First Set of Pastapadre Community Award Winners for 2016

After weeks of collecting votes – the total of which exceeded 33,000 – it’s time to begin announcing the winners of the 2016 Pastapadre Community Awards. The results for the first 4 of 12 categories are examined today! Here are the winners of Best Gameplay, Best Franchise Mode, Best Online Play, and Best Mobile Game. 

Best Gameplay: MLB The Show 16 (44%)

For as steady as the MLB The Show series has been it may come as a surprise that this is its first ever award for Best Gameplay. Hampered somewhat voting wise in the past by its exclusivity to one system, the gameplay in The Show represents the sport nearly perfectly outside of a few fixable flaws. The voting shows a major drop-off for NBA 2K17 (32%) which lost 29% from NBA 2K16’s win in the category. It’s the first time that NBA 2K hasn’t won Best Gameplay since 2011. 2K’s loss of 29% was distributed to The Show (+15%) and Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 (+14%) which impressively accounted for the remaining 24% of the vote this year.

Best Presentation: NBA 2K17 (60%)

At some point Best Presentation may be named after the NBA 2K series as this represents its seventh win in the seven years the awards have been handed out. 2K17’s share of the voting dropped however by 13% from 2K16. Madden NFL 17 was the runner-up in the category with 21% while FIFA 17 pulled in the remaining 19%.

Best Online Play: Madden NFL 17 (48%)

Madden has now won this award for six consecutive years. Consistent online performance, the best Online Franchise in the genre, and multiple ways to play (H2H, Ultimate Team, Draft Champions, Salary Cap) have kept it above the pack. The challenge came from Rocket League in its second year which pulled an impressive 37% of the vote. That’s a testament to both its quality and ability to sustain the interest of gamers this far out from release.

Best Mobile Game: Photo Finish Horse Racing (37%)

In a competitive category where all three nominees had considerable support Photo Finish Horse Racing came away the winner. The game from former Madden creative director Ian Cummings has extraordinary reviews on iOS and Android and that enthusiasm transferred to the voting as well. MLB Manager 2016, the mobile version of Out of the Park Baseball, got 34% of the vote and NBA Live Mobile was able to collect 29%.

Later this week look for the results for the remaining categories: Best Sports Game, Best New/Non-Yearly Sports Game, Best New Feature, Best Racing Game, Best Franchise Mode, Best Post-Release Support, Best Career/Story Mode, Best Team-Building Mode