This is a strange for gaming news indeed. While it hasn't quite happened yet, we now have the potential for a video game to be nominated for an Oscar. The title in question is David OReilly's recent PC and PS4 release, Everything. It was recently received a 'jury award' at this year's Vienna Shorts Festival. This apparently opens the door for a nod from the small, gold figurine himself.

As OReilly states above, the category his work would be up for is Animated Short Film based on the jury award. If this seems quite bizarre given the fact that video games generally aren't projected in theaters and usually required someone to be, well, playing them, there's a few reasons that Everything fits. Firstly, since the game won that specific award in Vienna, it's qualified to be submitted to the Oscars.

From their rules and eligibility page:

"The film must have won a qualifying award at a competitive film festival, as specified in the Short Film Qualifying Festival List, regardless of any prior public exhibition or distribution by nontheatrical means."

The game also has a habit of not needing a player if not touched. If the game is left inactive for a certain period of time, the computer will take control and start moving different objects and patterns in the world on its own. This is really the heart of the game: an experience of being able to take control of anything you can see and then playing around with it. Each object (such as rocks, trees, planets) will attract more of its type to create flocks of the most unlikely things.

The people at the Vienna Shorts Festival obviously saw the potential in Everything, and nominated it based on these observations:

"[The game] has a strong poetic and philosophical theme. It serves a highly educational purpose, including an important political statement, that encourages to let our egos dissolve and gain a new perspective on the world."

David, being humble, said on Twitter that he didn't see his game 'won't get very far' but that it was 'very unexpected and cool.' If you want to see what all the hubbub is about, you can pick up the title on PC and PS4 for $14.99 USD.