2014 was an ambitious year for gaming that came up a little short of expectations. However, through all of the pre-release nonsense, glitches, patches and broken titles were a select few games that truly showed that if games are not necessarily art, then they certainly have a case to be made for alternate storytelling mediums.
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To honor those titles, the Writers Guild of America have announced their nominees for Outstanding Achievement In Video Game Writing. 2015 marks the 8th anniversary of the category's inclusion into the upcoming WGA Awards on February 14, a testament to the enduring narrative possibilities of the medium. Previous winners include The Last Of Us, Assassin's Creed III and Uncharted 3.
So, it is no surprise to learn that both The Last Of Us: Left Behind, the DLC package which focuses on Ellie in a prequel to the main game, and both Assassin's Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry were nominated for the award. Alien: Isolation picks up the fourth spot.
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This is not to say that were not better written stories this past year - you could make a case for any number of titles, including Far Cry 4 and even (ESPECIALLY) Wolfenstein - but the WGA guidelines restrict nominees based on the eligibility of the writer. The official wording is: "Credited videogame writers must have been or must have applied to become members of the WGA Videogame Writers Caucus at the time scripts were submitted."
Full list of nominees with writers attached:
Alien: Isolation, Writers Dan Abnett, Dion Lay, Will Porter; SEGA
Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry, Lead Scriptwriter Jill Murray; Scriptwriter Melissa MacCoubrey; Story by Jill Murray, Hugo Giard, Wesley Pincombe; Ubisoft
Assassin's Creed: Unity, Story by Alexandre Amancio, Sylvain Bernard, Travis Stout; Scriptwriting Alexandre Amancio, Travis Stout, Russell Lees, Darby McDevitt, Ceri Young; Additional Scriptwriting Jeffrey Yohalem; Ubisoft
The Last of Us: Left Behind, Written by Neil Druckmann; Sony Computer Entertainment
Personally, I'm pulling for Alien, if only to inject some freshness into the proceedings. The WGA Awards air Saturday, February in a streamed event.
So, what game do you think should have been nominated? Tell us below in the comments!
