dialogue or if they have to actually play through the game. Seeing the Simpsons game up there tells me that they only have to read the script. Which explains a lot of the other choices.

Rohstafari

@Toasticus: i'm willing to concede that bioshock had decent voice acting and well constructed settings. the actual writting, as in the actual parts of the story that are written, was far from award winning or inovative.

tetracycloide

You know, as long as I'm on a tangentially related subject...

Jesus, did Bioshock piss me off. As soon as I learned that Atlas was going to be my guide, I immediately thought, "shit, motherfucker's going to pull a Shodan on me." And he did. I don't think I'd be as pissed if these people weren't responsible for System Shock 2. I mean, that twist was unexpected back in '99; but really now, the dev team couldn't have come up with a decent plot twist without cannibalizing their old works so blatantly? Dammit! If I wanted to play System Shock 2, I'd play System Shock 2. I was really hoping for something more from ex-LG alumni.

JustThisGuy

Do the writers have to be WGA members? That could be it...

markusdragon

@Toasticus:

Sigh. I should've seen this coming. This is why I don't like to comment on internet message boards.

It's all a matter of perspective, innit luv? While games are a very new form of media, writing is not. Good writing is good writing, and none of the games that anyone proposed are written well (except, perhaps, for the Witcher and the Simpsons). To put it another way: if any of these games were released strictly as written fiction, would they qualify for any significant literary award? I doubt it. The stories are good in comparison to the chaff that normally qualifies as narrative in most games, but the actual writing in and of itself is not very good at all.

I just recently finished Bioshock, and I was really disappointed. I was expecting a mind-warping experience in light of others' opinions; however, all I got was a gussied-up System Shock 2. The main plot twists are cliched and predictable, Fontaine, Ryan and Tannenbaum are two dimensional stock characters, and the spoken dialogue--both from the radio and the logs--is pretty standard Hollywood script fare. I feel the same way about Mass Effect.

Also: you're a dick. Do you regularly insult people who have opinions that differ from yours, or is your life so tied in to consumer products that you take offense whenever someone criticizes one of your sacred totems?

JustThisGuy

@ProjectEva: They stole the name from Stargate Atlantis anyway, pfff.

Irenicus-the one and only

These awards are a sham.

Everyone knows that Mass Effect should win this for the "By the goddess, that was incredible Shepard!" line alone!

No Portal either... Quite a surprise since it's writing was a huge success. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction with that game.

ProjectEva

@JustThisGuy: You think the writing for Bioshock and Mass Effect don't even qualify as "decent"? That's just absurd. I'm not surprised that your comment is so awkwardly overburdened with parenthetical phrases given your apparent lack of taste in writing.

Toasticus

@callahan09: yep, good director, and i agree, cod 4 story telling was very nice, felt like a big production behind it, hollywood style.

@theespacepope: The Witcher yes and also world in conflict, if you like the genres and play PC that is.

Irenicus-the one and only

@tetracycloide: I don't see how you can consider the writing in Bioshock to be anything other than excellent. I mean, how many games hook you with a voiceover so strongly as Bioshock does with Andrew Ryan's opening monologue? Bioshock's writing was superb not only for its intelligence (considering how it addressed issues like crime, regulation, bureaucracy, free markets, free will, et al.) but for its use of period style and narrative quality. I hope you're not just taking away points because of the generally lackluster final portion of the game.

Toasticus

I haven't played any of these games. Should I have?

theespacepope

no love for virtual orgasmic rape...

uzivatel

Portal by write-in vote.
They made a game where I was actually interested in the characters and their motivations, and though I would've stayed for the gameplay, I loved the dialog (monologue?)

fuchikoma

I believe that none of the games on the list--or the numerous suggestions made on this site--deserve an award for writing (with the possible exception of the Witcher, which I have not yet played). I can't think of any recently released game that actually had a decent narrative and dialogue, including Bioshock (which was essentially System Shock 2 placed in a different setting), Mass Effect (a decent space opera with dialogue just slightly better than Lucas's efforts), and any game in the Half Life series (seriously? Half Life? The games have great immersion and atmosphere, but piss-poor writing and plotting).

I still hold that game-related writing reached its peak with Planescape: Torment, and that the industry really hasn't seen any advance in narrative flow and structure since.

JustThisGuy

Weird that there's no Portal, Bioshock, or Mass Effect up there. I also completely loved the writing in Uncharted. I don't know how great the story was in Call of Duty 4, but the storyTELLING was among the best I've ever seen. Maybe that's more of a directorial thing, I dunno.

callahan09

No Portal?! I'm boycotting the WGA.

boxmyth

@zaky: haha good call. "Forsooth" for the win.

