Eidos nominated for four Baftas
Congratulations must be awarded to Eidos Interactive for their four nominations at the Baftas, but are things really as clear cut as they seem?
According to a release received this morning, Eidos Interactive have the honour of being nominated for four of the gaming Baftas this year, but once again the integrity of the nomination process comes under fire. The games Eidos are looking to win prizes with are Deus Ex for the PC Games Award, Thief 2 : The Metal Age for the Sound award, Sydney 2000 for the Sports Award, and TimeSplitters for the Console Games Award. This may sound all well and good, but TimeSplitters is actually a PlayStation 2 launch title.. in other words it hasn't been released and won't even see the light of day over here until November 24th and as such it won't actually have been played by anyone in this country when the time comes to hand out the award. John Davies, Eidos' Marketing Director described TimeSplitters as "one of the most anticipated titles in a new era of computer gaming", and we couldn't agree with him more, but surely that doesn't necessitate this absurd showpiece of an award. Is someone getting a drink here? Seemingly TimeSplitters isn't the only farcical entrant. In the same category we have Ready 2 Rumble Boxing 2, also for the PlayStation 2. Thankfully the games in 90% of the other categories have at least been released, but this doesn't bode well for the credibility of the awards' organisers. I should have thought it was obvious that you do not award prizes to products that aren't available to the public yet. For example, you wouldn't give an actor an award based on a trailer for his new film, would you? Similarly you wouldn't award a musician anything for an unreleased album. It's common sense, and dithering from this rule of thumb simply shoots you in the foot. The full list of nominees in the Interactive Arts category can be found here. Related Feature - TimeSplitters preview