Choice awards to Hecker, Harmonix, others

Chris Hecker, Will Crowther, Don Woods, and the founders of game dev studio Harmonix (Guitar Hero) will each accept an award during the 2006 Game Developers Conference. Chris Hecker, a widely known tech master (official title: technology researcher) at Maxis--and part of the Spore team--is up for the Community Contribution award. Hecker is the guiding force behind the annual Indie Game Jam as well as the Experimental Gameplay Workshop. Will Crowther and Don Woods, the two responsible for the 1976 text-interactive fiction game Adventure, are up for the First Penguin award. Finally, the Harmonix team will take home the Maverick award, which "recognizes those who take risks by experimenting with unconventional methods," according to conference organizers responsibile for choosing the winners.