Working Title 07.22.11: Working Title Halftime Awards Nominations (Part 1)

Posted by Jordan Williams on 07.22.2011

From Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mortal Kombat to Duke Nukem Forever, Pokemon White/Black and more, 411's Jordan Williams announces the nominations for the 2011 Working Title Mid-Year Awards! Check out the full article to see all the nominees!

Totally going to be an add covering this up...


Welcome to the #1 Column to get in a car accident and be in the hospital for the last month, WORKING TITLE! Sorry about the downtime, but about a month and a half ago I actually got in a pretty gnarly car accident and decided to take some time off from the site. But all of that has passed now and it's time to get back to business lest I lose my status as the LONGEST RUNNING ANYTHING on the Games Section.

But what the hell do I write about? I haven't been following game news at all during my hiatus and E3 is way too far gone to talk some shit about the Wii U or anything like that. What do I bitch about that hasn't been bitched about already? I suppose I could go ahead and make a giant long rant about how Duke Nukem Forever is the best game to ever come out in 1999 and was destined to suck in 2011 bu--

Wait a second.

It's July.

What the fuck am I doing contemplating some sort of deeper meaning column when the year is almost half over and it's time for the WORKING TITLE HALFTIME AWARDS! That's right, it's about that time where we see how we stand for the first half of the year in regards to the completely superlative titles I decide to throw out to various video games, characters, and game mechanics. You all should know the rules by now. I list out the nominees for each of the categories and you call get to vote...or not vote...or just say your opinion. This week kicks off the first half of the nominees with the old favorites like the Award for Manliness and what not. So without wasting any more time let's just hop right into it.



Working Title Halftime Awards 2011 Nominees Part 1

Part of me wants to say that the first half of 2011 seems to have been a bit slow, but then the more I think about it seems that we really did get a lot off decent games out in but it just didn't seem like it was the WHAM BANG year like last year was. Does that mean 2011 has been disappointing so far? Sort of. But it doesn't mean that wading through all of the mediocrity doesn't yield a few little diamonds in the rough. We just don't have Mass Effect 2 and Red Dead Redemption this year to set the bar as high as it did.

So let's start it off with the award I personally like the most...


Games/Characters/Whatever had to come out in AMERICA by the FIRST WEEK of July to be eligible for Halftime Awards

The Kratos Award for Manliness

The Award of Manliness is handed down yet again from badass male character to badass male character. The name on the mantle changes every 6 months depending on who wins it. Last year history was made and Kratos of God of War became the first (and so far) ONLY character to win the Manliness Award for the entire yet. Then again last year we were going up against guys like George Woodman from Deadly Premonition. But this year...this year is pretty goddamn packed. How packed? You say? IT HAS DUKE NUKEM IN IT. How's that for packed?



Johnny Cage

It might've been a long time since we've been CAGED but Johnny Cage finally came back with a decent game and a decent showing IN it for once. There is no doubt in my mind that Cage is a manly motherfucker that can kick ass...but if you actually beat his arcade mode MK9 you find out that he is actually one of the strongest characters in the game by the end of it. So does Johnny Cage have what it takes to truly be the manliest man of the halftime or do we bet against...

Duke Nukem

Do you dare? DO YOU FUCKING DARE BET AGAINST DUKE? Okay, his game might be a little too little too late but there is NO denying that Duke Nukem is probably one of the most badass characters that has ever walked the face of the Earth. Fuck if you really want to think about it Duke Nukem might be the very inspiration for this award in the first place. He kills aliens, saves babes, drinks beer, and only shows up about once a decade to do something awesome. Everything you want in a badass.

Grayson Hunt

You know how people say I cuss too much in this column? Have any of them actually ever played Bulletstorm or just had a conversation with Grasyon Hunt? If you did he probably said something along the lines of "I am the fucking manliest dick master on the face of this fucking shit soaked piss awards dicksock jamboree." Seriously, he is like the worst part of every bad asperger syndrome stereotype mixed in with an 11 year old that just learned that he can cuss when his parents are around. But that doesn't change the fact that the mad pretty much destroyed an entire planet by himself...more or less.

