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The Writers Guild just announced its five nominees for the best videogame writing of 2008 and they're a pretty good cross section of the industry, ranging from hugely popular AAA titles ("Fallout 3," "Star Wars: The Force Uleashed") to a downloadable game I've never heard ("Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble!" Actually, Variety's Leigh Alexander has a good write up of the game if you want some info) and from the self-consciously kitschy ("Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3") to straight ahead adventure ("Tomb Raider: Underworld").
Here's the full list of nominees:
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA). Writer: Haris Orkin. Story Producer: Mical Pedriana.
Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! (Mousechief). Writing: Keith Nemitz. Additional Writing: Adrianne Ambrose.
Fallout 3 (Bethesda). Lead Writer: Emil Pagliarulo. Quest Writing: Erik J. Caponi, Brian Chapin, Jon Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith, and Fred Zeleny. Additional Quest Writing: Nate Ellis, William Killeen, Mark Nelson, and Justin McSweeney.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). Writers: Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey.
Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos). Story: Eric Lindstrom and Toby Guard. Screenplay: Eric Lindstrom.
For those who aren't aware, this is actually the second year the WGA has given a videogame writing award. Last year's inaugural winner was "Dead Head Fred." The WGA Awards are the only Hollywood kudofest (that's a Variety term; I bet you can all figure out what it means) to include a prize for videogames.
The nominees and the winners are picked by panels from the WGA's Videogame Writers Caucus (which has 200 members), as well as other winners active in the field. The nominees are picked from games that submit their scripts to the guild. One caveat is that the nominated writers need to either be WGA members of have recently applied. Although that's not too big a restriction really, since anyone who wants to be nominated can simply apply and will almost surely get the nod. I suppose the only restriction would be the cost of joining for independent developers with little funds, or those with employers who simply don't want to pay. I have no idea yet how many scripts were submitted and for what games, but I've asked and will hopefully have an answer soon.
The winners will get their prize at the WGA Awards ceremony on Feb. 7.Meanwhile, can all of us in the videogame world engage in one of Hollywood's favorite pastimes: Awards prognostication? My guess is that the front runner is "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" is the front runner, since it was almost universally acclaimed for its excellent writing, even by those who didn't like the gameplay. "Fallout 3" may have a shot for the sheer quantity of content in that game, but even the most hardcore fans (of which I am not one) don't seem to think it really stood out for the quality of writing. The wild card is surely "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble," since so few of us (including me) have played it, but it sure sounds like it has a smarty, wry sense of humor.
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Here's the full list of nominees:
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (EA). Writer: Haris Orkin. Story Producer: Mical Pedriana.
Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble! (Mousechief). Writing: Keith Nemitz. Additional Writing: Adrianne Ambrose.
Fallout 3 (Bethesda). Lead Writer: Emil Pagliarulo. Quest Writing: Erik J. Caponi, Brian Chapin, Jon Paul Duvall, Kurt Kuhlmann, Alan Nanes, Bruce Nesmith, and Fred Zeleny. Additional Quest Writing: Nate Ellis, William Killeen, Mark Nelson, and Justin McSweeney.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (LucasArts). Writers: Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey.
Tomb Raider: Underworld (Eidos). Story: Eric Lindstrom and Toby Guard. Screenplay: Eric Lindstrom.
For those who aren't aware, this is actually the second year the WGA has given a videogame writing award. Last year's inaugural winner was "Dead Head Fred." The WGA Awards are the only Hollywood kudofest (that's a Variety term; I bet you can all figure out what it means) to include a prize for videogames.
The nominees and the winners are picked by panels from the WGA's Videogame Writers Caucus (which has 200 members), as well as other winners active in the field. The nominees are picked from games that submit their scripts to the guild. One caveat is that the nominated writers need to either be WGA members of have recently applied. Although that's not too big a restriction really, since anyone who wants to be nominated can simply apply and will almost surely get the nod. I suppose the only restriction would be the cost of joining for independent developers with little funds, or those with employers who simply don't want to pay. I have no idea yet how many scripts were submitted and for what games, but I've asked and will hopefully have an answer soon.
The winners will get their prize at the WGA Awards ceremony on Feb. 7.Meanwhile, can all of us in the videogame world engage in one of Hollywood's favorite pastimes: Awards prognostication? My guess is that the front runner is "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" is the front runner, since it was almost universally acclaimed for its excellent writing, even by those who didn't like the gameplay. "Fallout 3" may have a shot for the sheer quantity of content in that game, but even the most hardcore fans (of which I am not one) don't seem to think it really stood out for the quality of writing. The wild card is surely "Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble," since so few of us (including me) have played it, but it sure sounds like it has a smarty, wry sense of humor.
source