"Thousands of developers voiced their picks during the Choice Awards' open nominations process," said Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director, IGDA.
"The high prestige of these honors comes from the fact that fellow developers recognize each other's best work."
The nominees are:
Best Game
Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
- Paul Glancey, Chris Roberts, Paul Ross, Fiona Sperry, Alex Ward
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Ken Birdwell, Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Mark Kern, Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo
New Studio
Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes)
- Michael Lewis
Crytek (Far Cry)
- Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli
inXile entertainment (The Bard's Tale)
- Brian Fargo, Matthew Findley
Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
- Chris Avellone, Chris Jones, Darren Monahan, Chris Parker, Feargus Urquhart
the Behemoth (Alien Hominid)
- Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, Dan Paladin Audio
Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Spark Unlimited / Activision)
- Jack Grillo, Caleb Sweazy
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
- Christian Antkow, John Carmack, Tim Willits
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Craig Conner, Allan Walker
Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios)
- C Paul Johnson, Marty O'Donnell, Jay Weinland
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Yu Miyake
Character Design
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Bill Fletcher, Bill Van Buren
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
- Nicolas Bouvier, Mickael Labat
Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Computer Entertainment America)
- Travis Kotzebue, Dev Madan
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Brandon Idol, Chris Metzen
Game Design
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi
Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
- Masamichi Abe, Hino Shigefumi
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Chris Metzen, Rob Pardo
Technology
Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
- Alex Fry, Ciaran Rooney, Paul Ross, Hamish Young
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
- John Carmack, Robert Duffy, Jan Paul van Waveren
EyeToy: AntiGrav (Harmonix Music Systems / Sony Computer Entertainment America)
- Eran Egozy, Eric Malafeew
Far Cry (Crytek / Ubisoft Entertainment)
- Timur Davidenko, Vladimir Kajalin, Andrey Khonich, Anton Knyazyev, Cevat Yerli
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Yahn Bernier, Brian Jacobson
Visual Arts
Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
- Andy Chang, Seneca Menard, Kenneth Scott
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Viktor Antonov, Randy Lundeen
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
- Hiroyuki Hayashi, Chie Kawabe
Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
- Mickael Labat, Patrick Limoges
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Sam Didier, William Petras, Justin Thavirat
Writing
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Dan Houser, James Worrall
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Marc Laidlaw
Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (High Voltage Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Matt Entin, Ed Kuehnel, Eric Nofsinger
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
- Nate Bihldorff, Ryota Kawade
Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Obsidian Entertainment / LucasArts Entertainment)
- Chris Avellone
Nominations were free of charge and open to all game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation, ensuring that the nominees reflect the international
development community's opinions. The IGDA membership will vote on the finalists.In addition to the voted award categories, honors will be presented for the Innovation, Lifetime Achievement, First Penguin, Community Contribution and Maverick awards.