Geralt (The Witcher)

While everyone else here might be a little bit more silly there is NO ROOM for that in Geralt's world. He is serious. He is determined. In fact he is the goddamned Witcher and he will NOT STAND for anyone else belittling the title of manly as long he is around. He might have some clunky ass combat that he has to work through but you won't even remember that when he is banging your girlfriend in the first twenty minutes of the game. Yeah. He's that good.


The Dormroom Dominator Award

I know year after year I always say I am going to change the name of this award but you know what? Ever since graduating I still think of pretty much any room with a big ass TV and a game system in front of it as a dorm room. This award is pretty much for the game that had the best multiplayer or opportunities to just "Bro Out" and play some games with buddies. That doesn't mean that the multiplayer had to be the best multiplayer ever in the face of the world or that it had to be groundbreaking. It really just needed to be fun enough that you are able to relive the days of couch co-op and just have some good old nasty ass fun.



Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Even thought I ranted about how unhappy I was with the original product (more on that later) there is still no denying that MvC3 dominated a lot of the multiplayer waves this year so far. Bringing back the franchise after it has been dead/gone for so long really breathed a lot of new life into it and actually introduced a lot of people to the world of MvC that might not have been around during the heyday. But we always know that fighting games tend to do really well in this format so how about we nominate some good old fashioned SHOOTAN?

Brink

...Yeah. Brink was...divisive at best. Not everyone really liked it but most agreed that when played with the right people it actually ended up being a really good game if you played it with a group of people. And since that's the main crux of these awards I figure that deserves and warrants a nomination at least. Besides it's not like any other good shooters came out this year so far...

Mortal Kombat

And with that we are BACK to fighting! I don't know what it is about games where you just have two characters punching the ever-loving shit out of each other but it just really lends itself well to the whole co-op nature of the beast. Plus add in the fact that Mortal Kombat is actually a pretty damned competent fighting this time around and it actually earned the respect of (some) of the fighting game purists out there and it actually has a good shot of no longer being a laughing stock but now finally being a game that people actually want to play for more than the fatalities.

Pokémon White/Black

It's. Fucking. Pokémon.

Not a Bang, but a Whimper Award

Now this is for the games that can't all be winners...I think. This award is for the games that had a lot of hype going into release and for some reason or another they just didn't pan out. Either they didn't make the money back financially or critically they flopped. Basically going into release they had all of the power and then once they left release they were pretty much shit on. In years past it usually leaned more towards games that just undersold but it seems this year there have been more critical flops than financial ones so don't be surprised if a game you actually LIKED is on the list.



Homefront

Remember when I said there weren't any other good shooters released this year? It was totally a snipe at this game. THQ is doing better with trying to get on par with being a big developer/publisher like EA and Activision so of course they tried to hop on the Modern Warfare bandwagon and get a modern combat game going. Of course it sort of backfired because the game completely tanked both critically and commercially. Maybe they should just stick to Saints Row and be done with it. Or wrestling games. Or...Saints Row wrestling games.


Dragon Age II

And here we go. While I personally did not have too much of a problem with Dragon Age II it seems like I was in the minority since pretty much everyone else found a major problem with this game. Either it was the recycled maps or the new combat system or the fact that your main character actually talks and has some semblance of a (naturally douchey) personality or the fact that it just seemed like...not a Dragon Age game. Either way it sold fairly well but many fear the backlash the game had will forever tarnish the reputation of BioWare...even to the point where people are condemning Mass Effect 3 before it even comes out.


Marvel vs. Capcom 3

Oh yeah, you weren't getting away. I might like playing you and a lot of other people might like playing you but that doesn't excuse the fact that MvC3 seemed like half a game from the get go. Of course this is Capcom and we are used to tons of iterations of their fighting games but at least the originals seemed to be fully fledged games in their own right. With MvC3 we were missing vital components in MANY fighting games that were already on market and components that CAPCOM THEMSELVES INVENTED. Of course this all changed about 48 hours ago...but again...more on that later. Still, the fact that MvC3 came out the way it does definitely means that there is something there to whimper about.


