Wrapping up the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, Thatgamecompany's Journey picked up eight awards, including Game Of The Year at the DICE Awards, in a banner night for the evocative downloadable PlayStation Network title.
Hosted by The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel, the show also saw four awards go to Telltale Games' The Walking Dead, another standout game from 2012, as Gabe Newell was inducted into the AIAS' Hall Of Fame.
Although Journey didn't avoid its share of jokes from host Hardwick - he said the title gives gamers valuable experience in "going outside and meeting people," it received a standing ovation as the now-split team picked up the Game Of The Year gong at the end of the night.
In accepting, Kellee Santiago called out Sony's Shuhei Yoshida for giving the team a start out of USC, and TGC's current mainstay Jenova Chen said "tough times" birthed the game. (In fact, it was so delayed that the company essentially became bankrupt directly after shipping it.)
An emotional Robin Hunicke ended that final acceptance speech by saying simply: "Journey connects people across cultural, gender boundaries, age - and the games of the future will kick Journey's ass!'
Earlier in the evening, Infocom veteran Steve Meretzky had given out the Pioneer award to Infocom co-founders Marc Blank and Dave Lebling, praising interactive fiction's amazing "one on one dialog with the author".
Accepting and talking directly to the audience, Lebling said simply: "You're keeping the flame alive... thank you so much, everyone." And later in the acceptance speech, Marc Blank quipped that the early '80s text adventure pioneers were "Neanderthals", and therefore today's games must contain "between 2 and 3 percent of [Infocom's] DNA."
Elsewhere, ex-Epic head Mike Capps gave out the Hall Of Fame award to Newell, giving the Valve co-founder massive credit, and noting wryly: "you need to be a bit crazy to push the industry that far & that fast."
Newell, onstage to a standing ovation, kept his remarks brief, following appearances in two other longer lectures at DICE, simply saying that "it's all about collaboration" and crediting the team at Valve.
The full list of winners for the 16th Annual DICE Awards are:
Action Game of the Year: "Borderlands 2" (Publisher: 2K Games, Developer: Gearbox Software)
Mobile Game of the Year: "Hero Academy" (Publisher/Developer: Robot Entertainment)
Handheld Game of the Year: "Paper Mario Sticker Star" (Publisher: Nintendo of America, Inc., Developer: Intelligent Systems)
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: "Journey" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: thatgamecompany)
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: "Journey" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: thatgamecompany)
Outstanding Achievement in Story: "The Walking Dead" (Publisher/Developer: Telltale Games)
Outstanding Character Performance: "The Walking Dead's" Lee Everett (Publisher/Developer: Telltale Games)
Downloadable Game of the Year: "The Walking Dead" (Publisher/Developer: Telltale Games)
Casual Game of the Year: "Journey" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: thatgamecompany)
Web Based Game of the Year: "SimCity Social" (Publisher: Electronic Arts, Developer: Maxis, Playfish)
Family Game of the Year: "Skylanders Giants" (Publisher: Activision, Developer: Toys for Bob)
Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year: "Mass Effect 3" (Publisher: Electronic Arts, Developer: Bioware)
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" (Publisher: 2K Games, Developer: Firaxis Games)
Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: "Journey" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: thatgamecompany)
Sports Game of the Year: "FIFA Soccer 13" (Publisher: Electronic Arts, Developer: EA Canada)
Racing Game of the Year: "Need for Speed: Most Wanted" (Publisher: Electronic Arts, Developer: Criterion Games)
Fighting Game of the Year: "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: SuperBot Entertainment, Inc.)
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: "Journey" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: thatgamecompany)
Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity: "Halo 4" (Publisher: Microsoft Studios, Developer: 343 Industries)
Outstanding Achievement in Animation: "Assassin's Creed III" (Publisher/Developer: Ubisoft)
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: "Journey" (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America, Developer: thatgamecompany)
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: "Halo 4" (Publisher: Microsoft Studios, Developer: 343 Industries)
I don't quite understand why Sony's All-Stars beat out Persona 4 Arena. Or Sticker Star beat Gravity Rush and Sound Shapes. But eh, I don't agree with every reward show, so DICE should be no different.
Honestly these awards are a joke, they seem to reflect what is popular and not what is good. Not only should Sony All Stars not beat Persona 4 Arena, it shouldn't even have been nominated, it's a heavily flawed cash-grab of a game. And Journey is much too shallow a game to recieve 8 awards or GOTY. Where is Gravity Rush, Xenoblade or Tokyo Jungle on this list? The truly great games of the year are absent.
All awards are a joke if your choices aren't picked. This has been the reality that has plagued awards ever since it was invented. But what's the alternative? It's a celebration about games awarded by your peers in the industry not the Spike VGA awards.
I don't understand how Journey, Dishonored, Spec Ops The Line, and Sleeping Dogs were nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Story, but Mass Effect 3 was not.
I don't know if Journey is really worth 8 awards, but GOTY seems fine to me never the less.