We posted the list of nominees for the Independent Games Festival awards, also to be be held at GDC, last week. Well the nominees for the big one have been released. 24 games have been nominated across 10 categories at the Game Developers Choice Awards. The standouts are Mass Effect 2 with an impressive 5 nominations. Red Dead Redemption is also in a top spot, having been nominated in every single category it was eligible for: 6. But with 7 nominations Limbo takes the cake. All three have been nominated for Game of the Year.
Rounding out the Game of the Year nominees are Call of Duty: Black Ops and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. I find this strange since the only other nomination either game got was in Best Visual Arts. Heavy Rain isn't in Game of the Year despite have got nominations in 3 categories, Innovation, Best Technology and Best Writing or Minecraft also nominated in 3 categories Innovation, Best Downloadable and Best Debut Game. Even Super Meat Boy, Monday Night Combat and Costume Quest garnered more nominations outside the Game of the Year category than either Black Ops or Brotherhood. I'm not knocking any of them, except Black Ops, I just want to know their reasoning behind it.
Here's the full list:
Best Game Design
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo)
Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)
Limbo (Playdead)
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)
Innovation
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Kirby's Epic Yarn (Good-Feel & HAL Laboratory)
Minecraft (Mojang)
Limbo (Playdead)
Dance Central (Harmonix)
Best Technology
Starcraft II (Blizzard)
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)
God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)
Best Handheld Game
God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Ready At Dawn/SCE Santa Monica)
Cut the Rope (ZeptoLab)
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Kojima Productions)
Game Dev Story (Kairosoft)
Dragon Quest IX (Level 5)
Best Audio
Limbo (Playdead)
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
Halo: Reach (Bungie)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DICE)
Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)
Best Downloadable Game
Costume Quest (Double Fine)
Limbo (Playdead)
Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)
Minecraft (Mojang)
Monday Night Combat (Uber Entertainment)
Best Writing
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)
Costume Quest (Double Fine)
Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian)
Best Debut Game
Limbo (Playdead)
Darksiders (Vigil Games)
Minecraft (Mojang)
Monday Night Combat (Uber Entertainment)
Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)
Best Visual Arts
God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)
Limbo (Playdead)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (Treyarch)
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft Montreal)
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
Game of the Year
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)
Call of Duty: Black Ops (Treyarch)
Limbo (Playdead)
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft Montreal)
