I didn’t think videogame awards could get any worse than Spike’s VGAs, but the Writers Guild of America has proven me wrong with its nominees for “outstanding achievement in videogame writing” in the upcoming Writers Guild Awards — LA and New York ceremonies to be held simultaneously on Saturday, February 20.
The nominees for this year’s WGA Videogame Writing Award are Wet, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Assassin’s Creed II. Seriously, those are the real nominees! Look at that monkey… even he can’t believe it!
Uncharted 2 deserves the nomination (and it should win), but most of the other selections are a sham — I can’t speak for Assassin’s Creed II since I’ve barely played it, so I’ll leave it out of this argument. No offense to the writers and developers of these games, but come on – Wet, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Modern Warfare 2 are really being singled out for their “outstanding achievement in videogame writing?” REALLY!?
I enjoyed all three of those games in terms of gameplay, but never in a million years would I ever even think of considering any one of them noteworthy for quality writing. In fact, the writing is their weakest link!
If these awards are truly dedicated to honoring videogame writing excellence, how can a game like Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time not be nominated? The writing in that game is as good as any of the best Pixar movies, if you ask me. And what about Dragon Age: Origins? I take issue with some of its dialogue, but it’s still a million times better than these nominees and should be in the running on sheer volume alone. Brutal Legend and Batman: Arkham Asylum are also more deserving. Hell, I would even give a nod to games like Half-Minute Hero, Holy Badman! and Little King’s Story over these nominees for their quirky, witty writing, but obviously they are too niche to ever be considered for any type of mainstream award.
To be fair, only members of the WGA can be nominated, so perhaps some of these games I’ve mentioned weren’t even eligible. Though according to the press release, the WGA received a record number of submissions this year, so I have to believe more deserving candidates were tossed out in favor of hype and mainstream appeal.
That’s what I think anyway, but what say you? Do these nominations sound fair? Are there any other games you’d like to see recognized for their writing?
2010 Writers Guild Awards Videogame Writing Nominees Announced [Writers Guild of America]
Image Source: Graphicshunt.com
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
The Spike VGA’s really showed how completely useless they were from the very start – they were more of an excuse for the Hollywood types to get in another photo-op and reward their high-profile EA / Activision buddies …
These awards are similar – it is a big circle jerk.
That’s the thing- at least with the VGAs they don’t try to hide what they are. They know what their audience is and they play to it. But I would expect better from the Writers Guild of America.