Discussion: Could/Should Remakes get game awards (specifically GOTY) nominations?

Should remakes be nominated in game awards categories?

  • Yes, but not GOTY

    Votes: 14 17.1%

  • Yes, for all awards possible including GOTY

    Votes: 51 62.2%

  • No, they should not be nominated for any awards

    Votes: 17 20.7%
  • Total voters
    82
kicker

kicker

Banned
TGA, Bafta, DICE, whichever other award ceremonies the industry considers major. Yes, yes, game awards are part publicity events and part popularity contests, but they still stand as a way to reward certain high profile games.

I don't think remakes should get GOTY nominations. Yes, they are still games that people worked on and they deserve praise for their execution, but game awards should be given to celebrate the current best of the industry. I think newer games should always take priority for GOTY otherwise the industry just stagnates.

At best, a special category could be made to celebrate their achievements. Technical achievement alone, maybe. Anyway, I think TGA has a rule that a game needs to be originally released in the year of the awards to merit consideration, but I'm not sure about that.
What do you think?

Prompted by the fact that the highest rated games of the year so far are remakes
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A lot of amazing games still to come this year though, so this might not even be an issue in a few months
 
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A good game is a good game. It doesn't really matter if they are remakes, remasters or not.

As for awards, a simple remaster like the PS4 release of The Last of Us is a good game but it shouldn't win an award. A remake however like RE4 Remake or a reboot should be able to be nominated and win.

That's my take on it.
 
I FUCKING LOVE RE4R buy in my eyes Remake shouldn't be part GOTY they are based on already existing game. GOTY should be for new IP or new entry…..but that's just me.
 
The best game should win the best game award, if a remake from 2004 wins GOTY in 2023 then it means the industry should focus on making better current experiences, rather than blocking a remake from participating.

So yes, they should be allowed to compete.
 
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kicker said:
They've definitely been on a roll. Have any of their remakes have been nominated in previous years?

Let's not forget Dead Space and Metroid for 2023 too. Also System Shock and whichever other remakes we're yet to get this year
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I don't think any of them have been nominated. Should they be? Sure, why not, at the very least there should be a remake category for the VGA awards.
 
Of course. It's a new game built from the ground up. Has just as much chance of being a total dumpster fire as it does being a solid game.

Honestly though, awards don't matter. Personal tastes do.
 
I feel Remakes like RE 1,2,3 & 4 deserve new nominations but 1:1 remasters like TLoU and Metroid Prime don't because they are essentially the same games as before, just with a new coat of paint.
 
I think so. I mean some remakes might as well be new games, just look at FFVII. Barely even resembles the original in anything but name and is taking the story to new places.
 
Also. I playes Resi3R and loved it. Makes it!n awesome great for me. Those that playes the OG (have it on GC) woukd say otherwise, right?

If a game is entertaining it's good in my book.

Season 9 Wine GIF by Curb Your Enthusiasm
 
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22•22 said:
A game is a game and should be taken for what it is.
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killatopak said:
It doesn't really matter if they are remakes, remasters or not.
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Sleepwalker said:
The best game should win the best game award, if a remake from 2004 wins GOTY in 2023 then it means the industry should focus on making better current experiences, rather than blocking a remake from participating.

So yes, they should be allowed to compete.
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I agree if a game offers the best experience in a particular year, we shouldn't artificially prevent it from being recognized.

But will you tell me nostalgia has absolutely nothing to do with the apparent quality of a remake?
As in, if the majority of reviewers didn't grow up with those games as favourites, they would still be considered worthy of being GOTY?
 
kicker said:
I agree if a game offers the best experience in a particular year, we shouldn't artificially prevent it from being recognized.

But will you tell me nostalgia has absolutely nothing to do with the apparent quality of a remake?
As in, if the majority of reviewers didn't grow up with those games as favourites, they would still be considered worthy of being GOTY?
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Yeah that's the conundrum
 
kicker said:
I agree if a game offers the best experience in a particular year, we shouldn't artificially prevent it from being recognized.

But will you tell me nostalgia has absolutely nothing to do with the apparent quality of a remake?
As in, if the majority of reviewers didn't grow up with those games as favourites, they would still be considered worthy of being GOTY?
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It is hard to quantify, but you'd have to hope critics are able to maintain a non biased criteria. Furthermore, it's a really deep rabbit hole to go down in to, because for example a sequel or a new entry in an established franchise also carries the weight and mindshare of previous stellar work vs a completely new IP. How do we quantify that?
 
Robb said:
I mean some remakes might as well be new games, just look at FFVII. Barely even resembles the original in anything but name and is taking the story to new places.
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But those are the exceptions, no?
Sleepwalker said:
Furthermore, it's a really deep rabbit hole to go down in to, because for example a sequel or a new entry in an established franchise also carries the weight and mindshare of previous stellar work vs a completely new IP. How do we quantify that?
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Eh, I don't think it's the same. We can and do get new entries in historic franchises that people consider terrible or subpar coming after legendary games (Halo 3 -> Halo 4, RE4 -> RE5, so on). With a remake it's almost guaranteed, outside of technical issues, that people who liked the older one will like the new one.
 
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kicker said:
I agree if a game offers the best experience in a particular year, we shouldn't artificially prevent it from being recognized.

But will you tell me nostalgia has absolutely nothing to do with the apparent quality of a remake?
As in, if the majority of reviewers didn't grow up with those games as favourites, they would still be considered worthy of being GOTY?
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That's something that we can't control. However I, myself, am very critical of a remake. Nostalgia is a double edged sword. It can also be a reason for people to criticize a remake.

