San Francisco - The 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards, honors in game development acknowledging excellence in game design, will return to San Francisco for a second consecutive year on Wednesday, February 20.
Presented by CMP Technology's Game Developers Conference (GDC) and Gamasutra.com, this year's awards feature new categories. Two of the new categories, the Ambassador Award and the Pioneer Award, are now open for nominations from qualified game professionals. Nominations are also open for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The awards ceremony, held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival, will be hosted during GDC 2008 in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco's Moscone Center.
For complete details and to submit nominations for the three special award categories through November 30, please visit www.gamechoiceawards.com.
The three special awards now open for nominations honor individuals whose achievements have made an impact on games and the game community as a whole. The Ambassador Award honors an individual (or group of individuals) who has helped the game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to be an advocate for video games to help further the art.
The Pioneer Award celebrates those individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in video game history, paving the way for myriad developers who followed them.
The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development.
The Game Developers Choice Awards voting process is overseen by the editors of Game Developer Magazine and Gamasutra.com. All game professionals with a Gamasutra.com user account will be able to nominate and vote in the 2008 Choice Awards. In addition, for the purposes of picking recipients of the Ambassador, Pioneer, and Lifetime Achievement Awards following the public nominations, and to help adjudicate on the awards process in general, the editors of both outlets have set up an Advisory Committee of industry veterans.
In addition to the Ambassador, Pioneer and Lifetime Achievement Awards,Choice Awards will be given in the following categories:
* Best Audio
* Best Game Design
* Best Technology
* Best Visual Arts
* Best Writing
* Best Debut Game
* Best Downloadable Game
* Best Handheld Game
* Innovation
* Game of the Year
These particular categories will be both nominated and voted on by the development community. The call for nominations period for these categories begins December 17, 2007.
For further information and to submit a nomination for one of the three special awards through November 30, visit www.gamechoiceawards.com.