British Academy Video Games Awards nominations announced

The further gaming awards ceremonies move away from Spike TV’s joke of an awards show the better. Then again we would have never got to meet NPH without the VGAs so we can’t complain all that much. Still it’s good to see more respectable outlets championing gaming, like BAFTA who has just released their nominees for their yearly videogames awards. Call of Duty 4 received the most nominations with a total of seven, including Best Game where it is accompanied by Fable II, Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Rock Band and Super Mario Galaxy. Now don’t go jumping the gun and shouting about how some of these games are from 2007. The simple fact of the matter is that the UK sometimes plays the role of the gaming world’s bitch and doesn’t get games as timely as the rest of us.

Other outstanding nominations (for good or bad reasons) are Boom Blox in the casual category, Wii Fit in the sports game category (wtf?) and a list of handheld nominations that makes you wonder why you need a home console in the first place. Readers of TVGB’s Music in Games series will be happy to hear that the extremely talented Jason Graves received a nomination for his Dead Space score. Most importantly though, BAFTA recognized how amazing COD4‘s story truly was with a character and story nomination.

Looking over the list we can only argue with a few nominations here and there, how about you?

THE NOMINATIONS

ACTION & ADVENTURE

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Dead Space
Glen Schofield, Chuck Beaver, Bret Robbins
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Prince of Persia
Ben Mattes, Jean-Christophe Guyot
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Noah Hughes, Pat Sirk, Toby Gard
Crystal Dynamics/Eidos

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Dead Space
Ian Milham
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios
LittleBigPlanet
Kareem Ettouney, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Yoji Shinkawa
Kojima Productions/Konami Digital Entertainment

BEST GAME

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studio
Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo, Istvan Pely
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Eran Egozy, Mike Dornbrook
Harmonix Music Systems/MTV Games
Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

CASUAL

Boom Blox
Development Team
Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts
Buzz! Quiz TV
David Amor, Andrew Eades, Lee Clare
Relentless Software & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Development Team
Neversoft/Activision
LittleBigPlanet
Mark Healey, Dave Smith, Pete Smith
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
SingStar Vol. 2
Vera So, Gillian Connole, Kevin Mason
SCE London Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Wii Fit
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

GAMEPLAY

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Left 4 Dead
Gabe Newell, Mike Booth, Chet Faliszek
Valve/Valve
Mario Kart Wii
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Dan Teasdale, Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom
Harmonix Music System/MTV Games
Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

HANDHELD

Geometry Wars: Galaxies
James Brooksby, Jim Mummery
Doublesix/Sierra
God of War: Chains of the Olympus
Development Team
Ready at Dawn & SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Patapon
Development Team
Pyramid & SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Soul Bubbles
Olivier Lejade, Omar Cornut, Frederick Raynal
McKensleep/Eidos

MULTIPLAYER

Buzz! Quiz TV
David Amor, Andrew Eades
Relentless Software& SCE XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios
Left 4 Dead
Gabe Newell, Mike Booth, Chet Faliszek
Valve/Valve
Mario Kart Wii
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Kasson Crooker
Harmonix Music System/MTV Games

ORIGINAL SCORE

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Dead Space
Development Team
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo, Istvan Pely
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe
LittleBigPlanet
Kenneth Young, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Harry Gregson-Williams
Kojima Productions/Konami Digital Entertainment

SPORTS

FIFA 09
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
EA Canada/Electronic Arts
Football Manager 2009
Development Team
Sports Interactive/SEGA
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Development Team
Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment
Pure
Jason Avent, Jim Callin, Craig Gabell
Black Rock Studios/Disney Interactive Studios
Race Driver: GRID
Development Team
Codemasters Studios/Codemasters
Wii Fit
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

STRATEGY

Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Development Team
EA Los Angeles/Electronic Arts
Ninjatown
Shawn Smith, Brandon Curiel, Jeremy Pope
Venan in conjunction with Casmere Productions & Shalinamals/Southpeak Games
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
Development Team
Firaxis Games/2K Games
SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike
Development Team
Slant Six Games & SCE Foster City Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
Gary Richards, Paul Machacek, Joe Humfrey
Rare/THQ

STORY AND CHARACTER

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Mass Effect
Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn, Derek Watts
Bioware/Electronic Arts

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Guy Carver
Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks Europe
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
LittleBigPlanet
Alex Evans, Dave Smith, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Europe
Spore
Development Team
Electronic Arts Montreal/Electronic Arts

USE OF AUDIO

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Dead Space
Don Veca
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
LittleBigPlanet
Kenneth Young, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

BAFTA ONE’S TO WATCH AWARD in association with Dare to Be Digital

Boro-Toro
Adam Westwood, Graham Ranson, Yves Wheeler, Matthew Booton, Owen Schwehr (DarkMatter Designs)

Origamee
Richard Barlow, Alberto Fustinoni, Jonathon Holmes, Kevin Dunlop, Jade Law
(Blue Skies)

VegeMe
Guo Lin, Gao Ting, Zhang Jun, Laing Wei, Alexander Syminton (Ctrl_D)

GAME Award of 2008
(The only award to be voted for by the public)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Infinity Ward/Activision

Fallout 3
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Software Europe

Gears of War 2
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar North/Take Two Interactive

Guitar Hero World Tour
Neversoft/Activision

Left 4 Dead
Valve/Valve

LittleBigPlanet
Media Molecule & XDEV Studio Europe/SCEE

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Fit
Nintendo/Nintendo

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Blizzard Entertainment/Activision