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EMA award nominees announced

By Tim Surette, GameSpotPosted Apr 27, 2007 12:57 pm PT

Expanded awards from Entertainment Merchants Association give nods to Gears of War, God of War 2, Guitar Hero II, WOW.

Just when Epic Games thought its trophy case was stuffed with enough honors for its Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War, along comes another awards show with four more nominations for the game. The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) has released its candidates for various industry awards, and due to different qualification deadlines, Gears has some new competition in the prized Video Game of the Year category.

Unlike recent year-end award shows--such as the Spike TV Video Game Awards or the D.I.C.E. Awards--the 2007 EMA awards accepts games that were released between April 1, 2006, and March 31, 2007. The extra months allow a few new contenders to be considered against mainstays of last year's awards shows.

The five finalists for Video Game of the Year are Gears of War, Guitar Hero II, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, God of War 2, and "World of Warcraft," which is presumably the game's expansion, January's The Burning Crusade.

While God of War 2 and The Burning Crusade are new to the awards circuit, one game that was old hat at last year's awards shows was a no-show. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, released on March 20, 2006, on the PC and Xbox 360, just missed the cutoff date for eligibility. The PlayStation 3 edition of the game, released last month, was eligible for an award but failed to net a nomination.

Nintendo led all publishers with 14 nominations, followed by Electronic Arts with nine. For fanboys keeping score at home, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment America tied at five apiece. Gears of War, Madden NFL 07, and Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy each grabbed four nominations to lead all games.

The EMA did not explain its nomination system, and apparently didn't require a set number of candidates for each category. While most awards had five nominations, a few had only four and the PC Game of the Year category had only two: The Burning Crusade and Cars.

This year the EMA chose to blow out its video game awards, going from just three categories last year to 18 this year, including several platforms and genres this time around. The winners will be announced at EMA's Video Game Retailers' Council Event on May 22.

Video Game of the Year
Gears of War
God of War 2
Guitar Hero II
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Xbox 360 Game of the Year
Call of Duty 3
Dead Rising
Gears of War
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

PS3 Game of the Year
Call of Duty 3
Madden NFL 07
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
MotorStorm
Resistance: Fall of Man

Wii Game of the Year
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
WarioWare: Smooth Moves

PC Game of the Year
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Cars

PS2 Game of the Year
Final Fantasy XII
God of War 2
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Madden NFL 07
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007

DS Game of the Year
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
Final Fantasy III
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
New Super Mario Bros.
Yoshi's Island

PSP Game of the Year
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Madden NFL 07
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 2
Tekken: Dark Resurrection

Action/Adventure Game of the Year
Dead Rising
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
New Super Mario Bros.

Casual Game of the Year
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
Guitar Hero II
Karaoke Revolution: American Idol
Viva Piņata
Wii Sports

Family/Children's Game of the Year
Cars
Happy Feet
Nicktoons: Battle for Volcano Island
Thrillville
WarioWare: Smooth Moves

Fighting Game of the Year
Def Jam: Icon
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007

Racing Game of the Year
Diddy Kong Racing
Excite Truck
MotorStorm
Need for Speed Carbon
Test Drive Unlimited

RPG/Strategy Game of the Year
Final Fantasy XII
Hitman: Blood Money
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Shooter/Military Game of the Year
Call of Duty 3
Gears of War
Resistance: Fall of Man
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent

Sports Game of the Year
Madden NFL 07
NBA 2K7
NCAA Football 07
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07
Tony Hawk's Project 8

Best Game Graphics of the Year
Dead Rising
Gears of War
Need for Speed Carbon
Resistance: Fall of Man
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

Innovative Game of the Year
Cooking Mama
Dead Rising
Guitar Hero II
Trauma Center: Second Opinion
Wii Sports

136 Comments

  • jACkaTacK1107

    Posted Jul 12, 2007 10:36 pm PT

    ok WHAT THE **** is up with the "best pc game" category?????? seriously WTF?????????? just for that i couldnt give a **** less about how these results turn out...these people are just retarded. cars??? cmon ya jackasses

  • maxmax1234

    Posted Jun 2, 2007 11:09 am PT

    and the winners are?

  • lil-maxy

    Posted May 28, 2007 5:07 pm PT

    Most of them nominations are good choices but why is resistance: fall of man a nomination for best graphics of the year because it has rubbish graphics, play the game on a hd tv and see how crap the graphics are motorstorm has better graphics.

  • darth_hid3ous

    Posted May 28, 2007 10:31 am PT

    they made really good choices for the ds games

  • specialtom

    Posted May 22, 2007 8:12 am PT

    Why are there so few pc nominations? And Cars?!? load of balls if you ask me, they all seem to forget the pc as a platform

  • murano28

    Posted May 21, 2007 11:24 am PT

    God of war II, Guitar Hero II and Call of duty 3 might win some of them. Too bad Medal of honor is not in the nominations. At least they could put moh heroes to psp category.

  • diabatman

    Posted May 16, 2007 3:36 am PT

    the pc nominations r a little skimpy

  • mhsdrake

    Posted May 9, 2007 5:29 am PT

    Resistance for everything.

  • theKSMM

    Posted May 7, 2007 9:39 pm PT

    As far as I can tell, these are all good nominations. Yeah, some others could have been included as well, but what can you do?

  • Aston0009

    Posted May 5, 2007 5:34 am PT

    . . . nd da bes game graphics of da year goes 2 . . . (Drum rol). . . . resistance_fal of man! resistance rocks! al of da best 4 da sequel as wel

  • Aston0009

    Posted May 5, 2007 5:34 am PT

    . . . nd da bes game graphics of da year goes 2 . . . (Drum rol). . . . resistance_fal of man! resistance rocks! al of da best 4 da sequel as wel

  • Cesb02

    Posted May 2, 2007 11:39 pm PT

    lets go NBA 2k7!!!!!
    and guitar hero!!

  • joz90

    Posted May 2, 2007 4:18 pm PT

    why isn't GOW2 on action/adventure?

    anyways, i vote for God of War 2 all the way!

  • ebookerd1

    Posted May 1, 2007 6:00 pm PT

    GEARS of WAR!!! done!

  • Floms

    Posted May 1, 2007 11:23 am PT

    ressistance is going for the gold

  • ChinoJamesKeene

    Posted May 1, 2007 8:51 am PT

    PC gets Cars and WOW. how sucky is that?

  • Demon_Vergil

    Posted May 1, 2007 8:46 am PT

    PS2 Game of the Year
    Final Fantasy XII
    God of War 2
    Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy
    Madden NFL 07
    WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007

    Wtf they can't put GoW2 and FFXII between all that crap :\

  • KingKoop

    Posted May 1, 2007 7:24 am PT

    Beautiful line-up.

    GOW II FTW!!! If not then Zelda: TP

  • haesuse

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 7:19 pm PT

    oh yes i agree with that, and the nominee's are mostly a turd that don't belong in the category to being with. example:
    innovative game, how innovative is GH2. same game, new songs and few smaller additon that matter only to fans. NFS carbon and Dead Rising in the graphics category, yeah whatever.
    i can keep going but you guys get the point. someone please pettiton that this "award" thing be removed for ever from the existance!!!

  • spartan_104

    Posted Apr 30, 2007 6:42 pm PT

    I find it interesting that they're not explaining their nomination system. I think someone's uncle pulled a few strings to get his idiot nephew a job. The categories are a damn joke.

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