BAFTA announces game-award noms

The nominations for the 2006 British Academy Video Games Awards have been announced and two titles stand out from the rest. LocoRoco and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter both received eight nominations across various categories, with We Love Katamari receiving six and Guitar Hero and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion both netting five each.

This is the first year that the Video Games Awards, which is put together by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), has been given a ceremony in its own right, separate from the organization's film and TV awards. It will be held at the Camden Roundhouse in London on October 5 as part of the London Games Festival, and hosted by popular UK television personality Vernon Kay.

Over 40 titles have been recognised in the award nominations and other multiple nominees include Hitman: Blood Money, Tomb Raider: Legend, Shadow of the Colossus, and Dr Kawashima's Brain Training.

There are no platform-specific categories in the awards. Nominations are instead split into various game genres and aspects, and games must have been released at some point in the 2006 calendar year to qualify for entry. Paul Jackson, chairman of the BAFTA games committee, commented that he hoped this event would "become the industry and consumers' benchmark of excellence."

GameSpot UK will be in attendance at the event to bring you news of the winners. The nominees in some of the categories are listed below; the full list is available on the BAFTA Web site.

Innovation