Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront lead Game Critics' E3 award noms

In the wake of E3 2015, Bethesda's Fallout 4 and Electronic Arts' Star Wars Battlefront picked up multiple nominations for this year's Game Critics Best of E3 Awards.

These nods are based entirely on the way these games are shown to critics in a playable state and may have zero correlation with the quality of the final product; still, they offer an intriguing barometer of how the consumer press feels about the state of the game industry.

Based on these nominations, it seems like AAA-scale productions bearing fan-favorite licenses are still a surefire recipe for drumming up hype. However, it's also interesting that the only non-AAA game to merit a Game Critics Award nomination for "Best of Show" was actually a device: Oculus VR's prototype Oculus Touch motion controller.

The full list of nominees is reproduced below for your convenience; winners will be announced next Tuesday, July 7th.

Best of Show
- Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/SCE)
- Oculus Touch (Oculus VR)
- Star Wars Battlefront (DICE/EA)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/SCE)

Best Original Game
- Abzu (Giant Squid/505 Games)
- Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/SCE)
- The Last Guardian (GenDesign/SCE Japan/SCE)
- Unravel (Coldwood Interactive/EA)

Best Console Game
- Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/SCE)
- Star Wars Battlefront (DICE/EA)
- Super Mario Maker (Nintendo)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/SCE)

Best Handheld Game
- Fallout Shelter (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
- Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (AlphaDream/Nintendo)
- Persona 4 Dancing All Night (Atlus)
- The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes (Nintendo)

Best PC Game
- DOOM (id Software/Bethesda)
- Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
- Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios/Square-Enix)
- Star Wars Battlefront (DICE/EA)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Hardware
- Microsoft HoloLens (Microsoft)
- Oculus Rift (Oculus VR)
- Oculus Touch (Oculus VR)
- Project Morpheus (Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Xbox Elite Wireless Controller (Microsoft)

Best Action Game
- DOOM (id Software/Bethesda)
- Halo 5: Guardians (343/Microsoft Studios)
- Just Cause 3 (Avalanche Studios/Square-Enix)
- Star Wars Battlefront (DICE/EA)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Action/Adventure Game
- Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games/SCE)
- Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Kojima Productions/Konami)
- Rise of the Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Microsoft Studios)
- The Last Guardian (GenDesign/SCE Japan/SCE)
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog/SCE)

Best RPG
- Dark Souls 3 (From Software/Bandai-Namco Games)
- Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda)
- Fire Emblem Fates (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
- Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (AlphaDream/Nintendo)
- Sword Coast Legends (n-Space/Digital Extremes/Wizards of the Coast)

Best Racing Game
- Forza Motorsport 6 (Turn 10/Microsoft Studios)
- Need for Speed (Ghost Games/EA)
- Trackmania Turbo (Nadeo/Ubisoft)

Best Sports Game
- FIFA 16 (EA Canada/EA)
- NHL 16 (EA Canada/EA)
- Madden NFL 16 (Tiburon/EA)
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 (Konami)
- Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (EA Tiburon/EA)

Best Family/Social Game
- Disney Infinity 3.0 (Avalanche Software/Disney Interactive)
- Guitar Hero Live (FreeStyleGames/Activision)
- LEGO Dimensions (TT Games/WBIE)
- Rock Band 4 (Harmonix)
- Super Mario Maker (Nintendo)

Best Online Multiplayer
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III (TreyArch/Activision)
- Halo 5: Guardians (343/Microsoft Studios)
- Star Wars Battlefront (DICE/EA)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Tom Clancy's The Division (Massive/Ubisoft)

Best Indie
- Abzu (Giant Squid/505)
- Below (Capy Games) 
- Cuphead (Studio MDHR)
- No Man's Sky (Hello Games/SCE)
- Wattam (Funomena)

For more details on many of these projects and deeper analysis of the show, you can still catch up on all of Gamasutra's E3 2015 coverage right here.