Nominees Announced for 5th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Nominees Announced for 5th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Indie and Experimental Titles Make Headway, 2004 Titans Clash in Competition for Best Game

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced nominees for the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the premier accolades for peer-recognition in the game industry. Recipients will be awarded on March 9, 2005 at a ceremony during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

"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."

The nominees are:

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



Nominations were free of charge and open to all game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation, ensuring that the nominees reflect the international development community's opinions. The IGDA membership will vote on the finalists.

In addition to the voted award categories, honors will be presented for the Innovation, Lifetime Achievement, First Penguin, Community Contribution and Maverick awards.

About the International Game Developers Association (IGDA)

The International Game Developers Association is a non-profit membership organization that advocates globally on issues related to digital game creation. The IGDA's mission is to strengthen the international game development community and effect change to benefit that community. For more information on the IGDA, please visit www.igda.org or e-mail info@igda.org.

About the CMP Game Group

A core provider of essential information and community to the professional game industry, the CMP Game Group includes the Game Developers Conference, Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com, the Independent Games Festival, and the Game Developers Choice Awards. For more information, please visit www.cmpgame.com.

CMP Media LLC

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Source: CMP Game Group

CONTACT: Sibel Sunar of The Bohle Company, +1-310-785-0515, ext. 271,
sibel@bohle.com, for CMP Game Group

Web site: http://www.cmpgame.com/
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