Think Services has announced the nominees for this year’s Game Developer Choice awards, and LittleBigPlanet is leading the pack with seven nominations, followed closely by Braid with five.
There aren’t many surprises in the list of nominees, which were selected in an “open peer-based” process. Up for the coveted Game of the Year trophy are LittleBigPlanet, Fable 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead and Grand Theft Auto IV. LittleBigPlanet sure is getting a lot of love, nabbing nominations in essentially every category it would be eligible for, meaning every category that’s not “Best Handheld,” “Best Downloadable” or “Best Writing.” Braid, though not in the running for the GOTY award, is up for prizes in writing, innovation, design and more, putting it two behind LittleBigPlanet in the number of nominations gathered.
“The awards given out at the Game Developers Choice Awards are more than just trophies; they are recognition of great work by the developer community,” Game Developers Conference director Meggan Scavio said. “The open peer-based selection process ensures that the people with the final say are the people who work within the craft of game development, and we can’t wait to see who they choose.”
You can view the entire list of nominations here. Other notable nominations include Metal Gear Solid 4 going against GTA4, Braid, Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 in a best writing category that arguably trumps the WGA’s (there was writing in Far Cry 2?). Meanwhile, Spore, World of Goo, Boom Blox, Braid and LittleBigPlanet are butting heads to see who’s the most innovative.
Speaking of Boom Blox, Nintendo is noticeably absent from the group, with only a handful of Wii and DS games up for awards, and Advance Wars: Days of Ruin being the only Nintendo-published title nominated at all. No Wii Music, no Wii Fit. Even the handheld category is dominated by PSP games. Guess game developers don’t like making canned dog noises by shaking pieces of plastic or getting in shape.
The GDC awards will be announced on March 24th at a ceremony during the Game Developer’s Conference. Place your bets now!
