The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has awarded BioWare's Dragon Age: Inquisition Game of the Year of 2014 at its 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in Las Vegas.

Dragon Age Inquisition bags the GOTY Award

Most did not expect this, as Monolith's Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor won eight out of the nine awards it was nominated for, whereas Dragon Age was only nominated for two.

Personally I was rooting for Dragon Age, as it was in my opinion the most complete experience of the year. I did enjoy Shadow of Mordor and believe that its wins were very well deserved. The innovating Nemesis System, was indeed game changing and one of the greatest achievements in pushing forward gaming innovation in a time of stale annual reharshes and remakes.

It did not however provide the large and breathtakingly beautiful locales of Dragon Age Inquisition, nor the charm of the accompanying characters and NPC's, that populated the world of the latter. Dragon Age provided a very smart and thorough fighting system, that could very easily have been overlooked by many that did not take the time necessary to get into it. It also tackled uncompromizing romances between its lead characters, something that goes a long way in receiving the appreciation and support of their audience.

Other winners included Bungie's Destiny, which won four DICE Awards, including Action Game of the Year, Blizzard's Hearthstone:Heroes of Warcraft, won Mobile Game of the Year and Nintendo's Super Smash Bros.  won handheld game of the year for 3DS and Fighting game of the year for the Wii U. Supergiant Games won independent game development studio of the year for it's action RPG Transistor.

Here's the complete list of the winners:

Game of the Year
Dragon Age: Inquisition

• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: BioWare

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Action Game of the Year
Destiny

• Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Developer: Bungie

Adventure Game of the Year
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Family Game of the Year
LittleBigPlanet 3

• Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC
• Developer: Sony Worldwide Studios Europe/Sumo Digital

Fighting Game of the Year
Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Sora Ltd./BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc./BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc.

Racing Game of the Year
Mario Kart 8

• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Nintendo

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year
Dragon Age: Inquisition

• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: BioWare

Sports Game of the Year
FIFA 15

• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Developer: FIFA Development Team – EA Canada

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

• Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
• Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

D.I.C.E. Sprite Award
Transistor

• Publisher: Supergiant Games
• Developer: Supergiant Games

Handheld Game of the Year
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

• Publisher: Nintendo
• Developer: Sora Ltd./BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc./BANDAI NAMCO Studios Inc.

Mobile Game of the Year
Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

• Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
• Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay
Destiny

• Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Developer: Bungie

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Outstanding Achievement in Animation
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction
Monument Valley

• Publisher: ustwo
• Developer: ustwo

Outstanding Achievement in Character
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Talion)

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition
Destiny

• Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Developer: Bungie

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design
Destiny

• Publisher: Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Developer: Bungie

Outstanding Achievement in Story
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

Outstanding Technical Achievement
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

• Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• Developer: Monolith Productions

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