For example, there are certain stuff that I like in OG RE4 better than the remake. Still I recognize that the remake is an amazing game.

Another example is Warcraft 3 Reforged. I love Warcraft 3 to bits and my nostalgia is very much preventing me from liking Reforged so much so that I think Reforged is a vastly inferior product than the original release.
 
kicker said:
But those are the exceptions, no?

Eh, I don't think it's the same. We can and do get new entries in historic franchises that people consider terrible or subpar coming after legendary games (Halo 3 -> Halo 4, RE4 -> RE5, so on). With a remake it's almost guaranteed, outside of technical issues, that people who liked the older one will like the new one.
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We also get terrible remakes, case in point RE3remake, which was received poorly.
 
killatopak said:
That's something that we can't control. However I, myself, am very critical of a remake. Nostalgia is a double edged sword. It can also be a reason for people to criticize a remake.

For example, there are certain stuff that I like in OG RE4 better than the remake. Still I recognize that the remake is an amazing game.
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Of course, but in either case they would be, consciously or otherwise, praising or admonishing a game with reference to the original rather than it standing on its own merit as a videogame.
Although the original argument stands that if a game dominates the minds of the industry for its quality, that year should have that game recognized for it no matter what.

I just wouldn't enjoy watching GOTY 2023 to be between Dead Space, System Shock, Metroid, RE4make, and Silent Hill
 
i'm not against remakes or remaster's, i might play System Shock if it's good and would love both Fallout 3 and New Vegas to get that treatment, but if they are the GOTY winner's, it doesn't say much for new original games, IP's or creativity.
 
Yes. One of my most petty annoyances is OPENCRITIC's policy on not including remakes specifically (remasters I can see) in their "Best of. . ." rankings. It is absolutely ABSURD that RE4R is not on their Hall of Fame despite being - I think I don't know - built from the ground up.

. . .like there is clearly a fine line and PERSONA 5 Royal shouldn't win best new RPG as an "enhanced edition" of the base game despite the added content, but games that are literally only sharing the "idea" of the previous game. . .no, that's a new damn game.
 
22•22 said:
I prefer the OG HALO CE
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Sleepwalker said:
We also get terrible remakes, case in point RE3remake, which was received poorly.
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Fair. Sometimes a remake isn't great.

But great or not, I believe it is still compared with the originals, and nostalgia *does* affect its perception. And so even if it is 'built from the ground up' It is still copying the plans of another game, with most of the work done on presentation
 
No, GOTY should be an absolutely unique and fun experience. It needs to check all of the boxes. A remake is not unique. It's the same thing that was made before, but just better. It could get a "best remake" award, but that is it
 
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If it's an actual remake built from the ground up then yes I don't see the issue.
If it's just a remaster then no as I don't really consider it to be a new game.

Either way it's probably not going to be too relevant this year as Zelda will probably get most of the awards from the media this year.
 
Yes. If it's just a great game then I don't see a reason for it to be excluded just because it's based on an older title. If it's an actual remake, i.e. a game that uses the original as a base but provides a transformative experience that's different from the work that it is based on, then it's just a new game that should be judged on its own merits.

As for remasters, i.e. games that didn't change anything about the experience and merely gave them a fresh coat of paint, that would qualify for its own separate category at best.
 
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Fbh said:
If it's an actual remake built from the ground up then yes I don't see the issue
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Drizzlehell said:
then it's just a new game that should be judged on its own merits.
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I'll repeat my earlier post since I think it applies here.

I agree if a game offers the best experience in a particular year, we shouldn't artificially prevent it from being recognized.

But will you tell me nostalgia has nothing to do with the apparent quality of a remake? Even though these games are reviewed with statements like 'a great remake' or 'this is how a remake should be done'.
As in, if the majority of reviewers didn't grow up with those og games as favourites, would the remakes still be considered worthy of being GOTY? Taken as their own games?
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Basically, is RE4make different enough from RE4 that you consider it an entirely new game? FFVII remake maybe, but Dead Space?
 
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kicker said:
Basically, is RE4make different enough from RE4 that you consider it an entirely new game? FFVII remake maybe, but Dead Space?
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Yes, RE4 remake is just a great game and I would still love it even if I haven't played the original. It's also a very transformative work, to the point where I wouldn't even want to compare the two because of how different they are.
 
Drizzlehell said:
Yes, RE4 remake is just a great game and I would still love it even if I haven't played the original.
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Yes, great game design is great game design. Do you think it have the same GOTY rating to you (not just a great game rating) and the wider gaming audience if the original didn't exist and it launched as its own game in 2023?
 
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I personally think it should be viable for GOTY, especially those that change up gameplay to some extent as well. I have a feeling Dead Space will be my GOTY.

But having a separate category is a given, I think it's crazy they have one for "best content creator" and shit but don't have one for "Best Remaster/Remake/Reimagination"
 
kicker said:
Yes, great game design is great game design. Do you think it have the same GOTY rating to you (not just a great game rating) and the wider gaming audience if the original didn't exist and it launched as its own game in 2023?
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Well, then it would just be a new Resident Evil game so I don't have any reason to believe that it wouldn't get the same level of attention. Fans would also probably be very hyped that this would be a new game with a returning fan-favorite character in a starring role instead of a boring new character like Ethan.
 
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