The biggest night in gaming – the closest thing the industry has to its own Oscars ceremony – is almost upon us.
Live from Los Angeles in just a few days, The Game Awards will honour the best the medium had to offer this year, honouring everything from the biggest blockbusters to the smallest independent debuts.
Gaming reporter Martin Kimber and technology reporter Tom Acres are here with their tips for some of the most competitive categories – and you can keep scrolling for the full list of nominees.
Best game
A Plague Tale: Requiem Elden Ring God Of War Ragnarok Horizon Forbidden West Stray Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Martin’s pick: Horizon Forbidden West
It’s very difficult to pull off a successful sequel, but Guerrilla Games has done just that. You’ll struggle to find a prettier game with a bigger, more expansive map. It offers excellent replayability and thus value for money, it is addictive, and did I mention it’s pretty? Plus, robot dinosaurs! What’s not to like?!
Tom’s pick: Stray
Quite the debut from French indie studio BlueTwelve Studio. This surprisingly moving dystopian adventure painted a bleak yet hopeful picture of the fragility of life, and how it endures. Not content with nuanced commentary on capitalism and its impact on the planet, you also play as a very cute cat. And there’s a meow button!
Advertisement
Image: ‘Robot dinosaurs’ made their return in Guerilla’s sequel. Pic: Sony
Image: Stray features inarguably the cutest main character of the year
Best narrative
A Plague Tale: Requiem Elden Ring God Of War Ragnarok Horizon Forbidden West Immortality
Martin’s pick: Horizon Forbidden West
In the first Horizon, it felt like the developers came up with the concept of robot dinosaurs and built the whole game around that idea. However, this sequel boasts a much more fleshed out story, captivating even the players who just want to take on a mechanised velociraptor with a bow and arrow.
Tom’s pick: God Of War Ragnarok
God Of War’s reinvention four years ago was a triumph, plucking the vengeful protagonist Kratos out of his Greek comfort zone and into Norse mythology – with a son, no less. The stranger in a strange land setup was inherently less novel this time, but his metamorphosis from one of gaming’s most two-dimensional meatheads into a touching and relatable depiction of fatherhood goes from strength to strength, with quite the emotional pay-off.
Image: Horizon Forbidden West was one of the best looking games of the year. Pic: Sony
Image: Kratos meets all manner of great characters on his latest journey, including Ratatoskr the squirrel
Best art direction
Elden Ring God Of War Ragnarok Horizon Forbidden West Scorn Stray
Martin’s pick: God Of War Ragnarok
I played this recently with some friends, who genuinely couldn’t tell the difference between the cinematics and the gameplay. If you basically want a playable, violent Pixar film, this is the game for you.
Tom’s pick: Elden Ring
FromSoftware’s games have always boasted tremendous art direction, and each have brought its dark, fantasy tendencies to bigger audiences. Elden Ring was a collaboration with Game Of Thrones creator George RR Martin, showcased by the sheer scope and detail of its world. There’s an almost impossible-to-imagine level of variety, with every corner you turn invariably offering something new. Best art or not, it’s definitely got the most.
Image: God Of War Ragnarok boasts some typically enormous creatures
Image: The scope and variety of Elden Ring’s world is unmatched. Pic: Bandai Namco
Best family game
Kirby And The Forgotten Land LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope Nintendo Switch Sports Splatoon 3
Martin’s pick: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
If I could give this game all of the above awards, I would. It’s been so long since they released one of these, I was worried they’d mess with the perfect recipe – but they didn’t. Collectible characters, stud multipliers and hilarious cinematics all make a return. A must-play for every family member (and Star Wars nerd).
Tom’s pick: Nintendo Switch Sports
I didn’t realise how much I missed the thrill of family competition in Wii Sports until its spiritual successor arrived on Nintendo’s Switch console. As was the case with the original, your mileage with each sport will vary and tennis and bowling remain by far the best, but each is boosted by far more precise motion controls and online multiplayer.
Image: LEGO Star Wars lets you play through all nine main films. Pic: Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
Image: Bowling was one of the highlights of Nintendo’s return to sports games. Pic: Nintendo
Best multiplayer game
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II MultiVersus Overwatch 2 Splatoon 3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Martin’s pick: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Boy, this game is hard. It’s so bloomin’ hard. I haven’t died this much in a game since… well, ever. But the new multiplayer maps are well-designed, the gun play is satisfying and balanced, and it’s fast. Infinity Ward has had a long time to perfect the FPS formula, and they’ve done just that.
