The Last Of Us Leads The Way With 13 D.I.C.E. Awards Nominations

The 17th annual D.I.C.E. Awards are coming up on February 6, and while the video game industry’s foremost peer-based awards are celebrating the diversity inherent in our favorite form of entertainment, that doesn’t mean some games can’t dominate by appearing across many different awards categories. This year it’s “The Last of Us” that appears to have impressed the most, as Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic action-survival game racked up 13 nominations, including big ones like Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction.

The awards are given out by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, which is made up of over 22,000 people employed in the industry. While peer panels meet to decide on the finalists in each of the 24 categories, the entire membership gets to vote to determine the winners.

Other games to receive multiple nominations include “Grand Theft Auto V” with seven, “Bioshock Infinite” with six, and “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” and “Tearaway,” which got five apiece. All of those games except for “Tearaway” are also up against “The Last of Us” for Game of the Year, along with “The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.”

For the first time, the Academy is giving out an award for Online Game of the Year. It differs from the others in that the nominees don’t have to have been released within the prior calendar year, and it’s intended to recognize games that continue to give players persistently quality online experiences. Notable among the field is “World of Tanks,” which has been out for several years, but it too has to deal with “The Last of Us” if it wants to take home a trophy.

Here’s a look at the nominees in some of the most prestigious categories:

Game of the Year

• “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag”
• “Bioshock Infinite”
• “Grand Theft Auto V”
• “The Last of Us”
• “The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds”

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

• “Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons”
• “Grand Theft Auto V”
• “Papers, Please”
• “Tearaway”
• “The Last of Us”

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

• “Grand Theft Auto V”
• “Papers, Please”
• “Tearaway”
• “The Last of Us”
• “The Stanley Parable”

 Adventure Game of the Year

• “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag”
• “Tearaway”
• “The Last of Us”
• “The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds”
• “Tomb Raider”

Action Game of the Year

• “Battlefield 4”
• “Bioshock Infinite”
• “Dead Rising 3”
• “DmC: Devil May Cry”
• “RESOGUN”

Downloadable Game of the Year

• “Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons”
• “Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon”
• “Gone Home”
• “Papers, Please”
• “The Stanley Parable”

Online Game of the Year

• “Battlefield 4”
• “Borderlands 2”
• “Diablo III”
• “The Last of Us”
• “World of Tanks”

The awards will be given out on Thursday, February 6 at The Joint inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas on the final day of the 2014 D.I.C.E. Summit. A live stream will carry the show in its entirety beginning at 7:30 pm PST/10:30 pm EST.