Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios' Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War was the recipient of three honors including Best Game at the 7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The game also received the awards for Technology and Visual Arts. Following close behind with two awards each were Clover Studios and Capcom Entertainment's Okami and Nintendo's Wii Sports. The ceremony, produced and hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and presented by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), is the only peer-based, open nomination awards program in the industry where honors are bestowed to developers by developers. Recipients were announced tonight at the 2007 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.
Nominations were free of charge and open to all IGDA members, ensuring that the nominees reflect the international development community's opinions. The IGDA membership voted on the finalists.
The recipients for the 7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:
Best Game
Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Cliff Bleszinski, Michael Capps, Rod Fergusson
Audio
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix Music Systems / RedOctane)
- Jeff Allen, Eric Brosius, Izzy Maxwell
Character Design
Ōkami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
- Mari Shimazaki, Sawaki Takeyasu, Kenichirou Yoshimura
Game Design
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
- Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita
Technology
Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Michael Capps, Ray Davis, Tim Sweeney, Daniel Vogel
Visual Arts
Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Jerry O'Flaherty, Chris Perna
Writing
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
- Kyogoku Aya, Nate Bihldorff, Mitsuhiro Takano
New Studio
Iron Lore Entertainment (Titan Quest)
- Paul Chieffo, Jeff Goodsill, Brian Sullivan
Innovation
Line Rider
- Boštjan Cadež
Ōkami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
- Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
- Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita
Recipients for the evening's special awards were:
Lifetime Achievement
Shigeru Miyamoto
First Penguin
Alexey Pajitnov
Maverick
Greg Costikyan
Community Contribution
George "The Fat Man" Sanger
Once again, the Game Developers Choice Awards have shown that gaming greatness can be found within every type of game-from the most hardcore of experiences, to those that have brought all new audiences into our industry's fan base, said Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director, IGDA. Each year, I am humbled by what our members can do with this great art form.
