NaDeSHoT: eSports Player of the Year

On the 5th of December 2014, game enthusiasts from around the globe turned their attention towards the inaugural event of the ‘ultimate video games celebration’, The Game Awards.

Hosted and produced by Geoff Keighley at the iconic AXIS Theatre in Las Vegas, The Game Awards welcomed the industry’s most noteworthy and talented individuals in true commemorative fashion, as their achievements were finally acknowledged at a spectacle that honours, appreciates and celebrates their endeavours.

Broadcast across a multitude of platforms, The Game Awards received a monumental amount of recognition, as a plethora of world premieres were announced, along with several awards. The nominees for The Game Awards were selected by a jury of 28 international media agencies, while five accolades were determined through public voting. Amongst this list, our community, eSports, was represented in two separate categories; eSports Team of the Year and eSports Player of the Year.

We are delighted to congratulate Ninjas in Pyjamas and Matt "NaDeSHoT" Haag upon securing the coveted WETA-designed statuettes in their respective categories. Their professionalism, determination, and tireless work ethic are the epitome of eSports and we, both Gfinity and the competitive sphere, owe a great deal of our success to them.

‘America's favourite gamer’, Matt "NaDeSHoT" Haag has inadvertently become the figurehead of competitive Call of Duty. With his large social media following and loyal YouTube fan base, NaDeSHoT, along with OpTic Gaming, have significantly aided the Call of Duty franchise and its recent growth from social pastime to spectator sport, as Call of Duty continues to cement itself as one of the most popular and professional eSports titles to date.  

The induction of The Game Awards exemplifies the continuous expansion we are bearing witness to within the gaming community, year in, year out. As 2014 nears its conclusion, we are incredibly excited to discover what the upcoming year has in store for us. 

A full list of nominees and award winners for each category will be listed below:

Game of the Year - Winner: Dragon Age: Inquisition- Bayonetta 2 - Platinum Games/Nintendo- Dark Souls 2 - FROM Software/Bandai Namco- Dragon Age: Inquisition - BioWare/EA- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Monolith/Warner Bros.

Best Mobile/Handheld - Winner: Hearthstone- Bravely Default - Square Enix- Monument Valley – Ustwo- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard- Super Smash Bros. for 3DS – Nintendo- Threes - Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend, and composer Jimmy Hinson

Developer of the Year - Winner: Nintendo- Blizzard- Monolith- Nintendo- Telltale Games- Ubisoft Montreal

Best Performance – Winner: Trey Parker as Various Voices, South Park: The Stick of Truth- Adam Harrington As Bigby Wolf, The Wolf Among Us - Telltale- Kevin Spacey As Jonathan Irons, Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Sledgehammer Games/Activision- Melissa Hutchison As Clementine, The Walking Dead: Season Two - Telltale- Trey Parker As Various Voices, South Park: The Stick Of Truth - Obsidian/Ubisoft- Troy Baker As Talion, Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor - Monolith/WBIE

Best Fighting Game - Winner: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U- Killer Instinct: Season Two - Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft- Persona 4 Arena Ultimax - Arc System Works/Atlus- Super Smash Bros. 3DS – Nintendo- Super Smash Bros. Wii U – Nintendo- Ultimate Street Fighter IV - Capcom

Best Sports/Racing Game - Winner: Mario Kart 8- FIFA 15 - EA Canada/EA Sports- Forza Horizon 2 - Playground Games/Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft- Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo- NBA 2K15 - Visual Concepts/2K Sports- Trials Fusion - RedLynx/Ubisoft

Best Shooter - Winner: Far Cry 4- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Sledgehammer/Activision- Destiny - Bungie/Activision- Far Cry 4 - Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft- Titanfall - Respawn/EA- Wolfenstein: The New Order - MachineGames/Bethesda

Games for Change - Winner: Valiant Hearts: The Great War- Mountain - David O'Reilly/Double Fine Presents- Never Alone - Upper One Games- The Last of Us: Left Behind - Naughty Dog/Sony- This War of Mine - 11bit Studios- Valiant Hearts: The Great War - Ubisoft

