Top Games of 2009: Game Developers Choice Award Nominees
The organizers of GDC 2010 have announced the nominees for the best games of 2009
Organizers of GDC 2010 have revealed the nominees for the tenth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game industry awards. Nominations this year are led by Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2, with seven nominations. The acclaimed title is closely followed by five nominations for thatgamecompany's evocative downloadable game Flower, and four nominations for Ubisoft Montreal's well-received Renaissance action game sequel Assassin's Creed II.
In addition to the aforementioned Uncharted 2 and Assassin's Creed II, this year's Game Of The Year nominations are rounded out by BioWare's Dragon Age: Origins, From Software's Demon's Souls, and Rocksteady Studios' Batman: Arkham Asylum. Other multiple nominees include notably diverse titles such as PopCap's Plants Vs. Zombies and Infinity Ward's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
The changes in today's game industry are well represented in the Game Developers Choice Awards this year by the inclusion of multiple iPhone titles (including Flight Control and Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor) as nominations in existing categories, as well as console downloadable titles such as Q Games' PixelJunk Shooter and RedLynx's Trials HD. Organizers have also further diversified the awards by adding a Best New Social/Online Games category this year, with both Facebook and free-to-play online games competing for the new prize.
The Game Developers Choice Awards are open to any video game, with no restrictions or payment for game submission, and Main Competition finalists are chosen via a combination of open game industry nominations and the votes of the leading creators in the Choice Awards Advisory Committee. Starting this year, winners are now being selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is a new invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry. Choice Awards organizers believe that, in tandem with their goal of having the most focused, impartial awards in the game industry, this additional voting transparency will further boost the awards' reputation.
The complete list of nominees for the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are as follows:
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Best Game Design
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Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady)
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Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
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Flower (thatgamecompany)
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
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Best Visual Art
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Borderlands (Gearbox Software)
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)
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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
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Flower (thatgamecompany)
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Best Technology
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Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward)
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Red Faction: Guerrilla (Volition)
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Killzone 2 (Guerrilla Games)
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Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)
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Best Writing
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Brutal Legend (Double Fine)
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Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
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Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Halo 3: ODST (Bungie)
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Best Audio
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
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Rock Band: The Beatles (Harmonix)
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Flower (thatgamecompany)
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Brutal Legend (Double Fine Productions)
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Innovation
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Scribblenauts (5th Cell)
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Flower (thatgamecompany)
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
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Demon's Souls (From Software)
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Best Debut
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The Maw (Twisted Pixel)
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League Of Legends (Riot Games)
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Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)
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Torchlight (Runic Games)
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Zeno Clash (ACE Team)
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Best Downloadable Game
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Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
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Trials HD (RedLynx)
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PixelJunk Shooter (Q Games)
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Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment)
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Flower (thatgamecompany)
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Best New Social/Online Game
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Restaurant City (Playfish)
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Farmville (Zynga)
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Dungeon Fighter Online (Neople/Nexon)
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Free Realms (Sony Online Entertainment San Diego)
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Bejeweled Blitz (PopCap)
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Best Handheld Game
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Scribblenauts (5th Cell)
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Flight Control (Firemint)
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Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North)
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Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor (Tiger Style)
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Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo EAD)
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Game Of The Year
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Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
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Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare)
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Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
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Demon's Souls (From Software)
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Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)
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About the Author
John Gaudiosi
Editor-in-Chief
John Gaudiosi has been covering videogames for the past 20 years for outlets like The Washington Post, CNET, Wired Magazine and CBS.com. He has focused on the convergence of entertainment and videogames for outlets like Video Business, Home Media Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of Gamerlive.TV and is also a freelance game columnist for Reuters and writes for outlets like Forbes.com, NVISION, Official PlayStation Magazine, EGM Now, Geek Monthly, PrimaGames.com, and Yahoo! Games. John also serves as the video game expert for NBC in Washington D.C. and has produced videogame documentaries for The History Channel and Starz Entertainment. John was named one of the Top 50 Game Journalists in the world by Next-Gen.biz in 2007. He is the co-author of Scholastic Books' How to Get into Videogames, Prima Publishing's Madden: Twenty Years of Videogame Football and Electronic Arts: The Official History.
