Last night the Game Awards for 2016 took place in Los Angeles, and distributed a whole host of accolades across various platforms and mediums, even including fan created games and an eSports award. Despite a heavy emphasis on console gaming, there were a few mobile games nominated for numerous categories across the night, and against opposition from critically acclaimed releases such as Fire Emblem Fates, Ratchet and Clank, and even the stunning slashing iOS RPG Severed [$3.99], Pokemon GO [Free] managed to pick up the awards for 'Best Mobile/Handheld Game' and 'Best Family Game', the latter of which trumped a whole host of console releases to take the trophy. Similarly, Pokemon GO also triumphed in the same 'Handheld/Mobile Game of the Year' section of the Golden Joystick Awards, which is the UK equivalent to the Game Awards ceremony, as well as also winning the 'Innovation of the Year' accolade. Such universal recognition of Pokemon GO's impact on gaming is a fantastic thing for mobile gaming, and emphasises how the augmented reality craze managed to permeate the mainstream like nothing else over the summer months.
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Naming Pokemon GO as the mobile game of the year for 2016 is guaranteed to be a controversial move, and whether a similar title is bestowed on Niantic's creature-catching craze in the equivalent TouchArcade awards is still to be seen. However, there are numerous factors that have to be remembered in relation t...