Kotaku
It may not have the gloss—nor the honor of lauding the Most Addictive Game Fueled By Dew—of some other video game award presentations, but the Game Developers Choice Awards are the real deal in their space. To take place during the Game Developers Conference, the Game Developers Choice Awards are the "industry's only open peer-based awards" meaning that the back-scratching here is genuine and informed. Leading the nominations this year are Valve's Portal and 2K Boston's BioShock, each nabbing five nominations, including Game of the Year nods.
Games that also may not have received much attention elsewhere, say Contra 4, Peggle and Aquaria, also received nominations.
The most entertaining part? Skits and video presentations from both Zero Punctuation and Mega64 will be shown during the awards. I'm bringing spare ass cheeks in the event that I LMFAO. The full list of nominees follows.
PORTAL, BIOSHOCK LEAD MAJOR FINALISTS FOR THE EIGHTH ANNUAL GAME DEVELOPERS CHOICE AWARDS
Rock Band, Call of Duty 4 and Super Mario Galaxy Round Out the Nominees for Game of the Year; Crash Bandicoot Creator Jason Rubin to Host Ceremony for Industry's Only Open Peer-Based Awards
SAN FRANCISCO - Jan. 22, 2007 - Valve's Portal and 2K Boston/Australia's BioShock lead the nominees for the eighth annual Game Developers Choice Awards with five nominations each, including the coveted Game of the Year title, organizers have announced. The Game of the Year category also includes Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4, which follows with four nominations and, with both games receiving two nominations each, Harmonix's Rock Band and Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy.
Produced and hosted by CMP's Game Developers Conference (GDC) and presented by Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine, the Game Developers Choice Awards honors the developers of the best video games released during the previous calendar year, as well as awarding key figures from the video game community. Other multiple nominees for this year's event include such diverse and notable titles as BioWare's Mass Effect, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, Infinite Interactive's Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Sony Santa Monica's God of War II, and PopCap's Peggle.
In addition, special recipients already confirmed for this year's Choice Awards, to be honored in person during the ceremony, include 'father of video games' Ralph Baer (Pioneer), IGDA executive director Jason Della Rocca (Ambassador) and Civilization creator Sid Meier (Lifetime Achievement).
Winners in all major categories will be honored at an awards show taking place Wednesday, February 20 in the Esplanade Ballroom of the Moscone Center's South Hall, during the 2008 Game Developers Conference. The Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival (IGF), will be hosted by legendary game developer Jason Rubin, mastermind behind the smash-hit Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter franchises.
In addition, it's been revealed that specially made video entertainment for the Choice Awards will be produced by The Escapist's popular animated show Zero Punctuation, while long-time contributors Mega64 will produce exclusive video skits to accompany the Independent Games Festival Awards.
"Behind every great game is a great team, and it's a core principle of ours to honor and recognize that talent on stage," said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. "Given the open peer-based structure, the Game Developers Choice Awards have earned the utmost respect within the developer community and we're looking forward to the award ceremony next month to see who the 2008 recipients are. Good luck everyone!"
For more information about the Game Developers Choice Awards, check out www.gamechoiceawards.com.
The complete list of nominees is:
Best Game Design
BioShock
Call of Duty 4
Mass Effect
Portal
Super Mario Galaxy
Best Visual Art
Assassin's Creed
Team Fortress 2
Crysis
BioShock
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Best Technology
Halo 3
Crysis
Call of Duty 4
Portal
Assassin's Creed
Best Writing
Portal
God of War II
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
BioShock
Best Audio
Call of Duty 4
Everyday Shooter
BioShock
God of War II
Mass Effect
Best Debut
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
flOw (ThatGameCompany)
The Witcher (CD Projekt)
Everyday Shooter (Queasy Games)
Aquaria (Bit Blot)
Innovation
Rock Band
Portal
flOw
Peggle
Mass Effect
Best Handheld Game
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Phase
Contra 4
Peggle (for iPod)
Best Downloadable Game
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Everyday Shooter
Peggle
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (XBLA version)
Flow
Game of the Year
BioShock
Call of Duty 4
Portal
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy
About the Game Developers Conference (www.gdconf.com)
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the world's largest professionals-only game industry event. Presented every spring in San Francisco, it is the essential forum for learning, inspiration, and networking for the creators of computer, console, handheld, mobile, and online games. The GDC attracts over 16,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry. The GDC is produced by the CMP Game Group, a division of CMP.
About CMP
CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event and print brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times and TechOnline; produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game Developer Conference and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides business information and marketing services such as the International Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights and Second Life consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to cmp.com/news
