Eidos and Indies Dominate Canadian Videogame Awards

FIFA Soccer 12 is the Canadian Videogame Awards 2012 Game of the Year.

Up here in Canada, we make a lot of videogames. And not just lumberjack simulators, either. Like all the best parts of Canadian culture, our videogame industry is rich, diverse and almost entirely under the control of foreign interests. Assassin’s Creed: Relevations? That was us. Dragon Age 2? Also us. Deus Ex: Human Revolution? Definitely us. Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure? Yup, even that. Totally us.

So once a year, everyone gets together to celebrate the best of the bunch at the creatively-named Canadian Videogame Awards, the most recent of which was held this past weekend in Vancouver under the hosting stewardship of David Hayter, better known as the voice of Solid Snake, and who was actually born in the U.S. Any game developed entirely or primarily in Canada is eligible for an award, with winners chosen by the CVA Advisory Committee and “a wide representation of industry experts,” except for the Game of the Year, which is chosen by the public.

And for some reason, the public chose EA Canada’s FIFA Soccer 12 as the Game of the Year, ahead of co-nominees Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Friday Night Champion and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. FIFA 12’s Impact Engine is a “technological masterpiece,” according to the CVA, that “creates never-before-seen levels of interaction and realism between characters.”

But the night’s big winners were Deus Ex and Sword & Sworcery, each of which took home five awards. Other winners included Margaritaville Online, Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012, Assassin’s Creed Revelations and of course NHL 12, which took home top honors as the Top-Selling Canadian Videogame. Among the noteworthy losers were Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Need For Speed: The Run, Dragon Age 2 and To the Moon.

Some of the categories are a bit hazily-defined, like “Best Technology,” and I suspect that the distinction between “Best Downloadable,” “Best Social/Casual” and “Best Indie” games is a little bit arbitrary. I’m also outraged that while the CVAs have a “Best Console Game” category, there’s nothing of the sort for PC games. But the great thing about this kind of industry awards thing is that it gives us something else to argue about on the internet, and so in the spirit of civil debate I invite you to check out the full list of nominees and winners at canadianvideogameawards.com.