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2014 DICE Awards battle royale has The Last of Us leading the numbers game

It’s a blockbuster year at the 2014 DICE Awards, with the newly revealed list of nominees for the annual event embracing a distinctly AAA focus. The leading nominee is The Last of Us, with 13 nominations in 12 categories (Joel and Ellie received separate nods in Outstanding Character Performance), including the top Game of the Year prize. Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic adventure is joined by four other familiar favorites from 2013 in the GotY race: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black FlagBioShock InfiniteGrand Theft Auto V, and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

The 12 categories that The Last of Us appears in makes it the most-nominated game by a wide margin, with GTA V and BioShock trailing at 7 and 6 nominations, respectively. Rayman Legends, Tearaway, and AC4 tie for 5 nods apiece, and the numbers trail off after that. The biggest surprise, however, is Gone Home. The Fullbright Company’s debut effort drew Game of the Year nods from a great many outlets (including this one), but it only snagged one nod from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences – for Downloadable Game of the Year. 

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The 17th Annual DICE Awards close out the 2014 DICE Summit on February 6 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. You can check out the full list of nominees in the official PDF right here.

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
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That’s when I was hit by the one moment of the game I’ll never forget. As I was deep in reflection, the credits wrapped up, and a final bit of text splashed on the screen. As a reward for finishing the brutal story, I had unlocked New Game+ mode, which would encourage me to replay it again with all my upgraded guns. The benefit of the doubt I’d given Naughty Dog went out the window; did the studio even understand its own game?

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While that may come as a disappointment to Naughty Dog fans looking forward to its take on a live-service game set in The Last of Us universe, its cancellation is a necessity for the company. It's a hard decision that will allow the studio to continue doing what it does best rather than giving in to what's trendy.
Cutting losses
Naughty Dog's official statement on why it decided to halt production on this project paints a very clear picture: the studio wanted to put the same amount of time, care, and ambition into every component of The Last of Us Online as it would a single-player title. After evolving into a full live-service effort, upholding that level of quality would have become the studio's sole focus. Seeing the road it was about to embark on, Naughty Dog had to choose between becoming a studio that only made The Last of Us Online, or one that could continue to create single-player experiences that have helped define PlayStation's modern image. It was both a hard decision and an obvious choice.

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Naughty Dog officially announced and released the first trailer for a remaster of 2020's critically acclaimed The Last of Us Part II. The developer was forced to announce The Last of Us Remastered Part II Remastered a bit early after it leaked Friday afternoon. Thankfully, the wait for the remaster won't be long, as it's coming to the PlayStation 5 in two months.

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