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The 2016 DICE Award Winners [UPDATED]

Hideo Kojima enters the Hall of Fame, Satoru Iwata wins a Lifetime Achievement Award, and more.

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UPDATE: That's a wrap of the livestream! Check out the winners listed below.

The original story follows below.

The 19th annual DICE Awards take place on February 18, with the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences honoring both games and individual developers. You can watch the full awards ceremony live as it happens through the stream below.

The event is scheduled to take place at 7:30 PM PST / 10:30 PM EST on Thursday, February 18. In addition to the awards for all of the standard stuff--Game of the Year, various genre-specific awards, etc.--there will be a few special awards. These include Satoru Iwata receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award and Hideo Kojima being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Technical Impact Award went to Microsoft Visual Basic.

Among the presenters will be Insomniac's Ted Price, 343 Industries' Kiki Wolfkill, Double Fine's Tim Schafer, and Guillermo Del Toro (who will also be part of a keynote with Kojima earlier in the day on Thursday). Comedian Pete Holmes will host the show for the second straight year.

The full list of awards and nominees can be found below, which include Game of the Year candidates Bloodborne, Fallout 4, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and The Witcher 3.

GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Bloodborne
  • Winner: Fallout 4
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN GAME DIRECTION

  • Winner: Fallout 4
  • Life is Strange
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Undertale

ADVENTURE GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Life is Strange
  • Winner: Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider

ACTION GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Destiny: The Taken King
  • Helldivers
  • Just Cause 3
  • Winner: Star Wars Battlefront
  • Splatoon

MOBILE GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Dominations
  • Winner: Fallout Shelter
  • Lara Croft GO
  • Pac-Man 256
  • The Room Three

DICE SPRITE AWARD

  • Her Story
  • Galak-Z
  • Kerbal Space Program
  • Winner: Rocket League
  • Undertale

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN ANIMATION

  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate
  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Winner: Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • The Order: 1886

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION

  • Lara Croft Go
  • Winner: Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • The Order: 1886
  • Star Wars Battlefront

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN CHARACTER

  • Assassin's Creed Syndicate — Evie Frye
  • Her Story — Hannah Smith
  • Life is Strange — Max
  • Winner: Rise of the Tomb Raider — Lara Croft
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt — Geralt of Rivia

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN ORIGINAL MUSIC COMPOSITION

  • Batman: Arkham Knight
  • Everybody's Gone To The Rapture
  • Winner: Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Starcraft II: Legacy Of The Void
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND DESIGN

  • Destiny: The Taken King
  • Ori and the Blind Forest
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • Winner: Star Wars Battlefront
  • The Order: 1886

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN STORY

  • Fallout 4
  • Her Story
  • Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Game Series
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

  • Just Cause 3
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider
  • Star Wars Battlefront
  • The Order: 1886
  • Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

FAMILY GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Guitar Hero Live
  • Lego Dimensions
  • Rock Band 4
  • Winner: Super Mario Maker
  • Tearaway Unfolded

FIGHTING GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Winner: Mortal Kombat X
  • Dead or Alive 5 Last Round
  • Rising Thunder

RACING GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Winner: Forza Motorsport 6
  • Need for Speed
  • Project Cars

ROLE-PLAYING/MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Bloodborne
  • Winner: Fallout 4
  • Pillars of Eternity
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
  • Undertale

SPORTS GAME OF THE YEAR

  • FIFA 2016
  • Madden NFL 2016
  • MLB 15 The Show
  • NBA 2K16
  • Winner: Rocket League

STRATEGY/SIMULATION GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Cities: Skylines
  • Fallout Shelter
  • Grey Goo
  • Winner: Heroes of the Storm
  • Kerbal Space Program

HANDHELD GAME OF THE YEAR

  • Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders from Planet Space
  • Winner: Helldivers
  • Pokemon: Super Mystery Dungeon
  • Yo-Kai Watch

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN ONLINE GAMEPLAY

  • Destiny: The Taken King
  • Halo 5: Guardians
  • Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
  • Winner: Rocket League
  • Splatoon

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN GAME DESIGN

  • Fallout 4
  • Her Story
  • Lara Croft Go
  • Massive Chalice
  • Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

[CORRECTION] An earlier version of this story reported that Shigeru Miyamoto took home the Lifetime Achievement Award. GameSpot regrets the error.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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Avatar image for deactivated-58ce94803a170
deactivated-58ce94803a170

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Yeah boy, Splatoon bout to get that Action Game of the Year award.

