How to watch The Game Awards

The Game Awards, Geoff Keighley's annual tribute to Hideo Kojima and possibly some other game developers, starts today at 5:30 pm Pacific, and will be streaming on just about every platform one can stream on, including Twitch, YouTube, Steam, and Mixer. (Update: If you watch on Steam, apparently you can win games.)

The show will include awards, but more importantly, trailers. We know we'll be seeing more of Metro Exodus, appearances from Guillermo Del Toro and Kojima, as well as gameplay from PUBG's desert map. 

Born from a Spike TV production that ended with 2013's 'VGX', The Game Awards are run by Geoff Keighley and an advisory board of industry bigwigs, including AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg, EA Worldwide Studios executive VP Patrick Soderlund, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, Ubisoft, Valve, Rockstar, and of course Hideo Kojima. 

The advisers don't have a say in who wins what: Nominees are voted on by a variety of media outlets, PC Gamer included, and winners are picked by the international jury and public voting. The games up for the 2017 Game of the Year award are: Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Persona 5, and Horizon Zero Dawn. So, one PC game, and not the best one this year.

The more granular categories are a bit better from a PC gaming perspective: Divinity: Original Sin 2 is nominated for Best RPG (and should definitely win, but I fear Final Fantasy XV will take it), Total War: Warhammer 2, Tooth and Tail, and XCOM 2: War of the Chosen are all nominated for Best Strategy Game, and Best Independent Game includes Cuphead, Night in the Woods, Pyre, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. One of our favorites of the year, Hollow Knight, is also nominated for Best Debut Indie Game.

The silliest award, and I'm not making this one up, is 'Most Anticipated Game Presented by McCafé.' But putting aside the console focus and the absurdity of giving out a coffee award for being anticipated, the past few years of Game Awards have been pretty nice productions, and it's cool to see some of the faces behind the games we like. 

We expect a surprise or two, as well. In a video update about the number of exclusive trailers we'll see, Keighley said that "there are around 15 games in the show," but asks that we don't quote him on that, because "things change." We did anyway because we're rebels. "There'll be new game announcements," he adds, so we'll be watching and posting all the big stories if you miss it.