Pondering a Hugo for Video Games

[alias_sqbr]

Having been thinking about the Hugos it occurred to me that video games aren't eligible. After discussing it with Cam we agreed that while the odd game might be worthy of one there isn't generally enough of them in any given year to justify a whole category.

Still, it was fun trying to list games (from all time, not just this year) we felt were worthy of at least being nominated. Cam was initially only allowing games he felt had a plot as good as a Hugo award winning novel, but I pointed out that tv, movies, and art all have their own categories, so imo a winning game should be a combination of good sff ideas, plot, art, feel etc as well as, of course, a good game. (Here's the recent long-form drama winners which I think is the closest category)

So, the ones we thought of:
The Myst games, especially Riven
Gabriel Knight 2 and 3
Bioshock
Several of the Final Fantasy games (my vote's for X but I'm a sucker for humanist fantasy)

Haven't played but seem like they might be suitable:
Half Life 2
Fallout 3
Mass Effect
Dead Space
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

Some related stuff I found by poking around:
Wired: Hugo Awards Overdue For A Videogame Category
10 videogames that redefine science fiction

Comments

[violetsquirrel.livejournal.com]

Almost every game in the Shin Megami Tensei series (at least the ones that I've played or read through which is most of the PS2-era ones). They're a bit like Final Fantasy only darker and with much deeper storylines and characters. In particular the two Digital Devil Saga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Devil_Saga) games.

[alias_sqbr]

They sound cool. Curse my monolinguality! Though, hmm, "Digital Devil Saga" is available in English... *reminds self I'm still working through the final fantasy games I borrowed off Penchaft*

[violetsquirrel.livejournal.com]

All of the latter ones are available in English, although some of them are only out in American region. IIRC there are fan translations for some of the earlier ones too. I wouldn't even try playing one of these in Japanese, they're way too involved.

Your problem is more likely to be that they're really, really difficult. Persona 3 is the easiest one and I'm happy to lend it to you if you want XD but Digital Devil Saga is a bit of an exercise in running madly between save points hoping that you don't die. On the other hand it's a lot shorter than the others since both games kind of count as one (by which I mean they're maybe 30-40 hours each instead of 80 or so like Persona games).

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. Given that I TOTALLY SUCK at video games maybe not then :)