The nominees have been announced for the 13th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, scheduled to take place in San Francisco on 27th March and intended to celebrate the video game industry’s top games and developers.
Several well-received games such as Dishonored, Journey, and The Walking Dead have been nominated in multiple categories, the leader being Journey with six separate nominations, including one in the Game of The Year award.
The press release states that the 2013 Game Developers Choice Awards are “open to any video game that was initially released and made publicly available to consumers during the 2012 calendar year, irrespective of platform or delivery medium.”
“Industry professionals participate in open nominations for the selection of this year’s finalists. Winners will be selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.”
Here’s the list of announced categories and respective nominees:
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
Innovation
* 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)
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)
Nominees for the three Special Award categories – the Pioneer, Ambassador, and Lifetime Achievement awards – will apparently be announced “in the near-future.” Also, the new Audience Award, which is open to all finalists, is set to open for online voting in mid-February.
For more information, visit www.gamechoiceawards.com.