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blue-peregrine

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@mesome713: Sorry to bother you, but "Angry" Joe Vargas' most disappointing game of 2015 just won Action Game of the Year.

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uberwolfe

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Edited By uberwolfe

@blue-peregrine: Who?

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blue-peregrine

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@uberwolfe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIad0D3Inc0

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uberwolfe

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@blue-peregrine: hmm.. that guy is a bit of a nob...

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bigruss730

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If Witcher 3 wins 5 awards or more, it overtakes TLOU as most awarded game ever....

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Bravenz

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Go Witcher 3!!! Whooooo!!!

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BboyStatix

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I don't want witcher 3 to win cuz it won too many awards already xD

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lrdfancypants

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I'm guessing Rise will win GOTY.

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deactivated-58b0b257815cf

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@lrdfancypants:

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StereoFlava

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@lrdfancypants: Im guessing you're wrong.

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lrdfancypants

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@stereoflava:

You might be right.

I never implied my guess was a vision of future fact. :)

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deactivated-58b0b257815cf

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@lrdfancypants: GTFO...

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lrdfancypants

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@slappy54:

No...

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Solid_Answers12

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@lrdfancypants: Considering the American Writer's guild of America gave the weak version of Lara Croft best writing, I can actually see this happening.

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lrdfancypants

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@Solid_Answers12:

That was my thought as well.

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Solid_Answers12

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@lrdfancypants: The actual winner is even worse, hahahaha

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Salt_AU

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@Solid_Answers12: lol at the angry Witcher fan, stay mad my friend

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NoahRoalson

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Edited By NoahRoalson

Come on Witcher 3!

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deathwish026

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Edited By deathwish026

hideo this hideo that. everyones got a hard on for this guy for making 1 decent franchise..

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LouiXIII

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Edited By LouiXIII

@deathwish026: He also made Jackel (which was a awesome game back in the day) and Zone of Enders (which was really fun too).

He earned the praises

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WanderingKnight

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@deathwish026: He gets praise for the ambition and passion he puts into his games, not too many devs like that around. It's always about the bottom line, how much money will this make.

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Acillatem1993

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@deathwish026: You're an idiot.

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deathwish026

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@Acillatem1993: i dont think you are an idiot.

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Acillatem1993

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@deathwish026: Thanks.

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Billzihang

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Edited By Billzihang

@Acillatem1993: Not really. The fawning fanboyism and Jesus levels of praise this man has recently being receiving is pretty foul.

He makes games, a few games. As if he ALONE made them as well.

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Acillatem1993

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@billzihang: Its also worth mentioning that all the main entries of the Metal Gear saga were goty's. That being said, yes he does get a lot of praise and I don't see how its not deserved. The Metal Gear games have always been unique and different from any other games. Kojima had ideas and visions for his games which add extra flavor and makes them stand out. And if you watched any development vids you can see how heavily Kojima is involved with every aspect of his games, thinking about every little detail, even making costly changes towards the end of production, that everyone else would call insignificant. All of this is not worthy of praise? We're not talking about some Halo or Battlefield dev here whos highest achievement is that he got an 8 on Gamespot. No, we speak of the man who created some of the highest rated games of all time. If this man does not deserve praise, then show me another who managed to make all 5 games in a series games of the year. Now I don't wear Kojima printed t-shirts and scream his name on gamespot comments like some fangirl, but I respect him and appreciate the work he has done and think of him as one of the best game developers out there.

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Billzihang

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@Acillatem1993: I don't think the ridiculous amounts if attention he has got is justified. It isn't exaggerating either to say he is looked upon as some kind of Jesus figure either, with his crucifixion by the 'evil' Konami; and now his raising from the dead with his new company. There's praise; and then there's monstrous idolisation.

You should also note that I didn't single you out for individually for over-praising him, but you cannot refute the obvious saturation of Kojima-love engaged in until very recently.

He's a game celebrity, and I strongly suspect there are other game designers and people out there that are just as involved in game production, but because they aren't in the media light no-one gives two monkeys about them.

GOTY where anyway? GOTY varies from website to website, and platform to platform (where relevant).