Best Narrative - Winner: Valiant Hearts- South Park: The Stick of Truth - Obsidian/Ubisoft- The Walking Dead Season 2 - Telltale Games- The Wolf Among Us - Telltale Games- Valiant Hearts – Ubisoft- Wolfenstein: The New Order - Machine Games/Bethesda

Best Independent Game - Winner: Shovel Knight- Broken Age Part 1 - Double Fine- Monument Valley – Ustwo- Shovel Knight - Cellar Door- Transistor - Supergiant Games- The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - The Astronauts

Best Score/Soundtrack - Winner: Destiny - Marty O'Donnell- Alien: Isolation - Christian Henson, Joe Henson, and Alexis Smith, The Creative Assembly/Sega- Child of Light - Coeur de pirate, Ubisoft Montreal- Destiny - Marty O’Donnell, Bungie/Activision- Sunset Overdrive - Boris Salchow, Insomniac Games/Microsoft- Transistor - Darren Korb, Supergiant Games

Best Action/Adventure - Winner: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor- Alien: Isolation - Creative Assembly/Sega- Assassin’s Creed Unity – Ubisoft- Bayonetta 2 - Platinum Games/Nintendo- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor - Monolith/Warner Bros.- Sunset Overdrive - Insomniac/Microsoft

Best Role Playing Game - Winner: Dragon Age: Inquisition- Bravely Default - Square Enix- Dark Souls II - From Software/Bandai Namco- Divinity: Original Sin - Larian Studios- Dragon Age: Inquisition - Bioware/EA- South Park: The Stick of Truth - Obsidian/Ubisoft

Best Family Game - Winner: Mario Kart 8- Disney Infinity 2.0 - Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive Studios- Fantasia: Music Evolved - Harmonix/Disney Interactive Studios- Mario Kart 8 – Nintendo- Skylanders: Trap Team - Toys for Bob/Activision- Tomodachi Life - Nintendo

Best Online Experience - Winner: Destiny- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Sledgehammer Games/Activision- Dark Souls II - From Software/Bandai Namco- Destiny - Bungie/Activision- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft – Blizzard- Titanfall - Respawn/EA

Best Remaster - Winner: Grand Theft Auto V- Grand Theft Auto V - Rockstar Games- Halo: The Master Chief Collection - 343 Industries/Microsoft- Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire - Game Freak/Nintendo- The Last of Us - Naughty Dog/Sony- Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix

eSports Team of the Year - (Voted by fans) - Winner: Ninjas in Pyjamas- Samsung White - League of Legends- Evil Geniuses - Dota 2- Edward Gaming - League of Legends- Newbee - Dota 2- Ninjas in Pyjamas - Counter-Strike: GO

Best Fan Creation - (Voted on by fans) - Winner: Twitch plays Pokémon- BEST Zelda Rap EVER!! By Egoraptor- Luigi Death Stare by CZBwoi and Rizupicorr- Mine the Diamond (Minecraft Song) by Tobuscus- Minecraft – TITAN City by Colonial Puppet- Twitch Plays Pokemon by Anonymous

Most Anticipated Game - (Voted on by fans) - Winner: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt- Batman: Arkham Knight - Rocksteady/Warner Bros.- Bloodborne - FROM Software/Sony- Evolve - Turtle Rock/2K Games- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - CD Projekt- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End - Naughty Dog/Sony

Trending Gamer - (Voted on by fans) - Winner: TotalBiscuit- Evan “Vanoss” Fong- Jeff Gerstmann- PewDiePie- StampyLongHead- TotalBiscuit

eSports Player of the Year - (Voted on by fans) - Winner: Matt "NaDeSHoT" Haag- Martin ‘Rekkles’ Larsson - League of Legends- Xu “Fy” Linsen - Dota 2- James “Firebat” Kostesich – Hearthstone- Christopher "GeT_RiGhT" Alesund - Counter-Strike: GO- Matt “NaDeSHoT” Haag - Call of DutyDo you agree with the award winners from the categories above? Reckon someone else was a more deserving winner? Then let us know in the comments section!

 Photo credit: @thegameawards, @OpTicGaming

If you enjoyed this article, feel free to follow me on Twitter: @esn_Nemesis

Also be sure to congratulate @OpTic_NaDeSHoT and @NiPGaming.  

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