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 /PRNewswire/ -- 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
http://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 (http://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
SOURCE CMP Game Group
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Related links:
http://www.gamechoiceawards.com
http://www.cmp.com
CONTACT:
Sibel Sunar, sibel@fortyseven.com, or Brian
Rubin, brian@fortyseven.com, both of fortyseven communications,
for CMP Game Group, +1-323-658-1200; or Loria Ryan of CMP Game
Group, +1-415-947-6287, lryan@cmp.com
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