By Quinton Miles
Earlier this evening, The International Game Developers Association revealed the nominees for the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Nominations for the awards were free of charge and open to all game developers, with the IGDA voting on the finalists. Along with the voted categories, honors will be presented for the Innovation, Lifetime Achievement, First Penguin, Community Contribution and Maverick awards.
“Thousands of developers voiced their picks during the Choice Awards’ open nominations process,” said Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director, IGDA. “The high prestige of these honors comes from the fact that fellow developers recognize each other’s best work.”
Recipients will be awarded during on March 9 during the annual GDC convention in San Francisco.
2005 Game Developers Choice Award nominees:
Best Game:
Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts) – Paul Glancey, Chris Roberts, Paul Ross, Fiona Sperry, Alex Ward
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games) – Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Ken Birdwell, Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly
Katamari Damacy (Namco) – Keita Takahashi
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) – Mark Kern, Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo
New Studio:
Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes) – Michael Lewis
Crytek (Far Cry) – Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli
inXile entertainment (The Bard’s Tale) – Brian Fargo, Matthew Findley
Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords) – Chris Avellone, Chris Jones, Darren Monahan, Chris Parker, Feargus Urquhart
the Behemoth (Alien Hominid) – Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, Dan Paladin
Audio:
Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Spark Unlimited / Activision) – Jack Grillo, Caleb Sweazy
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision) – Christian Antkow, John Carmack, Tim Willits
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games) – Craig Conner, Allan Walker
Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios) – C Paul Johnson, Marty O’Donnell, Jay Weinland
Katamari Damacy (Namco) – Yu Miyake Character Design
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Bill Fletcher, Bill Van Buren
Katamari Damacy (Namco) – Keita Takahashi
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft
Entertainment) – Nicolas Bouvier, Mickael Labat
Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Computer Entertainment America) – Travis Kotzebue, Dev Madan
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) – Brandon Idol, Chris Metzen
Game Design:
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games) – Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly Katamari Damacy (Namco) – Keita Takahashi
Pikmin 2 (Nintendo) – Masamichi Abe, Hino Shigefumi World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) – Chris Metzen, Rob Pardo Technology
Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts) – Alex Fry, Ciaran Rooney, Paul Ross, Hamish Young
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision) – John Carmack, Robert Duffy, Jan Paul van Waveren
EyeToy: AntiGrav (Harmonix Music Systems / Sony Computer Entertainment America) – Eran Egozy, Eric Malafeew
Far Cry (Crytek / Ubisoft Entertainment) – Timur Davidenko, Vladimir Kajalin, Andrey Khonich, Anton Knyazyev, Cevat Yerli
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Yahn Bernier, Brian Jacobson
Visual Arts:
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision) – Andy Chang, Seneca Menard, Kenneth Scott
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Viktor Antonov, Randy Lundeen
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo) – Hiroyuki Hayashi, Chie Kawabe
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Entertainment) – Mickael Labat, Patrick Limoges
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) – Sam Didier, William Petras, Justin Thavirat
Writing:
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games) – Dan Houser, James Worrall
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Marc Laidlaw
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (High Voltage Software / Vivendi Universal Games) – Matt Entin, Ed Kuehnel, Eric Nofsinger
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo) – Nate Bihldorff, Ryota Kawade
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Obsidian Entertainment / LucasArts Entertainment) – Chris Avellone