The biggest night in gaming is upon us once again! The Game Awards 2024 are streaming today, Thursday, December 12th, 2024. The show starts streaming at 4:30pm Pacific (7:30pm Eastern) and can be viewed through various platforms including The Game Awards channels below.
And along with the annual show comes my tradition of predicting the winners. Skipping the Esports and Content Creator categories, because I do not follow any of those. After the predictions there will be a couple of hopeful announcement predictions as well.
Here are the Gamewrote predictions for The Game Awards 2024.
Most Anticipated Game
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Ghost of Yotei
Grand Theft Auto VI (Prediction)
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Monster Hunter Wilds
Best Adaptation
Arcane
Fallout (Prediction)
Knuckles
Like a Dragon: Yakuza
Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft
Best Multiplayer
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (Predication)
Helldivers 2
Super Mario Party Jamboree
Tekken 8
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Best Sports/Racing
F1 2024
EA Sports FC 25 (Prediction)
NBA 2K25
Top Spin 2K25
WWE 2K24
Best Sim/Strategy
Age of Mythology: Retold
Frostpunk 2
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Manor Lords (Prediction)
Unicorn Overlord
Best Family
Astro Bot (Prediction)
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Super Mario Party Jamboree
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
The Plucky Squire
Best Fighting
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising
Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
Multiversus
Tekken 8 (Prediction)
Best RPG
Dragon’s Dogma 2
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Metaphor: Refantazio (Prediction)
Best Action/Adventure
Astro Bot
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Silent Hill 2 (Prediction)
Star Wars Outlaws
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Best Action Game
Black Myth: Wukong
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Helldivers 2 (Prediction)
Stellar Blade
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Best VR/AR
Arizona Sunshine Remake
Asgard’s Wrath 2
Batman: Arkham Shadow (Prediction)
Metal: Hellsinger VR
Metro Awakening
Best Mobile Game
AFK Journey
Balatro (Prediction)
Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket
Wuthering Waves
Zenless Zone Zero
Best Debut Indie Game
Animal Well
Balatro (Prediction)
Manor Lords
Pacific Drive
The Plucky Squire
Best Independent Game
Animal Well
Balatro (Prediction)
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes
Neva
UFO 50
Best Community Support
Baldur’s Gate 3
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Helldivers 2
No Man’s Sky (Prediction)
Best Ongoing
Destiny 2
Diablo IV (Prediction)
Final Fantasy XIV
Fortnite
Helldivers 2
Best For Impact
Indika
Tales of Kenzera: Zau
Closer the Distance (Prediction)
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Neva
Innovation in Accessibility
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Diablo IV
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Star Wars Outlaws (Prediction)
Best Performance
Briana White, Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Hannah Telle, Life is Strange: Double Exposure
Humberly Gonzalez, Star Wars Outlaws
Luke Roberts, Silent Hill 2
Melina Juergens, Senuas’s Saga: Hellblade II (Prediction)
Best Audio Design
Astro Bot (Prediction)
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Silent Hill 2
Best Score and Music
Astro Bot
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth (Prediction)
Metaphor: Refantazio
Silent Hill 2
Stellar Blade
Best Art Direction
Astro Bot
Black Myth: Wukong
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (Prediction)
Metaphor: Refantazio
Neva
Best Narrative
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Metaphor: Refantazio (Prediction)
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Silent Hill 2
Best Game Direction
Astro Bot
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree (Prediction)
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Metaphor: Refantazio
Game of the Year
Astro Bot
Balatro
Black Myth: Wukong
Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
Metaphor: Refantazio (Prediction)
Now for a couple hopeful predictions on some announcements for this years show.
The most obvious one that everyone is likely hoping for would be anything Grand Theft Auto 6, this isn’t very likely, but who wouldn’t want to see more of the game. But Rockstar really doesn’t need to do anything to sell this game, it will be the biggest release of all time whenever it releases, especially as we get further into this console generation. There will be so many XBOX Series X/S and so many PS5s out there that this game will be massive.
More likely prediction would be the trailer for The Last of Us season 2, Geoff has a good relationship with Neil Druckmann it seems and this is the biggest event that they can likely tie the trailer to, there is not show running right now on HBO/Max that has a reliable audience like a Game of Thrones to tie a trailer to. The Game Awards seems like the best bang for their buck on impact releasing the long awaited trailer for season 2 of the hit show.
Along with the probable appearance of Neil Druckmann for The Last of Us season 2, there will hopefully also be the one more thing…The new IP from Naughty Dog. I would hope this comes as suggested at the end of the show, which would free up another big announcement earlier in the show. Another very, very longshot, the Uncharted whatever it is next from a non Naughty Dog Studio. I put this likelihood and virtually zero, but wishful thinking here.