TearsandScreams

Simpsons FTW...seriously that game was funny as hell

Skitzoap

Mike, you really think Crash had a great story? I just finished that yesterday, and seriously, they used the same joke three times in a row. And that joke consisted only of the word "pancakes." I think that Madden commentary is better written.

marissa_melee

@sadkermit:

That made me laugh. Thank you.

Darth_Tigris

Portal, Half Life ep2, GOW2, and Bioshock should be up there

TheNocturnalSun

World in Conflict is definitely a great choice. I nearly weeped when Bannon accepted the you know what of a you know whatclear bomb

Tricon

dead head fred was really good and the story was good too. simpsons game was another good game for me.

resetbutton

@Barts_706: Good thing to note, I will look into his work if and when I got time :)

@THX5334: I fail to see how Rumble adds so much, either it is a 360 fanboy saying without it, it sux, I never cared owning both, or someone with a ps3 saying that rumble adds sooo much to it all of the sudden. But it is nice that they patched it I guess.

Irenicus-the one and only

Oh, and it also is available on US Amazon dot com :

[www.amazon.com]

On a side note, I have found hilarious rendition of Witcher :

[www.amazon.com]

Tought I'm gonna laugh my a$$ off.

Barts

First tome of Sapkowski's Witcher cycle in English :

[www.amazon.co.uk]

Barts

They should have included Andrzej Sapkowski on the list. His writing is what makes Witcher so good. The so-called "authors" just adapted it for the game (OK, credit for that), but the overall tone of the game, ideas, concepts, heroes - it's all Sapkowski's work.

Elves fighting for freedom, themes of racism using parallels with Jews, moral dilemmas that don't have any good solution (but only bad and even worse), mutated sterile professional monster-killers - these are all Sapkowski's ideas.

Go buy his books, folks, already published in France, Spain, Great Britain, Czech, Russia and available on Amazon.

Barts_706

I also think Heavenly Sword has some of the best writing I've ever seen in a game, and now that the rumble patch is out for it, it is a very underrated game if you have a dualshock 3

THX5334

But yeah, I'd have nominated Portal.

HighlanderWolf

To the defense Crash of the Titans - I haven't seen a game where the enemies talk so much smack to the player. Them little munchkin-type enemies must've had over a hundred lines of dialogue.

HighlanderWolf

I'd like to nominate 'Two Worlds' if this is the path we're going on.

zaky

@NitrousO: yeah i listened to the tapes and looked at the environments. the environments telling a story are not writting, that's environmental design, and it was extreamly well done. the tapes were great, maybe not as good as system shock 2, but still great. however, the tapes are only a portion of the writting in the game and taken as a whole package the writting in the game really wasn't that great.

tetracycloide

While the dialog in both Bioshock and Mass Effect is decent enough, it is not Triple-A stellar writing material. I'm not surprised that either game missed nomination.

Crash of the Titans surprises me, though. I played the demo and stopped after approx. 45 seconds. Was the dialog really good or something? Was it snappy/witty ala Crash 2 and 3?

langis-langley

@tetracycloide: Did you listen to the tapes as you went through it? Or look at the enviroment to determine what had happened. I loved Bioshock because you got to hear and see Andrew Ryan and all of Rapture's slow decline into madness. Maybe that was just the way I interpreted it?

NitrousO

The Witcher, yeah thats my choice anyway, out of these candidates. But there are many games missing from this list of nominees :(

The WGA, VMA, DICE, MTV, E3 all of it, I could not care less, almost every award in the gaming industry is BS to me. Maybe there are a few exceptions in the indie gaming scene.

Irenicus-the one and only

Mass Effect was written by Bioware, a Canadian company. As the WGA is only listing WGA-written games, there is no way a Canadian game would be listed.

rathus

@ARboom is now: mechakucha(XBL) and CaptainKillface(PSN): I dunno if Episode Twos writing was in the same league as Mass Effect and Bioshock. If it was, they would not have just decided to turn it into Starship Troopers at the ending.

NitrousO

bioshock is missing? what was so great about the writting in bioshock? i mean sure the character design, level design, and environment design were all top notch, but the writting? the game barely had a story to speak of and on top of that the story was static in a game supposidly focused on the impact of choices. i think bioshock just goes to show that a game can be fantastic and still have an overwhelmingly mediocre story (and no replay value).

tetracycloide

I have a strange feeling that those are something like the 5 out of 5 games that WGA had involvement in, and if not, WHERE THE HELL IS MASS EFFECT AND BIOSHOCK?!

