The video game industry celebrated the best games of 2017 in Las Vegas on Thursday, Feb. 22.
The annual awards ceremony was the last event in a week-long summit of the gaming industry's biggest names. The 2018 DICE (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Awards was held by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where the ceremony was live streamed from beginning to end courtesy of IGN Entertainment.
About 30,000 AIAS members, many of them game developers themselves, voted to decide on the winners of each award category.
"Horizon Zero Dawn" by developer Guerilla Games had 10 nominations, the most among all entries, with "Breath of the Wild" receiving six nods. However, "Breath of the Wild" turned out to be the night's biggest winner, bagging four of its six nominations, including Game of the Year.
The Nintendo game also won Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design and Adventure Game of the Year.
"Breath of the Wild" competed for Game of the Year against "Horizon Zero Dawn," StudioMDHR's "Cuphead," Bluehole Studio Inc. and PUBG Corporation's "PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS," and fellow Nintendo game "Super Mario Odyssey," which won Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design.
Nintendo, one of the biggest names in gaming, was also one of the biggest names of the night. Other than "Breath of the Wild" and "Super Mario Odyssey," Nintendo also saw several of its other games win accolades. Games like "Metroid: Samus Returns," "Fire Emblem Heroes," "Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle" and "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe" all won in their respective categories.
"Breath of the Wild" is an open-ended action-adventure game in which the player can freely explore the game's world. Players follow the story of the character Link, who has woken up from a century-long sleep. The game has met critical acclaim, with many outlets claiming that it is one of the greatest games of all time.
