The greatest stories that have ever Ben written

This article at Kotaku caught my eye today. It's about the Writers Guild of America and the fact that they now award honors in the video game writing space. Specifically, this year's nominees are:

Assassin's Creed II, Story by Corey May, Script Writers Corey
May, Joshua Rubin, Jeffrey Yohalem; Ubisoft Entertainment
Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Written by Jesse Stern, Additional Writing
Steve Fukuda, Story by Todd Alderman, Steve Fukuda, Mackey McCandlish, Zied
Rieke, Jesse Stern, Jason West, Battlechatter Dialogue, Sean Slayback;
Activision
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Written by Amy
Hennig; Sony Computer Entertainment
Wet, Written by Duppy Demetrius;
Bethesda Softworks
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Script Writer
Marc Guggenheim; Activision

Now, I can't speak on behalf of Wet or Assassin's Creed II, because I haven't played either of them. I have heard an overwhelming amount of feedback on both titles that would lead me to believe that one is written exceedingly well, and that one's story isn't fit to line a birdcage. I'll leave it up to you to puzzle out which is which. I will say that, out of the other three titles, I believe that one, unequivocally, deserves to be there, one is arguable, and that friggin' Wolverine is a whiff as a choice.

Now, please believe, I genuinely enjoyed Wolverine: Origins. It was a lot of visceral fun. The story was nothing to write home about & the dialogue did little to move me. Uncharted 2 was about as good as you can get for a current video game, dialogue-wise. As for story, it was exceptional, except for a little deus ex bit at the end which parallelled problems I had with the original. Modern Warfare 2, however, is the most interesting choice of all, to me, because it really calls into question what the Writers Guild's criteria is for what makes good video game writing.

Now, I know giving MW2 the biz for having a meat head story is the hip things to do these days, but I believe that most people who have their heads on straight can appreciate the story for action-movie fun that it is. That's not to say, however, that should necessarily earn it best writing accolades. I mean, those of us who've gone the distance in single play can attest that the game does get a little ridiculous toward the end. On the other hand, I do have to admit that the dialogue in the game never feels stilted or forced, and the military jargon always sounds genuine and flows well. I'd personally like to know what the WGA bases it's picks upon. Honestly, so far as I can tell from poking around at the WGA website, their criteria seems to be based upon what's popular.

So I ask, what does make a game's writing exceptional? Dragon Age's various and sundry stories are by and large engaging. However, due the poor graphics engine and the fact that the protagonist you play always stares stupidly at whomever they're talking to, I've often felt myself pulled out of the experience.

How about Brutal Legend? True, the gameplay misses the mark by a fairly large margin, but I've found the writing thus far to be both creative in regard to story, and endearing when it comes to dialogue and character development.

Finally, how can Telltale Games and their work with Wallace and Grommit, Sam & Max, StrongBad, and the Monkey Island series not get a single nod? What, does the same Comedy Curse that plagues film apply to games as well?

Really, this business is just another example of how the "outside world" still can't quite get it's head around video games. I have to admit, considering the list, I'm surprised that Wii Sports doesn't somehow get nominated every year.

Oh, and for those in the know, remember: Never go full retard.