You make a good point there. ANB strived to be ambitious but failed miserably whereas BOUT had very modest strivings but succeeded utterly and completely. I guess it's just what you like better. An ambitious game that turned out wrong or a run of the mill game that turned out just right.

You can't call the Awards a big letdown, just because a favorite games isn't nominatet in a specific catagory, and BoUT still has a chance at the most important award "Best Game" (Which i hope it will win).

I haven't played all the games nominatet, so i can't comment on all the catagories, more importantly is however that i noticed that there are several catagories where i simply can't remember how good the games i played actually was:)

The things I remember very clearly are things like the Story, the Writing, the Characters, the Humor, the Voice Acting and the Gameplay.
Wheras Graphics, Animation, Music and Sound effects, might play an important part in the overall experience of the game, but it is rarely something I remember.

Am I the only one who tends to forget these things?

iv played through 9 of the 67 nominees, definitely some great games and definitely some disappointments. The biggest disappointment probably being a new beginning, which had terrible voice acting and a really so-so plot.
i applaud the aggie list for including gray matter on best music. The game had a variety of flaws but the music was brilliant and easily the best music of the games i played this year.
If i had to pick best game of the year from the 67, i'd probably go with ghost trick or edna and harvey.

You can't say that in the year that we also saw Gemini Rue.

But granted, the non-traditional category reigns supreme this year!

I've only played 6 games out of the 67 that qualify for nomination. I'm quite confident though, that after playing all 67 my votes would remain the same.

Dude, calm down. You have every right to think BoUT has the best setting, but others have every right to think BoUT "stole" its setting from any or every fantasy game/movie/book in existence.
While the locations you mention do sound cool (and I'm definitely not going to judge them before I've played the game), some of them can also be found in The Lord of the Rings, Simon the Sorcerer, Harry Potter, Monkey Island, Discworld, King's Quest, etc. So you can see it's really up for debate...

Maybe Gabe prefers an imaginative, fun setting to a boring one.

Here's to Death in bunny slippers!

I'm calm but you're not,keep on bashin the game without playing,saying a thievery and tryin to school others like The Lord of the Rings, Simon the Sorcerer, Harry Potter, Monkey Island, Discworld, King's Quest, etc have common setting nonsense,with full of prejudice about genre's merits you leave nothing to debate but your insolence.

I'm confused. The main article doesn't mention Baron Wittard in any category and the place where we vote lists it in most categories. What is the purpose of the nominations then?

Then what is he doing playing BoUT? (Ha!)

You insolent, useless son of a peasant dog! (Come on Timovieman, you of all people should know where I'm quoting this from!) How dare you disagree with someone who clearly points out that quality/originality comes from where the action is taking place. :pan:

Now there's a calm answer, if I've ever seen one. ;)

I basically agree with you on the graphics question btw. but you are really overreacting.

The problem might be with the wording of this category's description, especially the little word "wow."
Because it describes exactly what I thought when the first screenshots of Book of Unwritten Tales were released. Now this is a matter of taste, of course, but on top of that you and me are concentrating on that "wow"-factor, while the staff is really looking for the most distinctive styles.
I would recognize a screen from BOUT anytime, but very few people would disagree that Ghost Trick or A New Beginning stand out more. They do nothing really new or revolutionary graphic wise, imo, but they stand out nonetheless. Not many companies would even consider doing a full blown 2D adventure like ANB these days and that should be worth something, too, in my book. That's the "wow"-factor of this game, there's your incredible amount of work right there. Same with the others of course, like already pointed out.
Now the amount of work invested into something doesn't necessarily equal quality but if you recognize it for one game you shouldn't neglect it for others.

Is this BOUT non-argument still going on? Of course it's a nice looking game, and has great settings as well, and we obviously gave it plenty of consideration. It just wasn't enough to beat out five others per category, simple as that. It's a credit to those other games that they were nominated, not an insult to BOUT. Other years it might have wiped the floor with the competition. This year it didn't.

The nomination article is a list of staff finalists. Our award winners will come from one of those. The public poll includes all eligible games.

You should be banned for this.

What you mean by that?

2011 was pretty mediocre for adventure games. If BOUT should have wiped the floor with the competition, it should be this year.

Only extreme offtopicness or not bending over for female users guarantees a ban here, not being annoying :devil:.
But lighten up, man.

Let's drop the insults, joking or no.

It means it may have been an overwhelming winner over everything else.

BOUT didn't make our top 100 list of all-time adventures for nothing. But that doesn't mean other games don't do one single thing better in any given category. In the two categories you mentioned, we thought others did.

I'm not bashing the game. I even distinctively said I wouldn't do such a thing to a game I haven't played. I'm just stating that those "original locations" you mentioned can also be found in other games or movies. I'm not saying they're bad, but I want the idea that they've never been done before out of the way...
Besides, a lot of really good games did so on "stolen" or "borrowed" settings. Doesn't take away from the quality of the game...

For what it's worth: BoUT is on my list of games to play, and not even all that low...

Tim Spall FTW! :D