As award season spins up worldwide, the video games industry clears its throat and prepares acceptance speeches as the nominees for the 13th Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced by the GDC Awards advisory board.
The winners to be revealed at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, CA on 27 March 2013, but the abstract Playstation 3 “interactive parable” Journey looks set to do well, with nominations in six of the ten categories.
“The Game Developers Choice Awards are the premier accolades for peer-recognition in the video game industry, celebrating creativity, artistry and technological genius. Industry professionals from around the world nominate for the awards, free of charge, ensuring that the recipients reflect the community’s opinions.”
Last year saw Portal 2 take three awards; Best Narrative, Best Game Design and Best Audio, with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim beating it for Game of the Year. Warren Spector of Deus Ex fame took the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Here are the nominees for 2013:
Game of the Year
- Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
- The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)
- Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games)
- Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Last Year’s Winner: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
Innovation Award
- Mark of the Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)
- Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
- The Unfinished Swan (Giant Sparrow/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- ZombiU (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
Last Year’s Winner: Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Best Audio
- Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games/Devolver Digital)
- Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
Last Year’s Winner: Portal 2 (Valve)
Best Debut
- Humble Hearts (Dust: An Elysian Tail)
- Polytron Corporation (Fez)
- Giant Sparrow (The Unfinished Swan)
- Subset Games (FTL: Faster Than Light)
- Fireproof Games (The Room)
Last Year’s Winner: Supergiant Games (Bastion)
Best Downloadable Game
- The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)
- Spelunky (Derek Yu/Andy Hull)
- Trials: Evolution (RedLynx/Microsoft Studios)
- Mark Of The Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)
- Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Last Year’s Winner: Bastion (Supergiant Games)
Best Game Design
- Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
- Mark Of The Ninja (Klei Entertainment/Microsoft Studios)
- Spelunky (Derek Yu/Andy Hull)
- Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown (Firaxis Games/2K Games)
Last Year’s Winner: Portal 2 (Valve)
Best Handheld/Mobile Game
- Gravity Rush (SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Hero Academy (Robot Entertainment)
- Sound Shapes (Queasy Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- The Room (Fireproof Games)
- Kid Icarus: Uprising (Sora/Nintendo)
Last Year’s Winner: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery (Capy Games/Superbrothers)
Best Narrative
- Spec Ops: The Line (Yager Entertainment/2K Games)
- Mass Effect 3 (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
- Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
- The Walking Dead (Telltale Games)
- Virtue’s Last Reward (Chunsoft/Aksys Games)
Last Year’s Winner: Portal 2 (Valve)
Best Technology
- Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- PlanetSide 2 (Sony Online Entertainment)
- Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Treyarch/Activision)
- Assassin’s Creed III (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Last Year’s Winner: Battlefield 3 (DICE)
Best Visual Arts
- Borderlands 2 (Gearbox Software/2K Games)
- Journey (Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment)
- Far Cry 3 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
- Dishonored (Arkane Studios/Bethesda Softworks)
- Halo 4 (343 Industries/Microsoft Studios)
Last Year’s Winner: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Naughty Dog)
Personally, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for my stand-out game of 2012, the modest indie title FTL: Faster Than Light, which has been nominated for the Innovation Award and the developers, Subset Games are up for the Best Debut. Go on the little guys.
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Is your game of choice represented?
