Battlefield 1, Horizon: Zero Dawn bag multiple E3 game critic nominations

The battle to win the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is often based on how many awards a game company can receive from the show’s critics. And today, the Game Critics Awards group issued its nominees for the best of show.

Among the big potential winners are Electronic Arts, for Battlefield 1 (nominated for five awards), and Sony, for Horizon: Zero Dawn (nominated for three awards). Dishonored 2 also received four nominations. The final winners in each category will be announced after another round of voting. Overall, EA received 10 nominations. Sony had nine nominations.

I was able to participate once again as one of the judges. Where appropriate, I showed how I voted below. Here are the nominees:

Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2016 Nominees

Best of Show

• Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
• Dishonored 2 (Arkane/Bethesda)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerilla/Sony Interactive Ent.)
• Sea of Thieves (Rare/Microsoft Studios)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)

(I voted for Sony’s Days Gone.)

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Best Original Game

• Abzu (Giant Squid/505 Games)
• Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream/Sony Interactive Ent.)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Ent.)
• Sea of Thieves (Rare/Microsoft Studios)
• We Happy Few (Compulsion Games)

(I voted for Days Gone.)

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Best Console Game

• Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
• Dishonored 2 (Arkane/Bethesda)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerilla/Sony Interactive Ent.)
• The Last Guardian (genDESIGN/Sony Interactive Ent.)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

(I voted for Days Gone.)

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Best PC Game

• Battlefield 1 (id Software/Bethesda)
• Civilization VI (Firaxis/2K)
• Dishonored 2 (Arkane/Bethesda)
• GWENT: The Witcher Card Game (CD Projekt Red)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III (Relic/Sega)

(I voted for Raw Data.)

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Best VR Game

• Batman: Arkham VR (Rocksteady/WBIE)
• Resident Evil VII (Capcom)
• Star Trek: Bridge Crew (Red Storm/Ubisoft)
• The Unspoken (Insomniac/Oculus Studio)
• Wilson’s Heart (Twisted Pixel/Oculus Studio)

(I voted for Raw Data.)

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Best Hardware

• Oculus Touch (Oculus VR)
• PlayStation VR (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Xbox One S (Microsoft)

(I voted for the Alienware OLED 13 laptop.)

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Best Action Game

• Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
• Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Infinity Ward/Activision)
• Gears of War 4 (The Coalition/Microsoft Studios)
• Lawbreakers (Boss Key/Nexon)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)

(I voted for Battlefield 1.)

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Best Action/Adventure Game

• Dishonored 2 (Arkane/Bethesda)
• Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla/Sony Interactive Ent)
• Mafia III (Hanger 13/2K)
• The Last Guardian (GenDesign/Sony Interactive Ent.)
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)

(I voted for Horizon: Zero Dawn.)

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Best RPG

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal/Square Enix)
• Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix)
• South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Ubisoft SF/Ubisoft)
• Tyrrany (Obsidian/Paradox)
• Persona 5 (Atlus)

(I voted for Final Fantasy XV.)

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Best Fighting Game

• Absolver (Sloclap/Devolver)
• Injustice 2 (NetherRealm/WBIE)
• Tekken 7 (Bandai Namco)
• The King of Fighters XIV (SNK/Atlus)

(I voted for Injustice 2.)

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Best Racing Game

• Forza Horizon 3 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
• F1 2016 (Codemasters)
• Gran Turismo Sport (Polyphony Digital/Sony Interactive Ent.)

(I voted for Forza Horizon 3.)

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Best Sports Game

• FIFA 17 (EA Canada/EA)
• Madden NFL 17 (Tiburon/EA)
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (Konami)
• Steep (Ubisoft Annecy/Ubisoft)

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Best Strategy Game

• Civilization VI (Firaxis/2K)
• GWENT: The Witcher Card Game (CD Projekt Red)
• Halo Wars 2 (Creative Assembly/343/Microsoft Studios)
• Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War III (Relic/Sega)

(I voted for Civilization VI.)

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Best Family Game

• LEGO Dimensions (TT Games/WBIE)
• LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens (TT Games/WBIE)
• Skylanders: Imaginators (Toys for Bob/Activision)

(I voted Skylanders: Imaginators.)

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Best Online Multiplayer

• Absolver (Sloclap/Devolver)
• Battlefield 1 (DICE/EA)
• Lawbreakers (Boss Key/Nexon)
• Sea of Thieves (RARE/Microsoft Studios)
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn/EA)

(I voted for LawBreakers.)

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Best Indie

• Absolver (Sloclap/Devoler)
• Abzu (Giant Squid/505)
• Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
• Inside (Playdead)
• We Happy Few (Compulsion Games)

(I voted for Abzu.)

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Please note: The following games were not made playable to Game Critics judges at E3 and were therefore disqualified from main award consideration: Death Stranding, Destiny: Rise of Iron, God of War, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Prey, and Spider-Man PS4.