NitrousO

So other than these awards, do video game writers get any benefit at all from WGA membership?

4dSwissCheese

Hello, anyone forget Hotel Dusk?

andy7985

Where's Portal? I mean, yeah, it was simple, but wonderful. And Mass Effect? Some of the best sci-fi in years to come out of any medium! BioShock...maybe. I mean, amazing narrative...until the very end. It falls apart there story-wise.

Just goes to show you: don't pay, don't win any awards. :/

Overdosed

The Witcher, huh? Kickass.

However, it's then killed by the Crash nonsense. Don't know what I should think about it.

WalletMan

Obligatory BioShock and Mass Effect nod.

Seriously, where are they?

vanderblade

I half expected to see Duke Nukem Forever at the end of that list. You'd think having access to all the writers in the world currently would net you someone able to WRITE a better list of nominations. (heh)

Klaymen

Wa Waa...

MasterOfPastures

Fuck the WGA. Members only? In other words, if you don't pay us, you don't have a chance of being recognized for excellence... even if what you wrote was excellent.

Crash of the Titans??? Uh... OK. Yeah. The writing on that was WAAAY better than Bioshock, Mass Effect, Portal, etc. Why not just nominate Madden.

dtroyt

@feegore: Bioshock didn't really have *that* much dialogue. Yes, it was well written and made the experience that much greater, but a game like The Witcher was INTENSELY dialogue-driven. (There was probably as much dialogue created for the first of The Witcher's five acts as there was for the entire game of Bioshock.)

So, it seems fair that Bioshock didn't get a nom.

Where is Mass Effect, though??? Haven't played it yet, but everyone tells me that it's main strength is the dialogue.

tslothrop

There's this game called BioShock.

kamra

@kingclip: NOOOOOO!

even for ten bucks it was the biggest waste of money EVAR

HigglyPiggly

mass effect. bioshock.

you suck. get your asses back in the writing room.

HigglyPiggly

I'm glad The Witcher is on here. The game really picks up pace and is pretty good once you get past the tutorial area.

brennan

Maybe I can explain some of the "No Bioshock, Mass Effect," et cetera to all of you. You're right. Absolutely right. Those games belong on this list. However...

Writers of source material were not eligible, and the credited writers must have been or applied to become members of the WGA's New Media Caucus

Like most media orgs, they don't want to consider non-members as 'real' practicioners of the profession, in the same way that the DGA doesn't consider unguilded directors 'real' directors.

Speaking as someone who writes game material in the industry, it's a total crock that they won't nod anyone not part of the New Media Caucus, but what says more about the quality of your writing?
WGA nominations & awards only given to WGA members?
Or awards given by people who are actually involved in your industry?

(Personally, I go with option 3: what the fans are saying on sites like Kotaku and what the gamers care about. I am the target market I write for, after all.)

Adarael

Crash of the Titans, really? I guess Bioshock and Mass Effect's writers weren't WGA members.

Stormrider900

@3BD: You beat me to it. Says on the link that only members of the WGA were considered. I would take these noms with a grain of salt.

MP-Geist

"Writers of source material were not eligible, and the credited writers must have been or applied to become members of the WGA's New Media Caucus."

That probably explains the lack of Mass Effect and Bioshock

Icharius

Looks like only games written by WGA members made the list...

3BD

I don't think any of these games do not belong on this list, but where are all the missing ones? Portal anybody?

And where the hell is Super Mario Galaxy!!!!!!!!

theamercndream

Nothing from Orange Box? C'mon... Portal should at least be nominated for the song!

Black-Dog-Howls

I'm making a note here:
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT

Double J

It's a good start... but I'd like to see some recognition for games not published last year from the WGA. There's plenty of American-written games that deserve recognition. Start with some of the older LucasArts stuff and work your way up from there.

Tonx

@kingclip:
Dead Head Fred is one of the most interesting/underrated games on PSP. I give you this one caveat, it is a love or hate type game. I happen to love it just don't blame me if you don't. ;)

-EDGE-

Yes...BioShock is really missing. But I can forgive them.

By the way, I'd pick The Simpsons Game. Simply cause it doesn't suck being a Simpsons game.

Candlejack

*GASP*

Well...where the hell is SMG? I mean the library scenes are by far the most heart warming and touching moments EVER in human history. That *sniff* little girl *sniff* and her quest for *sniff* mommy.....

I'm appalled. Okay - not really, or at all.

sadkermit

no Bioshock, HL2: Episode Two?! What the hell WGA? You're on strike, I'dve thought you'd have time to do nothing but play videogames, because obviously looking at this list you haven't.

