Game Development Community Chooses 'Portal' as Game of the Year at the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice AwardsValve's 'Orange Box' Puzzler and 2K Boston/2K Australia's 'Bioshock' Receive 3 Awards Each; 'Crackdown,' 'Crysis,' 'Fl0w' and 'The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' Take PrizesPRNewswire SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Valve's genre-blending first person shooter/puzzler, "Portal," was the recipient of three honors including Game of the Year at the 8th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, presented at a ceremony this evening at CMP's 2008 Game Developers Conference (GDC). The game -- one of three new games on the developer's "Orange Box," alongside "Half-Life 2: Episode 2" and "Team Fortress 2"-- also took the prizes for Innovation and Best Game Design. Also taking three awards was 2K Boston/2K Australia's blockbuster shooter, "Bioshock," which won for Best Audio, Best Visual Art and Best Writing. Realtime Worlds' "Crackdown," Thatgamecompany's "Fl0w," Crytek's "Crysis" and Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" were the recipients of the remaining awards, taking home one honor each. Produced and hosted by GDC and presented by Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine, the Game Developers Choice Awards honors the creators of the best video games released during the previous calendar year, as well as awarding key figures from the video game community. "The Game Developers Choice Awards stand out from other game industry prizes by being open to all games of a calendar year and by recognizing the individual developers behind each celebrated game," said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference. "We are thrilled gamers at home will be able to meet the people behind their favorite games when our first ever television broadcast special on the awards airs soon on the G4 television network." The recipients of the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are: 2007 Best Game Design Portal (Valve) Kim Swift, Realm Lovejoy, Paul Graham 2007 Best Visual Art BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games) Scott Sinclair, Shawn Robertson, Andrew James 2007 Best Technology Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts) Cevat Yerli, Douglas Binks, Timur Davidenko, Martin Mittring 2007 Best Writing BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games) Ken Levine, Emily Ridgway, Joe McDonagh, Susan O'Connor 2007 Best Audio BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games) Eric Brosius, Pat Balthrop, Emily Ridgway, Justin Mullins 2007 Best Debut Crackdown (Real Time Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios) Ramon Gonzalez, Violetta Sanchez, Rafael Diaz, Jose Guerra 2007 Innovation Portal (Valve) Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw 2007 Best Handheld Game The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo / Nintendo) Eiji Aonuma 2007 Best Downloadable Game Flow (thatgamecompany / Sony Computer Entertainment) Kellee Santiago, Jenova Chen, Martin Middleton, Hao Cui, John Edwards, Nick Clark 2007 Game of the Year Portal (Valve) Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw Recipients for the evening's special awards were: Lifetime Achievement Award Sid Meier Pioneer Award Ralph Baer Ambassador Award Jason Della Rocca "It was an incredible year of innovation, top-notch explorations within known franchises and introductions of great new properties," Simon Carless, publisher, Gamasutra.com and Game Developer. "The whole community mobilized to express their admiration for the best works, and we are proud to present these meaningful peer awards." For more information about the awards and all the recipients, please visit: http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/ About the Game Developers Conference (http://www.gdconf.com/) The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the world's largest professionals- only game industry event. Presented every spring in San Francisco, it is the essential forum for learning, inspiration, and networking for the creators of computer, console, handheld, mobile, and online games. The GDC attracts over 16,000 attendees, and is the primary forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the future of the industry. The GDC is produced by the CMP Game Group, a division of CMP Technology. About CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event and print brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times and TechOnline; produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game Developers Conference and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides business information and marketing services such as the International Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights and Second Life consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news distribution and specialist information services with a market capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to cmp.com/news. SOURCE: CMP CONTACT: Sibel Sunar, sibel@fortyseven.com, or Brian Rubin, Web site: http://www.cmp.com/ |