GDC Awards nominees announced

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the nominees for the annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The event will be held at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) from March 19-23 in San Jose, California. Nominations for the awards were free and open to all professional game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation.

"Every year, the Game Developers Choice Awards recognizes the most innovative individuals and games in the industry," said Warren Spector, director of ION Storm Austin and IGDA board member. "The nominees represent what game developers consider to be the best in game development--the work they most admire and the efforts that are advancing the state of the art."

The nominees for this year's Game Developers Choice Awards include the following:

Game of the Year

Black & White (Lionhead Studios)
Grand Theft Auto III (DMA Design/Rockstar Games)
Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie Studios)
Ico (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)
Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment)

Rookie Studio of the Year

Adrenium Games for Azurik: Rise of Perathia
Bohemia Interactive Studio for Operation Flashpoint
Croteam for Serious Sam
Pseudo Interactive for Cel Damage
TimeGate Studios for Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns

Original Game Character of the Year

Dante from Devil May Cry
Daxter from Jak & Daxter
Ico from Ico
Max Payne from Max Payne
Munch from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

Excellence in Audio

Erik Kraber and Jack Grillo for sound design in Clive Barker's Undying
Harry Gregson-Williams for composition in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Josh Randall for sound design in Frequency
Marty O'Donnell and team for sound effects in Halo: Combat Evolved
Thomas Engel for sound engineering in Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II

Excellence in Game Design

Fumito Ueda and team for game design in Ico
GTAIII team for gameplay in Grand Theft Auto III
Lorne Lanning and Chris Ulm for story/writing of Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Peter Molyneux and team for game design in Black & White
Shigeru Miyamoto and team for game design in Pikmin

Excellence in Level Design

Craig Filshie, William Mills, Chris Rothwell, and James Worrall for level design in Grand Theft Auto III
Fumito Ueda and team for level design in Ico
Ghost Recon team for level design in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon
Scott Campbell, Dave Jaffe, Kellan Hatch and team for level design in Twisted Metal: Black
Toshihiro Nagoshi and team for level design in Super Monkey Ball

Excellence in Programming

Kazunori Yamauchi and team for physics in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec
Andy Gavin for programming in Jak & Daxter
Jason Jones and team for programming in Halo: Combat Evolved
Richard Evans for artificial intelligence in Black & White
Sherman Archibald, John Carmack, and Ryan Feltrin for graphics in Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Excellence in Visual Arts

Dan Arey and Evan Wells for animation in Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy
Fumito Ueda and team for art direction in Ico
Kazunori Yamauchi and team for modeling in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec
Lorne Lanning and Farzad Varahramyan for art direction in Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee
Tetsuya Mizuguchi and team for art direction in Rez

Game Innovation Spotlights

Black & White (Lionhead Studios)
Cel Damage (Pseudo Interactive)
Frequency (Harmonix Music Systems)
Grand Theft Auto III (DMA Design)
Ico (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)
Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns (TimeGate Studios)
Majestic (Electronic Arts)
Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment)
Rez (United Game Artists)
Super Monkey Ball (Amusement Vision)

A committee from the IGDA will also select recipients for its Lifetime Achievement Award, its First Penguin Award, and its Community Contribution award. For more information about the IGDA and the GDC, visit the official IGDA Web site.