Which GDC Awards nominees we ended up voting for
All right, this blogger's ballot's been cast, and now it's time to share.
In the interests of a stronger vote--that will actually make a difference--I made two choices in each category below (as the system allowed you to vote for as many or as few of the nominees as you wished). We'll see how well I picked at the Game Developers Choice Awards on March 22nd.
Ultimately, my choices listed here came down to personal preference and subjective evaluation, so there are bound to be some votes that don't mesh with what you would have chosen. Whatever the case, please note that my eventual choices are not necessarily indicative of what Joystiq as a whole, or the other writers who blog for this site, would have voted for. (So don't blame them!) But enough of that... on to the ballot!
Best Game
The Best Game award recognizes the overall best--as interpreted by developers--game released during the year 2005.
Chosen: Guitar Hero and Shadow of the Colossus
Not chosen: Animal Crossing: Wild World, God of War, and The Movies
New Studio
The New Studio award recognizes the outstanding achievement of a "new" game development studio and the obstacles it overcame in releasing its first publicly available game in the year 2005.
Chosen: Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts) and Wideload Games (Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse)
Not chosen: ArenaNet (Guild Wars), New Crayon Games (Bonnie's Bookstore), and TellTale Games (Bone: Out From Boneville)
Audio
The Audio award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in a game--including, but not limited to, sound effects, musical composition, sound design, orchestration, etc.
Chosen: Call of Duty 2 and Guitar Hero
Not chosen: Electroplankton, God of War, and Project Gotham Racing 3
Character Design
The Character Design award recognizes the overall excellence of (non-licensed) character design in a game--including, but not limited to, originality, character arc, emotional depth, etc.
Chosen: Psychonauts and Shadow of the Colossus
Not chosen: City of Villains, God of War, and Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
Game Design
The Game Design award recognizes the overall excellence of design in a game--including, but not limited to, gameplay mechanics, puzzles, play balancing, scenarios, etc.
Chosen: God of War and Nintendogs
Not chosen: Animal Crossing: Wild World, Psychonauts, and Shadow of the Colossus
Technology
The Technology award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in a game--including, but not limited to, graphics programming, artificial intelligence, networking, physics, etc.
Chosen: Guitar Hero and Project Gotham Racing 3
Not chosen: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Nintendogs, and Shadow of the Colossus
Visual Arts
The Visual Arts award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in a game--including, but not limited to, animation, modeling, art direction, textures, etc.
Chosen: Resident Evil 4 and Shadow of the Colossus
Not chosen: God of War, Project Gotham Racing 3, and We Love Katamari
Writing
The Writing award recognizes the overall excellence of writing in a game--including, but not limited to, story, plot construction, dialogue, branching narratives, etc.
Chosen: Indigo Prophecy and Psychonauts
Not chosen: Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich, God of War, and Jade Empire
All right, criticize my choices if you must, but I just want to let you know that I'm gonna let the comments build a bit before responding to any particular barbs or questions (if really called for). I'm sure that we can agree to disagree on games and studios where our opinions in this matter happen to diverge, but I hope we can all agree that it's been a great year for games (well, relatively speaking).
See also:
A ballot of a different sort: Oscar highs and lows