Tom’s pick: Splatoon 3
Infinity Ward may have perfected the FPS formula, but Nintendo has a monopoly on futuristic paintball. Splatoon 3 was very much more of the same, with an emphasis on the more. While the fast-paced matches and tight controls were familiar to anyone who played prior instalments, a bolstered selection of maps, modes, and weapons made it a worthy entry in a series which remains unlike anything else almost six years after it debuted.
Image: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II was the biggest launch in franchise history
Image: Splatoon 3 offered more of the same – but it was all good. Pic: Nintendo
Best game direction
Elden Ring God of War Ragnarok Horizon Forbidden West Immortality Stray
Best score and music
A Plague Tale: Requiem Elden Ring God Of War Ragnarok Metal: Hellsinger Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best audio design
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II Elden Ring God Of War Ragnarok Gran Turismo 7 Horizon Forbidden West
Best performance
Ashly Burch, Horizon Forbidden West Charlotte McBurney, A Plague Tale: Requiem Christopher Judge, God Of War Ragnarok Manon Gage, Immortality Sunny Suljic, God Of War Ragnarok
Games for impact
A Memoir Blue As Dusk Falls Citizen Sleeper Endling – Extinction is Forever Hindsight I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Best ongoing game
Apex Legends Destiny 2 Final Fantasy XIV Fortnite Genshin Impact
Best indie game
Cult Of The Lamb Neon White Sifu Stray Tunic
Best debut indie
Neon White Norco Stray Tunic Vampire Survivors
Best community support
Apex Legends Destiny 2 Final Fantasy XIV Fortnite No Man’s Sky
Best mobile game
Apex Legends Diablo Immortal Genshin Impact Marvel Snap Tower Of Fantasy
Best VR/AR game
After The Fall Among Us Bonelab Moss: Book II Red Matter 2
Best action game
Bayonetta 3 Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II Neon White Sifu Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Best action/adventure game
A Plague Tale: Requiem God Of War Ragnarok Horizon Forbidden West Stray Tunic
Best role-playing game
Elden Ring Live A Live Pokemon Legends: Arceus Triangle Strategy Xenoblade Chronicles 3
Best fighting game
DNF Duel Arc JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure The King Of Fighters XV MultiVersus Sifu
Best sim/strategy game
Dune: Spice Wars Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope Total War: Warhammer III Two Point Campus Victoria 3
Best sports/racing game
F1 22 FIFA 23 NBA 2K23 Gran Turismo 7 OlliOlli World
The Game Awards takes place on 9 December at 12.30am UK time.
Alan Cumming has given back his OBE, expressing concern over its links to what he describes as the “toxicity” of the British Empire.
The actor said he had made the decision to return the award after listening to conversations about the future of the Royal Family after the Queen’s death.
Cumming was made an OBE in 2009 as part of the Queen’s birthday honours, being recognised for acting, as well as the work he does to campaign for LGBTQ+ rights in the US.
He said at the time that he was “shocked and delighted” to be given the honour.
Writing on Instagram on his 58th birthday, he said: “The Queen’s death and the ensuing conversations about the role of monarchy and especially the way the British Empire profited at the expense (and death) of indigenous peoples across the world really opened my eyes.
“Fourteen years ago, I was incredibly grateful to receive it in the 2009 Queen’s birthday honours list, for it was awarded not just for my job as an actor but ‘for activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA’.
“Back then the Defence of Marriage Act ensured that same-sex couples couldn’t get married or enjoy the same basic legal rights as straight people, and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ensured that openly gay, lesbian or bisexual people were barred from serving in the military.”
He added: “Thankfully, times and laws in the US have changed, and the great good the award brought to the LGBTQ+ cause back in 2009 is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of empire (OBE stands for Officer of the British Empire).
Advertisement
“So, I returned my award, explained my reasons and reiterated my great gratitude for being given it in the first place. I’m now back to being plain old Alan Cumming again. Happy birthday to me!”
Cumming is best known for his roles in Goldeneye and the Spy Kids trilogy, as well as for his stage work, with his credits including Cabaret, for which he won a Tony Award, and Endgame.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has conceded progress on same-sex marriage in the Church of England would be “glacial”, Sandi Toksvig has said.
The comedian revealed she had met Justin Welby for a “long-promised coffee” and the meeting had been “calm and considered”, but the church‘s current position was “untenable”.
In a video she said it was clear the “Church of England and the society it purports to represent are not remotely in step”.
They met after she expressed her dismay last year that Mr Welby had reaffirmed the validity of a 1998 declaration by the church that gay sex was a sin.