From XBOX it would be great to see something Halo, but their rebranding wasn’t that long ago, so it doesn’t seem likely. However XBOX did have that incredible XBOX Games Showcase back in the summer, so perhaps a follow up on the new Gears title or Perfect Dark would land well here.
It would also be very likely we see whatever Kojima is working on with XBOX as well as a showing from Death Stranding 2, these would presumably come at different points of the show being that they are from competing brands obviously. But we know Geoff loves himself some Hideo Kojima, and there will likely be no shortage of his presence at this years show.
We know that we are getting Borderlands 4 at the show, I have been waiting for the series to feel right since the second game. Hopefully this new one will looks more fast paced, smooth, and show off the variations of the new/returning vault hunters. The original was a really unique look and feel and the sequel pushed it a bit further and had some great character classes, hope the new one is a true return to form.
And as always a few evergreen wishful thinking ideas, the return of Jet Motto or Motorstorm would be a welcome return. Or finally dusting off Syphon Filter for the modern era or more reasonable relaunching Resistance or any number of the long dormant IP from PlayStation. Or in the XBOX camp the long hoped return of Banjo-Kazooie or Conker’s Bad Fur Day, not as familiar with what IP they are sitting on, but be bold people.
But no matter what games win at this year’s show and what gets announced, we should all be happy we get this night every year. And we should all be thankful of the work Geoff Keighley does throughout the year to give the industry events like this and Summer Games Fest.
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Getting this out of the way first, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 from Insomniac Games is great, impressive, fun, gorgeous, a must play exclusive for the PlayStation 5. From my experience the most impressive thing was how naturally it pushes you through to near full game completion in pace with natural progression of the campaign. As the final mission warning hit, I decided to go with that classic RPG approach and level up a bit more before dealing with it. This felt like the natural progression as the game does an exceptional job of upping the ante as you approach the endgame, once you are doing battle with Venom’s faction of enemies everything feels more challenging, the game scales brilliantly. However once the campaign is done that is where the two biggest drawbacks of this otherwise great game set in.
There is almost no real reason to play the game once you beat the campaign, there is a really touching epilogue mission that takes place, and depending on your playthrough there are possibly some side missions to wrap up…but as mentioned with my playthrough I was nearly at a natural 100% by campaign end. After that is done all there is to experience is a cycle of repetitive crimes to stop over and over again by the various factions throughout the city. This lack of end game content isn’t unique to just Spider-Man 2, but an issue with open world games in general outside of Grand Theft Auto or Read Dead titles. And while this will be fixed to a degree when the eventual update adding New Game+, open world games need to figure out a better way to keep the world feeling alive and useful after the campaign ends.
The other glaring issue with the game for me was after the initial amazing boss fight with Sandman, which sets this massive scale and stage that really isn’t seen again throughout the remainder of the game. Boss fights after that for the rest of the campaign are a strange process of fighting them until their health depletes, then fighting them again until their health depletes, and then sometimes fighting them again…until their health depletes. This usually has a cutscene that pushes the story along through the fight, but it was frustrating in more than one scenario when you have to perform the same repetitive tactics to beat the boss only to do it over and over again. And while some of the boss fights have some cool set pieces or some neat features, they are mostly the same process, which is disappointing when compared to what that intro mission sets up.
However aside from those two big drawbacks, Spider-Man 2 is as initially stated an exceptional game, there is far more good and even great here than there is bad. Another massive highlight of the game are the suits, there is an abundance of suits for both Miles and Peter to unlock throughout the game. Thirty-four base model suits for each playable character and beyond the base models there are color variants unlockable as well thirty-one for Miles and eighteen for Peter. Each player will come across their own favorites during the game, again for myself unlocking the Forever Suit for Miles, honoring Black Panther, was a fantastic surprise and easily became my suit of choice when playing as him. Check out the video below from our IG to see the full sampling of base suits for Miles, and check out Peter’s suits on the profile.
Unlocking all those great suits comes from a mix of completing certain side missions within the game and from utilizing tech from various side quests in the game like in previous Spider-Man games from this series. Again coming very naturally as you progress through the game, complete the Prowler or Mysterio side quest missions and earn a suit themed in their likeness while other suits come from various version of Spider-Man from other properties such as the Spiderverse suits for Miles or the MCU suits for Peter. All of this is part of what makes the game flow and progress so well. The campaign sets things up great, switches you back and forth between Peter and Miles when needed for certain story elements as well as letting you swap on the fly throughout much of the campaign.
Another really cool element within the gameplay is when you are playing as either character and you go to stop a crime there is a chance you’ll stumble across your fellow Spider-Man in the fight, you can even get the classic Spider-Man meme pose after finishing off the objective. This is such a cool experience the first time it occurs and feels great even many times later, whether it’s Miles coming across Peter or vice versa. During the course of the game you’ll hit story lulls, but these are always used as opportunities to introduce new side missions or encourage some exploration of the city and again this all serves to pace the gameplay perfectly. And without spoiling any of the actual story of the campaign, it is great, keeps you engaged throughout and has some decent twists as well.