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Acillatem1993

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@billzihang: I know what you're saying and I agree that he gets a lot of coverage here on Gamespot, like the recent news about his travel around the world on the search for inspiration and technology. But I don't think there's many people who worship him like that. Yeah there are some, I have even seen them myself, people who would probably even die for the man. But most people just enjoyed his previous works and like knowing what he is up to next, including me. Nothing wrong with that.

As for GOTY, yes GOTY varies from website to website, even so MGS games were GOTY on many websites and if they didn't win GOTY, they were still regarded as one of the best games of the year. And if that's not enough, I don't think there is any other game series that has all of its entries in the top 100 games list on Metacritic, so I think that speaks for itself.

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DaVillain

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DaVillain  Moderator

I'm calling it now, Witcher 3 wins GOTY award. You heard it right here folks :D

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stage4saiyan

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@davillain-: WRONG

R

O

N

G

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LouiXIII

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@davillain-: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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WanderingKnight

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@davillain-: A semi-open world, semi-rpg with beautiful graphics, bugs and shitty combat and controls.

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StereoFlava

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Edited By StereoFlava

@wanderingknight: Amazing story, great believable characters, attention to detail, choices that aren't black and white yet they matter in the long run, interesting sidequests, surprising amount of humanity within all of this and the sheer amount of quality content for 30-60 bucks.

Bugs? Considering this is their first Open world game and game like Fallout 4 is Bethesdas 6th or something? yet they both have about the same amount of bugs in them? Also W3 runs on a new engine while F4 still has the same engine for 10 plus years.Yet they still can't fix bugs that transfer between their games?

Semi open world? Are Bethesda games also semi-open then? I mean you have a loading screen for every house, city, cave, castle...in W3 you have a few regions where you need to fast travel and even those are needed because they are miles apart within the game world.

About combat, some people love it some hate it and Geralt's controls have been improved with alternative movement.

Anyway I am eagerly awaiting Blood and Wine because I know CDPR will once again deliver just like with Hearts of Stone(which is great DLC with 10-15 hours of content for 9 bucks unlike Destinys 40 bucks DLC with 10 hours of content plus mindless farming)

Yes the game was downgraded but the game still looks beautiful http://imgur.com/a/1ybgE

It's easy to make a few points without explaining them and have haters on the game like your comment.

Good Day

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Solid_Answers12

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Edited By Solid_Answers12

@wanderingknight: "Witcher 3 has shitty combat and controls."

Thought this was an internet meme only on sites like 4chan, seems not, though the swimming controls and Roach can get a bit frustrating, good thing they fixed that with the "alternative" movement system they brought in some patch.

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WanderingKnight

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@Solid_Answers12: "good thing they fixed that with the "alternative" movement system they brought in some patch."

They really didn't though. There's still the problem of over-throwing your run when trying to mount the horse, Geralt randomly sheathing his weapon at the worst time, the lock-on mechanism was poorly optimized, not to mention this game was released post Dark Souls, it has some of the worst combat in any game.

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NoahRoalson

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@wanderingknight: ...and one of the most engrossing tales to tell I've ever experienced.

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WanderingKnight

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@NoahRoalson: If I want an engrossing tale I'll watch a movie. Geralt sucks, too.

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berserker66666

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Edited By berserker66666

@wanderingknight: Beautiful? You mean downgraded. The game itself is good though.

http://imgur.com/a/K3uFC

http://imgur.com/a/8I1He

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razecah12

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@berserker66666: stop this downgraded bullshit, the witcher 3 is the best looking games of 2015

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WanderingKnight

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Edited By WanderingKnight

@berserker66666: What game isn't downgraded these days, it's still a good looking game on the PS4. It's unfortunate that performance suffered as a result tho.

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berserker66666

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@wanderingknight: It's mostly Ubisoft games that gets downgraded. It's not just the downgrade though. The bigger issue is false advertising and on top of that, lying about the false advertising then trying to cover it up by going into damage control mode. CDPR shamelessly did that which was shocking considering we thought they were above that level. Apparently, we can't trust no company.

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ReaperFifth

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@berserker66666: Bethesda showed us the true graphics of Fallout 4 and everyone moaned about how bad they looked.

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deactivated-58b0b257815cf

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@wanderingknight: Pfft.

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