D.I.C.E. Awards Nominees Announced, The Last Of Us Leads

The game won multiple accolades late last year, and now it’s primed to win even more.

Today, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for the 17th annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Naughty Dog’s revered title, The Last Of Us, led the way with 13 nominations, including Game of the Year. For the record, the other GotY candidates are Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Bioshock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto V and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

TLoU was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Achievement in Story, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Adventure Game of the Year, Online Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, and two nods for Outstanding Character Performance (Joel and Ellie).

In response to the numerous nominations, Naughty Dog said on Twitter:

“Floored and deeply honored that The Last of Us has been nominated for 13 awards this year. So exciting.”

For the full list of nominees, head on over to GameSpot.

The D.I.C.E. Awards will be held Thursday, February 6 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as part of the 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit. Furthermore, the event will pay homage to Defender and Robotron: 2084 designer Eugene Jarvis; he will receive the prestigious Pioneer Award. As for the nominated titles, they were chosen by the Academy’s Peers Panel, and now the Academy’s 22,000+ members will vote to determine the winners.

Naughty Dog, the elite developer of a generation

It’s difficult to produce a new IP that, in time, will be considered iconic, if not legendary. There’s a very strong chance that Naughty Dog managed to produce not one,  but two such IPs during the previous generation (Uncharted and The Last Of Us). In my estimation, their work really is head-and-shoulders above other designers in a variety of important categories, and they really pushed the PlayStation 3 hardware. Right now, I think that team is just operating at another level, plain and simple.

Can’t wait to see Uncharted 4 on PS4.