ARboom is now: mechakucha(XBL) and CaptainKillface(PSN)

Only one word can explain my feelings after reading this;

wat

Icharius

I saw Dead Head Fred for pretty cheap used -- anyone recommend?

kingclip

Crash of the Titans...What the hell?

The Simpsons game?!

Ok that's just sickening.

Winterbringer

Huh, no BioShock or Mass Effect?

Jomo7

ummm, where's mass effect?

lqudsnake

Thirding the question of the missing BioShock.

Rebochan

@feegore: i was just gonna say that! man you gotta be quick around here!

Crawl_to_China

no bioshock?!

feegore

@JustThisGuy: I commented before seeing your reply. odd. I agree with you I was let down for the same reasons, while at the same time loving the fact it wasn't dumbed down as much as i feared. I still recognized it being head and shoulders above other games and think the sequel has a lot of room for growth now that this was proven. But then i liked Deus Ex 2 while not finding it as fun or engaging as 1.

Ehardergardens

@tetracycloide: I agree whole heartedly. The problem is that to produce a game that would appeal to you or I and hit all our particular nails and still have the polish and look of Bioshock is probably not possible, due to the costs now involved and therefore the risk. Nothing is wholly original; great creativity just hides its influences very well (a mangled quote itself.)
I applaud the pc game Penumbra: Overture for really neat writing within context; meaning it added something to a simple game and made me want to progress merely to find out more and to hear "red". By the time I actually finished portal (very slowly due to time and savoring) I was less than wowed by the humor, but I'm aware it was due to hype and my own expectations, and am glad again that such a game got recognized for those things.

Ehardergardens

@Ehardergardens: I wholeheartedly agree. Mostly. I did enjoy Bioshock, but I was expecting so much more. Fanboy disappointment, I suppose.

I think my biggest issue with the reveal was that it was just like the SS2 reveal. To me, it was a lot like picking up a new book from my favorite author, only to find out that he ran out of ideas and decided to rewrite the same goddamn novel.

I guess I felt ripped off. If it was any other dev team I might have appreciated it; but coming from guys who have done it before to great effect, it just seemed lazy.

JustThisGuy

@Ehardergardens: i'm not missing that, i'm pointing it out. mass market works don't take enough risks to be worthy of acclaim when they turn out favorably. they took something they knew was good and turned it into something they knew would sell. i'm ok with that as long as there are dozens of shills trying to tell me it's award winning writing.

i've also played deus ex 1 and 2 and would have blown off a deus ex 3 if a game like bioshock wasn't as successful as it was. i'm not expecting it to be as groundbreaking and award winning but i'm sure it will be worth playing.

tetracycloide

@Toasticus: Oh wait, wha? Oh, I see what you did there. Clever, clever, clever.

I'm not horribly worried what you think of my literary tastes since you don't know what I read (other than the fact that I hold Torment in high regard). Regardless, I'm pretty sure that launching an ad hominem attack on my writing and saying that I have bad taste--solely because we happen to have differing opinions--is an insult. But what do I know; it might be a great compliment in your wild and woolly Western culture.

Re, Ryan: the man's just John Galt all over again. Ryan follows the objectivist archetype to a T, wherein all his actions--including his suicide--are entirely predictable.

Re, Shodan twist: no, it was pretty much lifted wholesale. I'd probably think differently if I actually got to meet Atlas at some point, or if Fontaine himself made a physical presence beforehand (an impossibility, I know, since the game would then need an entirely different story that I might have actually enjoyed). The mind-control bit, revealed after the Big Reveal, just seemed kind of tacked on and reveals a lot of plot holes. Ex: why the hell didn't Tannenbaum tell me anything? She could apparently contact me over the radio the entire time.

Also: I'm not sure where you're seeing the disconnect. I said that I didn't think the writing in Bioshock was decent in my first post, and then I said that the writing in Bioshock isn't very good in my second (last sentence in the second paragraph). So yes, I believe the writing in Bioshock to be subpar at best, and undeserving of an award. Oh noes! Did I just rock your world? I'm terribly sorry.

Conclusion: you're still a dick. There's my high-falutin' college edumacated response.