The archbishop has recently said he welcomed the Church of England’s proposals to bless same-sex married couples, but said he would not personally carry them out due to his “pastoral relationship for the whole communion”.
“Yesterday I went to have coffee, tea, actually, with the Archbishop of Canterbury, not a sentence I thought would ever come out of my mouth,” Toksvig said in her video.
“From our very calm and considered conversation yesterday, it is very clear that the State’s Church of England and the society it purports to represent are not remotely in step.
More on Church Of England
Related Topics:
“Justin was keen for me to see that they are moving forward, but conceded that any progress, as I would see it, if it happens at all, will be glacial.”
She said it was also “very clear” opposing factions of the worldwide Anglican Communion were being “in part held together at the expense of the human rights of the LGBT+ community”.
Advertisement
“It’s not okay. And I said so,” she said.
Toksvig asked Archbishop to come out as gay ally
She continued: “I asked Justin if he could just come out. I don’t mean to make a surprise announcement about his sexuality, but come out as a gay ally.
“Basically, to come up for love, love for all without exceptions, and not the current Orwellian position, where it would seem we are all created equal, but some are more equal than others.
“I hope that will happen, but I do not intend to wait upon the church.
“In the next few weeks, I will be reaching out to the LGBT+ community and all our allies to see what can be done.
“The present position is untenable. In the meantime, please. Let’s all come out for love.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:14
‘Church deeply divided’ on same-sex marriage
Church apologises for ‘shameful’ treatment of LGBTQI+ people
Allowing Kanye West to start tweeting again would be “dangerous for Jews” and “dangerous for my children”, David Baddiel has told Sky News.
The Jewish author and comedian also said he considers the musician to be racist.
West is currently suspended from Twitter for tweeting an image of a swastika hours after praising Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
The musician, 45, posted the grossly offensive image only two weeks after being allowed back on the site following a previous ban.
Baddiel said he understood why Twitter owner Elon Musk might consider another reprieve for the rapper.
“Kanye being let back onto that platform seems to be part of Elon Musk trying to make (it) less dominated by the progressive left,” Baddiel told the Beth Rigby Interviews programme.
“I’m not bothered about those arguments. I’m bothered about what is dangerous for Jews. What is dangerous for my children.
“I do think it’s dangerous. I think it’s actively dangerous.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
5:57
Beth Rigby Interviews… David Baddiel
Regarding West’s motivation, Baddiel said antisemitism is “often seen by people as punching up”.
Advertisement
He continued: “So they don’t see it as racism, because what they see is that Jews are powerful.
“So Kanye will say things like, Jews are in control of the music business, I’m finally throwing off the shackles of how Jews won’t let me speak about this, because they’re in control.”
West has previously accused record producer Sean “Diddy” Combs of being controlled by “the Jewish people” in a post on Instagram.
Baddiel went on: “It comes from a sense of, this is a rebel yell against a race that is controlling us, and the problem with that is it doesn’t sound like a far-right person saying ‘look at these scum, I’m just going to kill them’.
“It sounds like someone fighting the good fight. And that is actually what Hitler, who Kanye has said he’s an admirer of, that is also how Hitler sounded to some people.”
In an interview with the conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, West said: “I like Hitler.”
West retains the ability to influence people, Baddiel said. “Kanye, because he’s a brilliant hip hop artist, has got a really powerful voice,” he pointed out.
Asked whether West is racist, Baddiel said: “I think what he said is antisemitic. And I think antisemitism is racism. Yes.”
Image: Jason Lee, pictured here in 1999, received an apology from David Baddiel over portrayals on the TV show Fantasy Football League
Baddiel also discussed his recent apology to the ex-footballer Jason Lee, for the way he portrayed him in sketches in his 1990s television series Fantasy Football League.
“As I became more aware of racism directed against me, as well as being hurt or upset by that, or thinking this is weird, this clearly really racist thing – that I am guilty of the same thing,” he said.
“And that brought it home to me over time, over much too much time, that I should apologise to Jason Lee.
“When I (made a) documentary, I thought I should go and film a face-to-face apology. And thankfully Jason was up for doing that, and it was really difficult. He didn’t in any way let me off.”
Baddiel said he “felt terrible”, “totally felt terrible”.
He told Beth Rigby: “At the end of it, I went up to him, and I just said, look, sorry again, and thank you for seeing me.
“And he just shook my hand and said, no, it’s done now.
“Meaning we’ve done it now, and we can move on. Which is important for me, and important for him.