One of 2010’s finest games won’t be making an appearance at the other, less-sleazy gaming awards.
Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption was a fantastic game, and easily one of the year’s best – without giving too much away, it’s certainly a sure lock for The Escapist‘s shortlist for our “Game of the Year” award. Saturday night, it took GotY at the otherwise cringe-inducing Spike VGAs, yet for some reason RDR won’t be in the running for a more prestigious award.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has been presenting videogames’ finest – and their creators with awards for a few years now. Whether you agree with the BAFTA picks or not, it’s a significantly classier venue than the VGAs, and yet CVG learned that Red Dead Redemption was not one of the nominees for any of the most prestigious awards, like Best Game, Artistic Achievement, Gameplay and Story.
A BAFTA spokesperson said that while RDR had certainly been eligible, publisher Rockstar had “decided not to put the game forward for consideration.”
Huh? There’s something about this that just doesn’t make any sense. Why would you accept an award from the VGAs but not even put yourself into the running at a significantly more prestigious event? Did someone at Rockstar just forget to file the paperwork or something?
One reason we can think of here at The Escapist HQ is that for whatever reason, being nominated for a BAFTA might disqualify you from something else – but what? Another potential consideration would be that most awards shows – including the BAFTAs – require a content creator to pay to be considered, whereas media outlets like Spike do not. That said, Rockstar hardly seems like it’s strapped for cash these days, especially given that we’ve seen BAFTA awards spark sales booms in the UK before. Besides, the entry fee is a mere £335, or ~$529. That’s less than it cost to buy an original PS3 at launch!
Otherwise, Rockstar’s failure to nominate one of the year’s finest games for a high-profile award makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Maybe I’m missing something.
(CVG)
Published: Dec 14, 2010 06:13 pm