JustThisGuy

@tetracycloide: @JustThisGuy: I've played system shock 2 and am fairly familiar with the political/social concepts it was based on.
What I think you are both missing is, while both of you are entitled to your views and I'm not debating whether you enjoyed the game or not, but for the majority of players they have neither played anything like system shock 2, nor are they aware of the concepts and constructs involved in the story or setting.
Nothing is really that new under the sun in writing, it's all recombining the various known parts and trying to lead a viewer/player/reader along a path to what might be new to them. Would the writing work well as a story outside of the game? No, of course not, it wasn't designed to. It has a slew of structural considerations/restraints due to it's medium and restricted by player expectations and game goals. I'm simply glad that System shock 2's gameplay's time has come, and that now that it's achieved mainstream success projects which like SS3 and a deeper Deus Ex 3 will possibly see the light of day.
Doing something that would impress either of you in the areas you are concerned with would seem to me to be so pedantic to the average player that investing a lot in those areas would be completely lost on most them and cause a great deal of work trying to bring them up to your speed. I forgave the game.
I'm a glass half full on this one guys, but I agree with you. I was surprised that the complexity of SS2 plot and game mechanics were not more simplified for the masses. And i don't expect an indepth poli-sci debate to be generated off of a game(i think this one did a fine job though)
Also the Atlas reveal was expected but they got this out of the way and gave you another reveal that was as interesting and while I suspected it, it was handled very well and made my hair stand up at it's dramatic execution, not at the surprise. Half Life has an incredibly dull and unoriginal story, but it's execution makes it engaging, I think Bioshock is the same way.
And though i disagree on this, I encourage you both to keep posting as I'm pretty pedantic myself, and enjoy the company :)

Ehardergardens

Are they fucking retarded? Even though I didn't like Bioshock at all (the gameplay), I loved the story from what I played of it and the worst is that Mass Effect isn't fucking on there and it DEFINITELY deserves to be, over anything else. COD4 also had some pretty good writing as well. That's why the awards are terrible. I mean c'mon, Crash of the Titans?

Samos42

Are the writers of Bioshock and Mass Effect just not in the guild or were these "awards" just auctioned off to support the writers strike.

I fully support the writers' strike, by the way, that's just the only way I can imagine this tripe winning.

Luziphir

No Portal, no Bioshock, no Mass Effect...no credibility.

KidU

Two thumbs waaaay up for The Witcher.

Very satisfying ending and there are several times during the plot where I had to stop and take time to consider my actions. Everything you do has a consequence, where I went down the path I thought was the honorable choice turned me into a monster because of the deeper underlying story at hand.

chiablo

Don't forget Sam and Max: Season 1

mcderek3000

@JustThisGuy: I'm not above admitting that I've made a mistake. It's clear now that I underestimated your intelligence. While your apparent penchant for juvenile name-calling is disappointing, I suppose it's understandable given my error of starting off the discussion on the wrong foot with a personal attack. I apologize for that.

If you're willing to move forward with less drama, I have a few more points to add to the discussion.

By the way, you may want to work on your taunts. I don't know whether "Did I just rock your world?" was meant to intimidate me or cause me to burst out laughing, but it definitely had the latter effect.

Toasticus

NO BIOSHOCK?! And no PORTAL?! Uguuu~ they so meeeeeeeeean.

tye-the-czar

@Toasticus: No harm, no foul, mate. I'm a pretty petty motherfucker, but I can be civil too.

Re, your world, rockin': as long as someone got a few laughs out of that.

So yeah, please continue; I'm not sure if I have anything else to add to the discourse, but I'd like to hear what you have to say.

JustThisGuy

uhhhh....WGA= Stupid

The real 5 best written games....

Bioshock
Portal
Uncharted
God of War 2
Mass Effect

End Thread.....

zeezee

The WGA awards work just like most entertainment industry awards like the Academy Awards and the Emmys. In order to be nominated, the property in question (in this case, the game story/script) has to be submitted to the organazition giving out the awards. The fact that many great games are not among the nominees is most likely due to the fact that they simply weren't submitted for consideration. This is the first year the award existed, so a lot of companies probably didn't even know about it--or didn't know about it in time to submit their scripts.

Also, the WGA doesn't have anything to do with the production of any of the games on the list. This year, the writers didn't even need to be WGA members (although they did have to join the New Media Conference at the time of the submission, which is not the same as being a full-fledged WGA member).

What everyone should be looking at is the fact that video games are actually being taken seriously enough to be included in awards outside the video game industry. This increases the standing and respect of video game developers, and shows that video games are finally being considered a form of entertainment that is as valid as film and television.

dellis

First off, honors are honors - congratulations to the nominees, you've been regonized for your work.

But don't lose sight of what's really going on. The WGA doesn't really want to honor game writers. They want to control writing in games. They'd better focus on that pesky little AMPTP contract before they come knocking on the door of game companies....

Fantaticalisto

Ah. So this is just American? Translations of Final Fantasy don't count then, hehe =P

XAnthonyX