A big night for game creators and gamers alike takes place next Friday in Las Vegas with The Game Awards. There's plenty at stake on the big evening, so let's take a look at the awards and the nominees.

There were a lot of great games in 2014. We saw Grand Theft Auto 5, a new Super Smash Bros. game, another Call of Duty and plenty more.

Game of the year is definitely the most coveted award. Bayonetta 2, Dark Souls II, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Hearthstone and Shadow of Mordor are the nominees. This is a tough one to predict, but Bayonetta 2 could very well pick this one up.

Online gaming is huge, so a game that delivers a pleasant online gaming experience is very important these days.

In the best online experience category there is Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (expected to win), Dark Souls II, Destiny, Hearthstone and Titanfall.

With the popularity of Call of Duty this award should certainly go Advanced Warfare. It's interesting that the game came out when it did because the deadline for entries was Nov. 25, meaning the game had to be commercially released by that date.

For mobile gamers, the award for best mobile/handheld game is almost assuredly going to Super Smash Bros. 3DS. This game is so addictive and fun that it will certainly receive this award.

An interesting category is called "best narrative," which is awarded for the best writing in a video game. Games these days have had an increasing amount of attention paid to their storyline, so it makes sense for such an award to take center stage.

South Park came out with a new story mode game called South Park: The Stick of Truth. That game goes up against a great "choose your own adventure" type game called The Walking Dead Season Two. It's probably the most underrated game out there right now. It's extremely realistic and very fun, yet it's awfully scary.

You can watch the awards online for free at theGameawards.com and also see more of the nominees there as well.