The final big standout for the game is the design elements of the game, again it looks great, is an absolute standout game for the PS5. But aside from just looking great it plays great too, the team at Insomniac Games do not disappoint. Controls are smooth and responsive, you get plenty of great power-ups over the duration of the story and much like the theme with everything here, it feels paced in such a natural way and builds towards what makes sense in the game. In addition to the gameplay designs some of the character designs as well are brilliant, Venom especially looks just perfect, the design of the Lizard work great, and as mentioned previously all the variety of the suits for both Peter and Miles just show the level of detail and care from the dev team.
Overall I highly recommend the game, obviously it would be best to play the original and the Miles Morales half sequel first but aren’t completely necessary. And despite a couple of gripes about the game, this is a great experience with fun gameplay, an incredible story, and again an exceptional pace. Much like many others I would welcome additional content in the form of DLC and will hope that we see an eventual Spider-Man 3.
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Sony Interactive Entertainment is set to reveal the PlayStation 5 this coming Thursday, June 11th 2020 at 1:00pm PDT (https://blog.playstation.com/2020/06/08/updated-time-this-thursday-see-the-future-of-gaming-on-ps5/). With this reveal event just one day away, there is no better time than now to put together a wishlist for it. What features do we hope to see in the PS5, what games are we expecting to be revealed as well, are there new or updated services expected, etc.
Features
Backwards Compatibility
Standards have been set already by Microsoft with their backwards compatibility both with the current and upcoming generations. While Sony has been strongly in the lead during this generation in terms of units moved and not needed to worry about this feature much, going into the next generation though this needs to be addressed.
“Forward Compatibility”
Again Microsoft has set the standard expectation for what this new generation should be, buy Madden 2021 on your XBOX One, get it on your XBOX Series X. Sony would certainly be wise to have the same plan in place as much as possible. Partner with third party developers and publishers and help lower the risk for players.
Reasonable Pricing
The PlayStation 3 was hopefully a lesson learned by Sony, $599 while not unreasonable, was a price-tag too high for many initially and optically was a rough start to that generation. Seemingly that lesson was learned and applied with the PlayStation 4 having released at the $399 price point. It would be perfectly reasonable for the PlayStation 5 to have an increased launch price, hopefully it can come in at $449 or less, but I feel as long as it stays under $500 it should be received in a positive way.
Console Exclusivity
We have certainly seen that exclusivity is on the decline, but making a splash here would be big. The most obvious one is who will get the Call Of Duty timed exclusivity for the coming console cycle. Microsoft had it for the 360 vs. PS3 era, Sony had it for the PS4 vs. XBOX One era.
Games
Horizon Zero Dawn sequel
This seems to be one of the most likely launch date/window for the PS5 in terms of first party games, or possible a Spiderman sequel. With the the original title having released back in February of 2017 this would seem like the first party title that has had the most time to be in the works.
Return of SOCOM
Not feeling very confident in this one, but would love to see Sony bring this beloved series back. The online squad based shooter genre is a whole lot stronger and more popular than ever, I believe the series would be welcomed back in a big way.
Spiderman sequel
Much like with Horizon Zero Dawn, Spiderman seems like the most sure fire series to get a followup title. Now there has been much less time in between release and now, with Spiderman coming out in September of 2018, but one would assume that this game is coming.
Third Party Titles
What third party titles will pop up during the reveal event? Madden NFL 2021, NBA 2K, seem like they would pop up in a sizzle reel, Call Of Duty seems likely, hopefully there will be plenty more and maybe even a new game reveal or two. And with Assassin’s Creed has already appeared as a feature with the Microsoft events, this might keep it from appearing here
Services
PlayStation Plus
Doubtful there will be much info in regards to PlayStation Plus during this reveal event, but eventually it would be great to know/hear the updates to this service. Considering the service used to deliver up to six titles a month ( two per console) down to now just two titles a month. What will be done
PlayStation Network
With the price increase and feature decline over this past generation with PlayStation Plus, what has Sony done to invest into increasing the quality or improve standards moving into the next generation of the PlayStation Network. After finally working out a solution to PSNid name change ordeal, it would be great to have Sony continue to address issues/concerns with the PSN.
PlayStation NOW
While PlayStation NOW already is a pretty good deal with access to over 800 titles for $9.99/month it seems that the general consensus is that it’s not a great deal especially in contrast to XBOX Game Pass. Can PlayStation pitch this service as the value it already is, and furthermore can they add enough value to it where it will be see as an equal or rival to Game Pass. Perhaps access to not only more games, but giving users access to much newer titles on a regular cadence.
Tune in tomorrow to see what is revealed, and feel free to comment your hopes of it and afterwards your reactions.
GameWrote 