Japan Game Awards 2014 Winners Chosen at Tokyo Game Show 2014

The 18th annual Japan Game Awards was held today (the first day of TOKYO GAME SHOW 2014) at the Event Stage (Hall 8) in Makuhari Messe.

The Game of the Year Division was a tie between Monster Hunter 4 (Capcom) and YO-Kai Watch (Level-5, Inc.)

Two titles were selected for the Grand Award as the Japan Game Awards Selection Committee considered them to be the fitting titles to represent the year of 2013, in addition to receiving many supports by general voters. The “Monster Hunter 4”, which has gone beyond the borders of a game and created a new communication, has introduced a new system in every series. Wide range of users from the conventional core fans to the new users who played this game for the first time gave a support with high anticipation for the next series, leading to winning the Grand Award.
The “YO-Kai Watch,” which revitalized an ancient Japanese character, YO-Kai (specter) and focused on the viewpoints of children, has brought a new social movement for children. It was highly praised for getting beyond a game industry and presenting a new entertainment format in which parents can enjoy with kids, leading to winning the Grand Award.

Titles with overwhelming support by wide range of fans including core fans received the ‘Award of Excellence’ one after another!

– “DARK SOULS Ⅱ”
It received overwhelming support by fans of the series for its high level of strategy in the solo play and online play with a united front.

– “FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn”
Beautiful graphic and characters for the series and wealth of scenario setting attracted high remarks from the fans. Some even said “it’s the best MMORPG in Japan!”

– “Kan Colle”
It has a game design based on history and peripheral content including historical sites attracted attention and received support from various range of fans from game users to history fans.

– “METAL GEAR SOLID V：GROUND ZEROS”
Many users praised its mission with freedom and live presence, and showed high expectations for the main story.

– “PUZZLE & DRAGONS Z”
Many children who were waiting for its release expressed their burst of joy, saying “I can now play it on my DS!” Also, merging of the puzzle and RPG and periodically-distributed “special dungeons” captivated the users and the game received many praises for being fun and enjoyable with a simple operation.

– “Super Mario 3D World”
With abundance of new attractions such as “Cat Mario” which made its first appearance, “Double Cherry” whose clones keep growing, headgears, and so on, fun of operating four unique characters and clearing 3D stages received many praises that “they enjoyed the game with family or friends.”

– “The Last of Us”
It has a mind-bending live feeling by its realistic graphic and sound and sense of urgency of survival. It received an enthusiastic support as a “title which drew out the ultimate PS3’s performance” for the emotional involvement to the main character, sense of immersion into the game, etc.

The Game Designers Award went to Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

The head judge, Mr. Masahiro Sakurai (President of Sora Ltd.) explains the reasons for selecting this title as follows:

“A sensation where you operate the game by moving two brothers using the right and left sticks simultaneously is refreshing and represents a characteristic of an indie game well. The content demonstrates certainty as a story and affinity as a game system. In
addition, this title surpassed other titles, although by a slim margin, with its craftsmanship of the game world atmosphere, which led to winning of this award.”

“The Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award” went to Mr. Akihiro Hino, President and CEO, LEVEL-5 Inc.

Source: Press Release

Nathan Stevens

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I have always enjoyed playing video games and am a programming team lead for a video game company. I co-founded Gaming Cypher because I enjoy the gaming community and would like to provide the best news service around. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will make sure to get back to you quickly.