BAFTA Games Awards: Baldur’s Gate 3 is the big winner, scooping five prizes

Published

9 months ago

April 12, 2024

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Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, taking home five prizes including the prestigious best game.

It also won BAFTAs for music, narrative, and performer in a supporting role for Andrew Wincott, along with the EE players’ choice award, which is voted for by the public.

The Dungeons and Dragons-based game faced strong competition from Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Alan Wake 2 and indie hit Dave the Diver.

Alan Wake 2 won two BAFTAs for artistic achievement and audio achievement, while Super Mario Bros. Wonder also scooped two for family and multiplayer.

Awards host Phil Wang told Sky News: “There are some real legends of gaming here. Sam Lake, you know? I played as Sam Lake, I used to play so much Max Payne and now he’s here, sipping a mimosa.”

Sam Lake’s smash hit, Alan Wake 2, took him 13 years to create and over that time, it changed dramatically.

“There is very little from the original concept of Alan Wake 2 that still exists in what we have made today,” Mr Lake said.

Games news was mostly just seen “on the business pages”, he said but “bit by bit, gaming has worked its way into culture”.

One of the Baldur’s Gate 3 writers Lawrence Schick told Sky News how proud he was to work for the team after winning the narrative award.

He was joined at the event at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall by a huge team, including narrator Amelia Tyler.

“[Baldur’s Gate 3] allows people to explore aspects of themselves in the game that they’ve never been able to explore,” he said.

“There are so many stories of players who have found out new things about themselves, about their sexuality, about their gender identity, about who they love or how they love them, from this game.”

Hogwarts Legacy, the Harry Potter game played by more than 22 million people, lost in both categories it was nominated for, including the best family game section, and best animation – which was won by Hi-Fi Rush.

Dave the Diver, the indie game where you play as a diver catching fish and working in a sushi restaurant, picked up one award for game design.

Best British game went to Viewfinder from Scottish-based studio Sad Owl, which also won a BAFTA for new intellectual property.

The creators of Dead Island 2, from Nottingham-based Dambuster Studios, were happy to be nominated for best British game.

“We tend to keep ourselves to ourselves, keep our heads down and get the work done so to get to the end of it all and get this [nomination] is really exciting.”

Entertainment

The Wanted star Max George recalls moment he wrote will from hospital bed before heart surgery

Published

36 mins ago

January 13, 2025

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The Wanted star Max George recalls moment he wrote will from hospital bed before heart surgery

The Wanted star Max George has told of the moment he wrote his will from a hospital bed, as he was convinced he “was going to die”.

In December, George revealed he had to undergo urgent heart surgery after being diagnosed with a block.

In an interview with The Sun, his first since he underwent the lifesaving surgery, the 36-year-old described the moment when he thought he would die.

He said: “If I could go from being absolutely on top of the world to being told ‘the bottom part of your heart isn’t working’, I kept thinking in my head, ‘Well, what if the top half stops working overnight?'”

“That first night I wrote a will, I thought I was going to die,” the 36-year-old musician added.

On the night of 13 December, George said his heart rate and blood pressure dropped, “I felt like I was dying,” he said.

He had a pacemaker fitted by doctors during the surgery, but the former Strictly Come Dancing star said he made a will on his phone fearing the worst.

Before the surgery, George said his thoughts turned to his partner, British actress Maisie Smith, and his family who he feared he’d leave behind.

He shared updates on social media throughout the process.

While the procedure was complicated by collapsed veins caused by the condition, the surgery was successful and he returned home before Christmas.

He described his pacemaker as “the best Christmas present”.

Tom Parker, who also rose to fame in the 2010s with the boy band along with George, died at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

Entertainment

Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson announces pregnancy – and it’s twins

Published

36 mins ago

January 13, 2025

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Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson announces pregnancy - and it's twins

Former Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has announced she is pregnant with twins.

The singer, 33, said she was “eating for three now” on her Instagram alongside a polaroid picture of her with Zion Foster, with whom she was reported to have split up last year.

Nelson shared the touching post on Sunday, letting the world know she is set to become a mum for the first time – including two baby emojis next to her message.

The cosy picture shows the pair smiling in a kitchen.

Nelson rose to fame with the girl band Little Mix, which formed on The X Factor in 2011 and earned a string of UK number-one singles.

However, she left in December 2020 after nine years, saying the pressures of being in the group had taken a toll on her mental health.

Nelson has since performed as a solo artist but still had praise for her former bandmates, telling The Graham Norton Show in 2021: “To me they are still the sickest girl band in the world.”

Little Mix continued as a trio after Nelson’s departure in December 2020 before going on hiatus in 2022.

Entertainment

Duchess of Sussex delays release of Netflix series due to LA fires

Published

36 mins ago

January 13, 2025

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Duchess of Sussex delays release of Netflix series due to LA fires

The Duchess of Sussex has delayed the release of her new Netflix series due to the devastation caused by the wildfires in LA, the streaming platform has announced.

Meghan’s eight-part series, With Love, will premiere on 4 March instead of 15 January.

“I’m thankful to my partners at Netflix for supporting me in delaying the launch, as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California,” Meghan said in a statement to Tudum, the official companion site to Netflix.

Harry and Meghan comforted volunteers and handed out food to evacuees during a visit to Pasadena on Friday, where they met with the city’s mayor Victor Gordo and emergency workers tackling the Eaton Fire.

Footage showed the duchess, wearing a blue “LA” baseball cap, and the prince hugging and consoling people who had fled to the Pasadena Convention Center.

Latest on LA fires

They were also seen speaking Doug Goodwin, whose home was destroyed in the wildfires, and also to Jose Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen (WCK) which has been helping feed the public and emergency crews.

A description of the Netflix series on Tudum’s website said: “Produced by Meghan, ‘With Love, Meghan’ blends practical how-to’s and candid conversation with friends, new and old.

“Meghan shares personal tips and tricks, embracing playfulness over perfection, and highlights how easy it can be to create beauty, even in the unexpected.

“She and her guests roll up their sleeves in the kitchen, the garden, and beyond, and invite you to do the same.”

The royals live in Montecito, near Santa Barbara, around 90 miles from Los Angeles.

They are understood to have donated supplies, including clothing and children’s items, to people affected by the disaster.

They released a statement on Thursday urging people to help those affected by the wildfires and to open their homes to those evacuated.