Duke Nukem Forever

You knew this one wasn't getting away either. After nearly a decade and a half of being the butt of every game developer joke from here to Half Life Episode 3...it FINALLY came out...and it pretty much sucked. Even though I enjoyed DNF for what it was it's in the same way one would enjoy a really bad SyFy movie. You embrace the fact that it's shit and then pick out the pieces you like or just revel in the overall shittyness of it. DNF was that game. It might've been foregone conclusions that after that long the game was just going to suck out loud...but we all held hope a small glimmer of hope that DNF would be something. And we were wrong. Dead wrong.






The Die in a Fire Award

In what is probably my second favorite award out of the group, the DIAF award is just the shit that we just don't LIKE. It can be a game, a game developer, a mechanic or a character...whatever it is just needs to die. Of course this was universally always just a sounding board for random ass grievances but this year this seems like there are a little more serious things to gripe about. Well...except for that one asshole on the list. He knows who he is. At least this year it doesn't feature anything from Activision!


Developer's Bad Excuses

Now I usually side with the business side of stuff when it comes to games...but some of the excuses this year that some of the developers have been spewing out are just flat out bullshit. DNF having a two weapon limit because they couldn't map it on the controller? MvC3 not having spectator lobbies because of memory issues? I can understand when there is a legit reason why something isn't included/excluded from a game but at least take the effort to come up with a decent lie for make a day one patch so it at least makes me THINK that I am not getting ripped off in the end instead of telling me some excuse that not even a new gamer would fall for.


Shao Khan

It happens every year. Every single year someone gets the one line nomination that's just two simple words. Congratulations, Shao Khan. This year it's you.

FUCK. YOU. SHAO KHAN


Nintendo Magic

Now I don't have too much of a problem with Nintendo...but I am now officially getting sick of the Nintendo Magic they constantly pull. They know how to play their audience so well that they seem to get away scot free from a lot of the scrutiny they should be getting. Case in point? The 3DS. If this was a handheld launch by Sony or Microsoft there would be a shit storm of epic proportions going on but this time it just seems that everyone is holding out going "Don't worry! They'll make it good!" and Nintendo's definition of making it good is just to re-release a game again or...as much as I hate the word....REHASH something to shut the fanboys up instead of actually putting in the effort to make something worthwhile. I don't want to see Nintendo fail...I really don't. But I think the Wii U is going to be a learning experience for them in the bad way.


Hating Miniscule Moments of Innovation

Iron Sights, Regenerating Health, Quest Markers, Save Points, Retrys, and Infinite Sprint. What do they all have in common? They are things that have been added to most modern FPS games to streamline and make the experience easier and honestly didn't change too much. But for some reason these are public enemy #1 because no matter what you will ALWAYS find something to complain about...ESPECIALLY if it's one of things I've listed. But for the life of me I cannot understand why these things are hated. So if you are one of those people who constantly complain that "OMG NO MORE HEALTHPACKS I HAVE TO BACKTRACK THROUGH THE STAGE TO FIND" then you might be the lucky recipient of a DIAF Award!

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And that will actually do it for Part 1 of the nominations. Next week we will look at who is the Baddest Bitch So Far as well as Game of the Year So Far for 2011. I'll give you a hint.

Duke Nukem Forever is nominated.

But first...

Working Question

So now that Capcom has killed Megaman Legends 3 and put out another 40 dollar expansion/remake/what they should've done the first time for a fighting game in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3...how do you feel? Has Capcom sold out or is this just what they need to do to survive? The internets is currently in a giant frenzy and are condemning Capcom to a world of hell reserved only for Bobby Kotick but I am interested in what you guys think.

I'll have my response next week.

Until next time, I'm Jordan Williams...and...TAKE US OUT, JOHNSON!