Hideo Kojima Wins Lifetime Achievement Award at Golden Joystick 2014
Dark Souls II, Ubisoft Montreal Among Other Winners
The Golden Joystick Awards took place yesterday in the UK, and 18 winners were voted in by the fans themselves. The ceremony, which has been recognizing popular games and makers since 1983, awarded its second Lifetime Achievement award to Hideo Kojima for his contributions to the industry.
The first Lifetime Achievement award went to Ken Levine (Irrational Games) in 2013 for his work on "Bioshock."
Kojima is the Big Boss behind the "Metal Gear Solid" series, with the first title "Metal Gear" releasing back in 1987 for the MSX2, a Microsoft computer that was popular in Japan at the time. Over 25 years later, Kojima has worked with Konami (and later Kojima Productions) to set the bar for storytelling and stealth-action in nearly every generation.
Some trivia: the protagonist for most of the MGS games, Snake, is based off of Kurt Russell's character in the 1981 action flick "Escape from New York."
"Dark Souls II" took the top spot with a Game of the Year win after its critically acclaimed debut in March 2014, and Ubisoft Montreal won Studio of the Year (no doubt for its work on "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag," which won Best Audio and Best Visual Design). "Battlefield 4" won Best Multiplayer despite its rocky launch, and "Pokemon X" and "Y "won Handheld Game of the Year.
Here's the full list of winners:
- Best Original Game - DayZ
- Best Online Game - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
- Best Storytelling - The Last of Us: Left Behind
- Best Visual Design - Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Best Audio - Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
- Playfire Most Played Game - Rust
- Best Multiplayer - Battlefield 4
- Best Indie Game - DayZ
- Innovation of the Year - Oculus Rift DK2
- Best Gaming Moment - The Last of Us: Left Behind - The Kiss
- Handheld Game of the Year - Pokémon X and Y
- Best Mobile Game - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
- Most Wanted - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Gaming Personality - Pewdiepie
- Studio of the Year - Ubisoft Montreal
- Best Gaming Platform - Steam
- Lifetime Achievement - Hideo Kojima
- Game of the Year - Dark Souls II
...and a couple of acceptance speeches:
Dark Souls II
Release: 3/11/2014 [NA]
ESRB Rating: Teen
Publisher: Bandai Namco Games
Platforms: PC, PS3, Xbox 360
Purchase: Amazon
