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GEOFF KEIGHLEY: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Game Awards.
(CHEERING)
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
One of the world's most-watched awards shows is happening tonight. It's the 11th annual Game Awards. Hosted and produced by video game journalist Geoff Keighley. The self-described biggest night in gaming has been getting more popular. More than 100 million people livestreamed the event last year, even as the awards also face criticism and controversy. NPR gaming lead James Mastromarino joins us now to talk about the whole affair. Now, James, before we start, we should acknowledge that NPR is among the more than 130 media organizations who contributed to the Game Awards shortlist. So, James, how does this all work? I mean, some sort of critics' choice?
JAMES MASTROMARINO, BYLINE: Yeah, mostly. International media organizations have two voting rounds - one where they nominate games for the shortlist and another where they pick their favorites in each category. So the jury is mostly English-speaking, as you could expect from a U.S.-based show. But there's decent representation across the world, particularly in Asian countries and Brazil. But the most unique thing about the Game Awards is that 10% of the final tally comes from the public, who can vote online. There's even a players' choice category that's entirely based on online votes. So that all lends the Game Awards this kind of populist, carnival-like atmosphere compared to, say, the Oscars.
MARTÍNEZ: Ooh, players' choice. That's like when I go to Vegas. It's players' choice all around.
MASTROMARINO: (Laughter). Yeah. Yep.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. So who are the - some of the favorites to win this year?
MASTROMARINO: Yeah, it's been a mixed year for PlayStation commercially, but it's been a great year for them critically. Two PS5 exclusives lead with seven nominations, including game of the year. There's the big-budget role-playing game "Final Fantasy VII Rebirth." It's sort of a remake, sort of a sequel to the beloved RPG from 1997.
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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) We can handle this. I will reclaim our world.
MASTROMARINO: Then, kind of on the flip side, there's this cute 3D platformer, "Astro Bot," which is just pure joy to play. And it feels like PlayStation finally created something to rival the best Mario platformer games.
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KENNETH C M YOUNG: (Singing) I am Astro Bot.
MASTROMARINO: The other game of the year nominees are the politically charged metaphor, "ReFantazio," "Black Myth: Wukong" - an action game inspired by Chinese literature and mythology - and "Shadow Of The Erdtree," the expansion to the 2022 game of the year, "Elden Ring." But then there's also this little indie game, "Balatro." You can think of it as a single-player poker sort of game - all of the pleasure of gambling with none of the risk.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
MASTROMARINO: And compared to these other games, "Balatro" had an incredibly small budget but has really been blowing up. And it's been playing all of its cards right, and may actually take home the big prize this year.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, I understand that this year, some people are a little upset that too many games are eligible for awards.
MASTROMARINO: Yeah, so the main thing here is that never before has an expansion - not a full sequel, just an appendage to an existing game - been up for the big game of the year award. That's "Shadow Of The Erdtree" - again, the follow-up to the 2022 hit, "Elden Ring," which won game of the year. And some folks think that other games should be allowed to compete in that space and that "Elden Ring" already had its time.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, it sounds like the awards have been criticized for being too close to the industry for some time. Is it more like a four-hour advertisement more than an awards show like, say, the Oscars?
MASTROMARINO: Well, all awards shows exist to promote their respective industries, but the Game Awards is very nakedly a showcase. It debuts exclusive trailers and sells advertisement slots for hundreds of thousands of dollars. It broadcasts out of LA and brings out Hollywood celebrities to announce partnerships with game companies. And host Geoff Keighley rattles off some categories so fast that winners don't have the chance to give acceptance speeches. And even when they do, they often have only about a minute to do so. There are many examples of heartfelt speeches that get cut off before their time. So I'm curious to see if the awards won't be quite as rapid-fire this year.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Now, still, despite those complaints, it sounds like people are tuning in. So what are you going to be watching for?
MASTROMARINO: Yeah, so there always are big announcements and surprises. This host, Geoff Keighley, has been indicating that we're going to get some big news. I'm expecting a new trailer for "Grand Theft Auto VI," which is slated to come out next year. We also know we're getting the reveal of the new game from the 2021 game of the year winner, "It Takes Two." They'll show off what they've been cooking up. So there's always room for surprises. And my guess is come tomorrow morning, we will have a completely different set of topics to discuss.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's NPR gaming lead James Mastromarino. James, for our segment, it is game over.
MASTROMARINO: (Laughter) Game over, man. Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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