DICE Awards 2017 Winners
The DICE Awards 2017 (for games from 2016) were held on the 23rd February at the The Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) celebrated their 20th year of the award show.
Since 1996, the D.I.C.E. Awards have recognized games, individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry. The D.I.C.E. Awards are the most credible, respected and recognized awards for the interactive entertainment community with voting cast by members of the Academy’s 33,000+ membership base. The voting process is supervised and certified by Votenet Solutions, Inc.
The show was hosted by Greg Miller and Jessica Chobot. They did a good job, although were underutilized and given no favours by the poor crowd responses (or maybe just an audio issue). There was hardly a laugh heard from the audience in the opening address, which had some really funny moments to it.
The DICE Awards 2017 started off with an incredible diorama created by Noodle House. Besides this opening though, the whole show was less flashy than The Game Awards, so you might prefer just to check out the winners below.
Now most of the awards were not a surprise, with Overwatch taking home yet again another Game of the Year award, racing gaming going to Forza Horizon 3, Uncharted 4 winning technical achievement awards and Inside, Doom and Battlefield 1 each receiving some love.
What was a big surprise though, was The Last Guardian’s Trico winning the Outstanding Achievement in Character over Nathan Drake. Even more shocking was the acceptance speech, where they said that winning an award gives the team more desire to work on their next game. I’m sure it’s something we can all look forward to playing on our PS5s.
Todd Howard was announced as the 22nd inductee into the AIAS Hall of Fame. From interactive.org:
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences is pleased to announce its 22nd Hall of Fame recipient, Todd Howard, Executive Producer and Game Director at Bethesda Game Studios, who has created some of the industry’s most successful games by pioneering open-world gameplay. Howard has been integral in the creative direction and growth of such well-loved franchises as The Elder Scrolls and Fallout, which have been recipients of numerous D.I.C.E. Awards throughout the years. Both The Elder Scrolls and Fallout are known for their experiential approach to world-building and storytelling. The scale of their open worlds, variety of questlines, and near-endless cast of characters has ensured no two players have the same experience.
You can watch the complete show here and see the full list of winners below.
Dice Awards 2017 (for 2016) List of Winners
Game of the Year
- Overwatch
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
- INSIDE
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
- Overwatch
Immersive Reality Technical Achievement
- Eagle Flight
Immersive Reality Game of the Year
- SUPERHOT VR
Mobile Game of the Year
- Pokémon GO
Handheld Game of the Year
- Pokémon Sun and Moon
D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
- INSIDE
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay
- Overwatch
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
- Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
Sports Game of the Year
- Steep
Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
- Dark Souls III
Racing Game of the Year
- Forza Horizon 3
Fighting Game of the Year
- Street Fighter V
Family Game of the Year
- Ratchet & Clank
Adventure Game of the Year
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Action Game of the Year
- Overwatch
Outstanding Technical Achievement
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Outstanding Achievement in Story
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
- Battlefield 1
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
- DOOM
Outstanding Achievement in Character
- The Last Guardian – Trico
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
- INSIDE
Outstanding Achievement in Animation
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Versus PlayerS 2016 GOTY
If you would like to see our picks for 2016 GOTY, check out our post here.
We’ll be discussing these awards on our next Versus Player podcast.
Happy gaming!