2003 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Tony Hawk's Underground, Madden NFL 2004, NBA Live 2004, ESPN NBA Basketball, Final Fantasy X-2, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Sonic Heroes, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Uru: Ages Beyond Myst, and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. New intellectual properties included Beyond Good & Evil, Boktai: The Sun is in Your Hand, Call of Duty, Disgaea, Drakengard, Manhunt, PlanetSide, TrackMania, True Crime: Streets of LA, and Viewtiful Joe.
FromSoftware, Inc. is a Japanese video game development and publishing company. It was founded by Naotoshi Zin in Tokyo on November 1, 1986. Initially a developer of business software, the company released their first video game, King's Field, for the PlayStation in 1994. Its success shifted FromSoftware to focus fully on games, with them producing two more King's Field games before creating the mecha combat series Armored Core (1997), one of their flagship franchises.
Santa Monica Studio is an American video game developer based in Los Angeles. A first-party studio for Sony Interactive Entertainment, it is best known for developing the God of War series. The studio was founded in 1999 by Allan Becker and was located in Santa Monica, California, until relocating to Playa Vista in 2014.
Atari SA is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive.
The Deutscher Computerspielpreis is a prize mainly aimed at the German games industry and has been awarded since 2009. The DCP is awarded by the Cabinet of Germany and the German Games Industry Association game. In addition to awards, chosen categories receive various amounts of prize money donated by supporters of the award ceremony.
Limbic Entertainment GmbH is a German video game developer based in Langen. The studio was founded in 2002.
Dark Souls is a series of action role-playing games developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It began with the release of Dark Souls (2011) and has seen two sequels, Dark Souls II (2014) and Dark Souls III (2016). The series was created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and has received critical acclaim, with its high level of difficulty being among its most discussed aspects, while the first Dark Souls is often cited as one of the greatest games of all time. By 2023, the series had shipped over 35 million copies outside of Japan. Other FromSoftware games, including Demon's Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring, share several related concepts and are commonly grouped together as Soulsbornes.
The SXSW Gaming Awards were awards given to video games during the annual South by Southwest Festival (SXSW), held in Austin, Texas typically in March of that year. The Awards were part of the SXSW Gaming Expo which is part of the SXSW Interactive branch of the festival.
Elden Ring is a 2022 action role-playing game developed by FromSoftware. It was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki with worldbuilding provided by fantasy writer George R. R. Martin. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 25 by FromSoftware in Japan and Bandai Namco Entertainment internationally. Players control a customizable player character who is on a quest to repair the Elden Ring and become the new Elden Lord.
The 19th Game Developers Choice Awards is an annual awards ceremony by Game Developers Choice Awards held at the Game Developers Conference, for outstanding game developers and video games. It was hosted by Tim Schafer.
The Game Award for Game of the Year is an award presented annually by The Game Awards. It is given to a video game judged to deliver the best experience across creative and technical fields. The award is traditionally accepted by the game's directors or studio executives. The process begins with over 100 video game publications and websites, which collectively name six games as nominees. After the nominees are selected, the winner is chosen by a combined vote between the jury and public voting.
The 20th Game Developers Choice Awards was an annual awards ceremony by Game Developers Choice Awards for outstanding game developers and video games held on March 18, 2020, hosted by Kim Swift. Though normally held at the Game Developers Conference, due to the 2020 coronavirus outbreak, the conference was postponed to later in 2020, and the awards were presented via online streaming media, alongside the Independent Games Festival awards.
Stray is a 2022 adventure game developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive. The story follows a stray cat who falls into a walled city populated by robots, machines, and mutant bacteria, and sets out to return to the surface with the help of a drone companion, B-12. The game is presented through a third-person perspective. The player traverses the game world by leaping across platforms and climbing up obstacles, and can interact with the environment to open new paths. Using B-12, they can store items found throughout the world and hack into technology to solve puzzles. Throughout the game, the player must evade the antagonistic Zurks and Sentinels, which attempt to kill them.
God of War Ragnarök is an action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released worldwide on November 9, 2022, for both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, marking the first cross-gen release in the God of War series. It is the ninth installment in the series, the ninth chronologically, and the sequel to 2018's God of War. Loosely based on Norse mythology, the game is set in ancient Scandinavia and features series protagonist, Kratos, and his now teenage son, Atreus. Concluding the Norse era of the series, the game covers Ragnarök, the eschatological event which is central to Norse mythology and was foretold to happen in the previous game after Kratos killed the Aesir god Baldur.
The 21st Game Developers Choice Awards was an annual awards ceremony by Game Developers Choice Awards for outstanding game developers and video games held on July 21, 2021. The awards ceremony was held alongside the Independent Games Festival awards, with both events presented through virtual streaming video due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Hades was named as Game of the Year.
Pentiment is an adventure role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Xbox Game Studios. The game was released on November 15, 2022, for Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S platforms.
The Game Awards 2022 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2022. The event was hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 8, 2022. The preshow ceremony was hosted by Sydnee Goodman. The event was live streamed across more than 40 digital platforms, alongside an additional IMAX experience. It featured musical performances from Halsey, Hozier, and Bear McCreary, and presentations from celebrity guests, including Reggie Fils-Aimé, Al Pacino, Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, and Ken and Roberta Williams. The show introduced a new Best Adaptation award for media adapted from video games.
The D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the academy's annual D.I.C.E. Awards. This recognizes "the individual or small group of individuals who are responsible for directing and driving an interactive game and its team through a combination of skills that include vision, management execution, and game design to create a cohesive experience. This award recognizes the role of the creative director and game director - in guiding all elements of a title and shaping the final outcome of a game."
The British Academy Video Games Award for Original Property is an award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). It is given in honor to "the best game which is not part of an established series and represents a new intellectual property".
