Tag: The Game Awards 2021

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It Takes Two wins Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2021

It Takes Two has won Game of the Year (GOTY) at The Game Awards 2021.

The game was developed by Swedish studio Hazelight, the makers of the critically-acclaimed Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and A Way Out.

It Takes Two was directed by Josef Fares, who is infamous at The Game Awards for a “f*** the Oscars” rant in 2017. Fares took the stage to accept the award — you can see his acceptance speech below:

The top honour was determined primarily by a jury of games industry media, although a small percentage of votes came from fans. The other GOTY contenders were Deathloop, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Metroid Dread, Psychonauts 2 and Resident Evil Village.

It Takes Two follows a married couple that plans to get a divorce, only for them to be transformed into their kid’s toys. From there, they must begrudgingly work together to find a way to return to their human bodies.

Notably, the game is only playable via co-op — either locally or online. Buying the game nets you a ‘Buddy Pass’ that can be shared to play with someone else online at no additional cost. It Takes Two has received significant praise for its focus on inventive co-operative mechanics.

It Takes Two is available on PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. The game is also available on EA Play, which is included of a $16.99 Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Image credit: Hazelight/EA

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Here’s the first full trailer for Paramount’s Halo series

At The Game Awards, Paramount unveiled the first full trailer for its long-awaited Halo TV series.

Check it out below:

 

Notably, Ymir, B.C.-born Pablo Schreiber (The Wire) is portraying iconic Spartan hero Master Chief, while Natasha McElhone (Californication) plays Spartan-II creator Dr. Catherine Halsey and Jen Taylor reprises her long-running role as the voice of the AI Cortana.

We get a glimpse at all of them here.

Halo is set to premiere sometime in 2022 on Paramount+ in the U.S. While that service is also available in Canada, its content lineup differs significantly from its U.S. counterpart due to the licensing agreements. It remains to be seen whether the series will also be on Paramount+ in Canada or on another service.

While there have been smaller live-action Halo adaptations in the past, Paramount’s series marks the culmination of a years-long effort from legendary director Steven Spielberg to bring the series to the big screen. At one point, it was set to be a movie, although it’s since shifted to a big-budget series. Spielberg remains attached as an executive producer.

It’s been a big few weeks for Halo. The iconic series celebrated its 20th anniversary in November, so Xbox has marked the occasion with the early release of Halo Infinite‘s multiplayer that month, and the full game, including the campaign, on December 8th. You can read more on the game in our review and interview with developer 343 Industries.

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Nintendo’s The Game Awards sale offers up to 30 percent off big Switch games

To coincide with The Game Awards on December 9th, Nintendo has kicked off a ‘Winner & Nominees’ sale on the eShop.

From the 9th to the 15th, you can save up to 30 percent on digital Switch games, including:

The full list of Winner & Nominees deals can be found here.

More information on The Game Awards, meanwhile, is available here.

Image credit: Capcom

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How to watch The Game Awards 2021 in Canada

It’s December 9th, which means this year’s Game Awards are officially taking place tonight in Los Angeles.

As is the case every year, the show will run for around two to three hours and offer a slew of game reveals, as well as the distribution of the titular awards. It’ll kick off with a pre-show at 4:30pm PT/7:30pm ET before the main event begins at 5pm PT/8pm ET.

Notably, one of the key aspects of The Game Awards is that Canadian producer Geoff Keighley makes sure the event is streamed on a variety of platforms so fans around the world can tune in.

In particular, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter and Facebook will all be livestreaming the show. If you have an Oculus Meta headset, you can also tune in through VR.

This year, the following six games are up for the coveted Game of the Year prize:

  • Deathloop (Arkane/Bethesda)
  • It Takes Two (Hazelight/EA)
  • Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
  • Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox)
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac/PlayStation)
  • Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

The full list of nominees can be found on The Game Awards’ website, while we’ve got a Canadian-specific breakdown of them here.

Meanwhile, we have some idea of what to expect from the show’s signature “world premieres.” So far, here’s some of what’s been confirmed:

Some of the presenters have also been revealed, including Canada’s own Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Giancarlo Esposito (who’s also up for Best Performance for Far Cry 6) and Laura Bailey (winner of Best Performance last year for The Last of Us Part II).

What game(s) are you hoping to see bring home awards? What upcoming titles would you like to see featured at the show? Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: The Game Awards

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Here are The Game Awards 2021’s Canadian nominees

The full list of nominees for the 2021 Game Awards has been revealed.

Geoff Keighley, the Canadian producer of the show, hosted a brief presentation to announce all of the nominees ahead of the December 9th main event.

To start, the six titles up for the coveted Game of the Year Award are:

  • Deathloop (Arkane/Bethesda)
  • It Takes Two (Hazelight/EA)
  • Metroid Dread (Mercury Steam/Nintendo)
  • Psychonauts 2 (Double Fine/Xbox)
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac/PlayStation)
  • Resident Evil Village (Capcom)

While none of the Game of the Year nominees are from Canadian studios, it’s worth noting that many other homemade games received nods.

To start, Canada dominated the ‘Innovation in Accessibility’ category, which recognizes games that excel in offering a suite of features to include more players.

  • Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft)
  • Forza Horizon 5 (Playground/Xbox)
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos Montreal/Square Enix)
  • Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac/PlayStation)
  • The Vale: Shadow of the Crown (Falling Squirrel)

Notably, three of those five are Canadian: Far Cry 6 from Ubisoft Toronto, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy from Eidos Montreal and The Vale from Niagara Falls, Ontario’s Falling Squirrel. These nominees were selected by a special jury of accessibility experts that included Toronto’s own Steve Saylor.

Other Canadian nominees include:

  • Age of Empires IV (co-developed by Vancouver’s Relic) — Best Sim/Strategy
  • Boyfriend Dungeon (Montreal’s KitFox) — Games for Impact
  • Chicory: A Colorful Tale (Vancouver’s Greg Lobanov) — Games for Impact
  • Far Cry 6 — Best Action, Best Performance (Giancarlo Esposito)
  • FIFA 22 (EA Vancouver) — Best Sports/Racing
  • Guardians of the Galaxy — Best Action/Adventure, Best Narrative, Best Score and Music
  • Inscryption (Vancouver’s Daniel Mullins Games) — Best Independent Game, Best Sim/Strategy

And of course, since we’re MobileSyrup, here are the five (non-Canadian) mobile nominees:

  • Fantasian
  • Genshin Impact
  • League of Legends
  • Marvel Future Revolution
  • Pokemon Unite

You can find the full list of 2021 Game Award nominees here.

Image credit: Square Enix