Shadow of Mordor leads D.I.C.E. award nominations
Monument Valley and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter also put in a strong showing
Monolith Productions' Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will lead the pack at this year's D.I.C.E. Awards, with a total of nine nominations including Game of the Year.
Other multiple nominees for the D.I.C.E. Awards include Far Cry 4 with seven, Destiny and Hearthstone with six, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Monument Valley with five, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, InFamous: Second Son and Valiant Hearts: The Great War with four each.
It's worth noting the prominence of smaller games are among those multiple nominees, particularly ustwo's Monument Valley and The Astronauts' The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Valiant Hearts was developed at Ubisoft, but it was nevertheless created by a small team.
Shadow of Mordor was also the most nominated game for the GDC Awards, with The Vanishing of Ethan Carter following close behind.
Along with Shadow of Mordor, the other nominees for Game of the Year are Destiny, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4 and Hearthstone.
The ceremony will be held at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel on February 5. The full list of nominees is below:
Game of the Year: Destiny, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Far Cry 4, Hearthstone, Shadow of Mordor
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: Lumino City, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Monument Valley, Never Alone, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
Adventure Game of the Year: inFamous: Second Son, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, The Wolf Among Us
Action Game of the Year: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny, Far Cry 4, Titanfall, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Mobile Game of the Year: 80 Days, Hearthstone, Kingdom Rush Origins, Monument Valley, Threes!
D.I.C.E. Sprite Award: The Banner Saga, Hohokum, Monument Valley, Threes!, Transistor