It’s now almost three weeks since the hustle and bustle of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016 has ended. It was quite a show with virtual reality (VR) appearing in every corner of the Los Angeles Convention Center. Every year the Game Critics Awards recognise the best that E3 had to offer with 40 global media outlets voting. This year saw a new category added ‘Best VR Game’, and on the hardware side Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) won with its PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD).
Oculus VR had dominated the Best Hardware/Peripheral category for the last three years, with its Oculus Rift headset winning in 2013 and 2014. While last year it was the Oculus Touch positional tracked controllers that won. Now SIE has taken that crown with its upcoming device, due to launch on 13th October. The company put on quite a showcase for PlayStation VR, with a wide variety of videogames available to demo, some which had been seen at other shows and some brand new.
And it was Batman: Arkham VR that took the first win in Best VR Game by Rocksteady and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The title had been revealed earlier in the week at SIE’s pre-E3 press conference along with Resident Evil 7 bioshock and Final Fantasy XV.
There’s 17 awards in total, and while no VR videogame won any other category there could come a time when a specific VR section isn’t needed, winning Best PC Game, Best Racing Game or even Best of Show just as easily.
The full awards listings are show below. For all the latest VR news keep reading VRFocus.
Best of Show
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo/Nintendo for Wii-U/NX)
Best Original Game
Horizon Zero Dawn
(Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4)
Best Console Game
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo/Nintendo for Wii-U/NX)
Best VR Game
Batman: Arkham VR
(Rocksteady/Warner Bros. Interactive Ent for PlayStation 4)
Best PC Game
Civilization VI
(Firaxis/2K)
Best Hardware/Peripheral PlayStation VR (Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Best Action Game
Battlefield 1
(DICE/EA for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
Best Action/Adventure Game
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
(Nintendo/Nintendo for Wii-U/NX)
Best Role Playing Game
Final Fantasy XV
(Square-Enix for PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
Best Racing Game
Forza Horizon 3
(Playground Games/Turn 10/Microsoft Studios for PC, Xbox One)
Best Fighting Game
Injustice 2
(NetherRealm/WBIE for PS4, Xbox One)
Best Sports Game
Steep
(Ubisoft Annecy/Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
Best Strategy Game
Civilization VI
(Firaxis/2K for PC)
Best Family Game
Skylanders: Imaginators
(Toys for Bob/Activision for PC, PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, Wii-U)
Best Online Multiplayer
Titanfall 2
(Respawn/EA for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One)
Best Independent Game
Inside
(Playdead for PC, Xbox One)
Special Commendation for Graphics
God of War
(Sony Santa Monica/Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4)
