'Tis the season for awards. This time it's the game developers recognizing their peers.
The International Game Developers Association has announced the nominees for the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards. The awards ceremony will take place in San Jose on March 24th as part of the Game Developers Conference.
GameCube exclusives Viewtiful Joe and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker were both nominated for the Excellence in Visual Arts Award. Viewtiful Joe also received a nomination for Original Character of the Year. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was nominated for Game of the Year along with Ubi Soft's duo of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Beyond Good & Evil, Lucas Arts' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Activision's Call of Duty.
A partial list of nominees is below. For the full list of all the nominees, visit the IGDA awards page
Game of the Year
- BEYOND GOOD & EVIL (Ubisoft Pictures)
- CALL OF DUTY (Infinity Ward)
- PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME (Ubisoft Montreal)
- STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC (BioWare Corp.)
- THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER (Nintendo EAD)
Original Game Character of the Year
- Glitch from METAL ARMS: GLITCH IN THE SYSTEM
- HK-47 from STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
- Jade from BEYOND GOOD & EVIL
- Joe from VIEWTIFUL JOE
- Vince from VOODOO VINCE
Excellence in Game Design
- Michel Ancel, Jacques Exertier, Frederic Houde, and Sebastien Morin for game design in BEYOND GOOD & EVIL
- David Chateauneuf, Patrice Desilets, Jordan Mechner and team for game design in PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
- The Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando team for game design in RATCHET & CLANK: GOING COMMANDO
- Casey Hudson, James Ohlen and team for game design in STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
- Goro Abe, Hirofumi Matsuoka, Kazuyoshi Ohsawa and Ko Takeuchi for game design in WARIOWARE INC.: MEGA MICROGAME$
Excellence in Writing
- Michel Ancel and Jacques Exertier for writing in BEYOND GOOD & EVIL
- Charles Cecil, Steve Ince, Neil Richards, and Tony Warriner for writing in BROKEN SWORD: THE SLEEPING DRAGON
- Sheldon Pacotti and Sarah Paetsch for writing in DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WAR
- Takehiro Izushi for writing in FIRE EMBLEM
- David Gaider, Drew Karpyshyn, Luke Kristjanson, and Peter Thomas for writing in STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC