Every year, a group of gaming publications come together to vote on their favourite games at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3. While E3 awards don’t actually mean anything in reality, they’re hyped heavily in marketing games so the publishers obviously value them.

This year’s top nominated game was Evolve which picked up six nominations. Next with four nominations were Destiny and Rainbow Six: Seige. From a publisher’s perspective, it was a three-way tie between 2K, Warner Bros., and Ubisoft all on eight nominations.

Here are your Best of E3 2014 nominees:

Best of Show
– Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
– Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady/WBIE)
– Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith/WBIE)
– No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
– Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Original Game
– Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
– Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
– No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
– Splatoon (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
– Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac/Microsoft Studios)

Best Console Game
– Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
– Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady/WBIE)
– Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
– Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith/WBIE)

Best Handheld Game
– Murasaki Baby (Ovosonico/Sony Computer Entertainment)
– Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Atlus/Atlus)
– Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (Sora/Namco-Bandai/Nintendo)
– Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call (Square-Enix/Square-Enix)

Best PC Game
– Civilization: Beyond Earth (Firaxis/2K Games)
– Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware/EA)
– Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
– Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Hardware
– Alienware Alpha (Alienware)
– Oculus Rift (Oculus VR)
– PlayStation TV (Sony Computer Entertainment)
– Project Morpheus (Sony Computer Entertainment)

Best Action Game
– Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Sledgehammer Games/Activision)
– Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
– Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
– Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Action/Adventure Game
– Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
– Assassin’s Creed Unity (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
– Batman: Arkham Knight (Rocksteady/WBIE)
– Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac/Microsoft Studios)
– The Order: 1886 (Ready at Dawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Best RPG
– Bloodborne (From Software/Sony Computer Entertainment)
– Dragon Age: Inquisition (Bioware/EA)
– Fable Legends (Lionhead/Microsoft Studios)
– Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith/WBIE)
– Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (Atlus/Atlus)

Best Fighting Game
– Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- (Arc System Works/Aksys Games)
– Killer Instinct Season 2 (Iron Galaxy Studios/Microsoft Studios)
– Mortal Kombat X (NetherRealm Studios/WBIE)
– Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (Arc System Works/Atlus)
– Super Smash Bros Wii-U (Sora/Namco-Bandai/Nintendo)

Best Racing Game
– Driveclub (Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment)
– Forza Horizon 2 (Playground Games/Microsoft Studios)
– The Crew (Ivory Tower/Reflections/Ubisoft)

Best Sports Game
– FIFA 15 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
– NHL 15 (EA Canada/EA Sports)
– Madden NFL 15 (Tiburon/EA Sports)

Best Strategy Game
– Civilization: Beyond Earth (Firaxis/2K Games)
– Grey Goo (Petroglyph/Grey Box)

Best Social/Casual
– Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes (Avalanche/Disney Interactive)
– Fantasia: Music Evolved (Harmonix/Disney Interactive)
– LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (TT Games/WBIE)
– Mario Maker (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
– Yoshi’s Woolly World (Good-Feel/Nintendo)

Best Online Multiplayer
– Battlefield: Hardline (Visceral/EA)
– Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
– Evolve (Turtle Rock/2K Games)
– Splatoon (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
– Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Indie
– Axiom Verge (Tom Happ)
– CounterSpy (Dynamighty)
– Below (Capy Games)
– No Man’s Sky (Hello Games)
– Ori and the Blind Forest (Moon Game Studio)

I should let you in on the big secret about the Best of E3 awards. Games are only eligible for nomination if they are playable at E3. If the developer/publisher does not have the game available for hands-on play, it isn’t nominated. Of course, how many “vertical slices” of gameplay have we seen that weren’t indicative of the final product? A good demo doesn’t mean the final product will also be good.

As a result of these rules, the likes of The Witcher III, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and The Division weren’t on the nominees list be very likely would have been if the rules were relaxed. So just because they won’t be touting E3 awards, don’t write off some of these games when they hit store shelves.

The Best of E3 2014 award winners will be announced on July 1st.

Source: Game Critics Awards