Produced and hosted by CMP's Game Developers Conference (GDC) and presented by Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine, the Game Developers Choice Awards honors the developers of the best video games released during the previous calendar year, as well as awarding key figures from the video game community. Other multiple nominees for this year's event include such diverse and notable titles as BioWare's Mass Effect, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, Infinite Interactive's Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, Sony Santa Monica's God of War II, and PopCap's Peggle.

In addition, special recipients already confirmed for this year's Choice Awards, to be honored in person during the ceremony, include 'father of video games' Ralph Baer (Pioneer), IGDA executive director Jason Della Rocca (Ambassador) and Civilization creator Sid Meier (Lifetime Achievement).

Winners in all major categories will be honored at an awards show taking place Wednesday, February 20 in the Esplanade Ballroom of the Moscone Center's South Hall, during the 2008 Game Developers Conference. The Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival (IGF), will be hosted by legendary game developer Jason Rubin, mastermind behind the smash-hit Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter franchises.

In addition, it's been revealed that specially made video entertainment for the Choice Awards will be produced by The Escapist's popular animated show Zero Punctuation, while long-time contributors Mega64 will produce exclusive video skits to accompany the Independent Games Festival Awards.

"Behind every great game is a great team, and it's a core principle of ours to honor and recognize that talent on stage," said Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference. "Given the open peer-based structure, the Game Developers Choice Awards have earned the utmost respect within the developer community and we're looking forward to the award ceremony next month to see who the 2008 recipients are. Good luck everyone!"

The complete list of nominees is:

Best Game Design

BioShock
Call of Duty 4
Mass Effect
Portal
Super Mario Galaxy

Best Visual Art

Assassin's Creed
Team Fortress 2
Crysis
BioShock
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Best Technology

Halo 3
Crysis
Call of Duty 4
Portal
Assassin's Creed

Best Writing

Portal
God of War II
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
BioShock

Best Audio

Call of Duty 4
Everyday Shooter
BioShock
God of War II
Mass Effect

Best Debut

Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
flOw (ThatGameCompany)
The Witcher (CD Projekt)
Everyday Shooter (Queasy Games)
Aquaria (Bit Blot)

Innovation

Rock Band
Portal
flOw
Peggle
Mass Effect

Best Handheld Game

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Phase
Contra 4
Peggle (for iPod)

Best Downloadable Game

Pac-Man Championship Edition
Everyday Shooter
Peggle
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (XBLA version)
Flow

Game of the Year

BioShock
Call of Duty 4
Portal
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy