Video game-oriented television network G4 will exclusively broadcast Game Developers Choice Awards highlights on U.S. television tonight at 6:30 and 8:00 PM ET.

The awards originally took place Wednesday, March 25 during Game Developers Conference 2009 in San Francisco.

G4's program X-Play, featuring host Adam Sessler -- and billed as "the most watched video game series on television" -- will air a half-hour highlights show of the proceedings beginning this evening.

The Game Developers Choice Awards, which G4 also showed highlights from in 2008, will repeat its TV airing on this special X-Play episode on Monday, April 13 at 1:00 PM ET, and on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 8.00pm ET.

The awards production features Double Fine Productions founder and veteran game designer Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts) presiding over the evening once again - he previously hosted the 2007 Choice Awards.

More information on scheduling for upcoming episodes of the show is available at G4's TV schedule page.

[UPDATE: All times for the show are ET only, not ET/PT - in addition, G4's video page has footage from the episode now available.]

Posted by Staff at 10:50 AM | Permalink

Bethesda Softworks' epic post-apocalyptic open-world adventure, Fallout 3, received the Game of the Year Award at the 9th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, presented at a ceremony this evening the 2009 Game Developers Conference. Bethesda also received the Best Writing award for the game.

Media Molecule's imaginative user creation-centric platform game LittleBigPlanet, which was first unveiled at GDC 2007, was the recipient of the most awards of the evening, taking four awards for Best Game Design, Best Technology, Best Debut Game and Innovation Award.

Other winners at the Tim Schafer-hosted event included Ubisoft's hauntingly beautiful update of the Prince of Persia franchise, which won the prize for Best Visual Arts, and Ready at Dawn's portable action-adventure, God of War: Chains of Olympus, winner of the Best Handheld Game award. EA Redwood Shores' shocking horror title, Dead Space, won the prize for Best Audio award.

Continue reading "Fallout 3, LittleBigPlanet Reign Supreme At Choice Awards" »

Posted by Staff at 07:48 AM | Permalink

Gaming-oriented television network G4 will exclusively broadcast the 9th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards on U.S. television, G4 and conference organizer Think Services announced today.

The awards take place Wednesday, March 25 during Game Developers Conference 2009 in San Francisco. G4's program X-Play, featuring host Adam Sessler -- billed as "the most watched video game series on television" -- will air the proceedings on Friday, April 10 at 6:30 PM.

As recently revealed by Think Services, this year Double Fine Productions founder and veteran game designer Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts) will once again preside over the evening. Schafer previously hosted the 2007 Choice Awards.

Continue reading "G4 To Broadcast 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards" »

Posted by Staff at 07:44 AM | Permalink

The 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, the highest honors in game development acknowledging excellence in game creation, will honor Hideo Kojima with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony taking place at the Game Developers Conference next month.

Kojima is Corporate Officer, Executive Producer and Director of Kojima Productions and creator of the seminal Metal Gear series, and the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of developers who have made an indelible impact on the craft of game development.

Renowned as one of the world’s most influential contemporary game developers, Hideo Kojima first decided to get involved in the game development business while studying economics.

Continue reading "2009 Game Developers Choice Awards Honor Kojima For Lifetime Achievement" »

Posted by Staff at 06:48 AM | Permalink

Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet leads the nominees for the ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards with seven nominations, organizers have revealed.

Number None’s Braid follows closely with five nominations. Among the nominations for LittleBigPlanet is the coveted Game of the Year award.

Other nominees for that category include Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead, each of which received a total of four award nominations; Rockstar North’s Grand Theft Auto IV, which earned a total of three nominations; and Lionhead Studios’ Fable 2. Winners will be honored at an awards show taking place during the 2009 Game Developers Conference.

The two leading nominees are celebrating a homecoming of sorts with their nominations for the Choice Awards. Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet made its debut during a keynote lecture at the 2007 Game Developers Conference, while Number None’s Braid was winner of the Innovation in Game Design award at the 2006 Independent Games Festival (IGF), which is also part of the Game Developers Conference.

Produced and hosted by Think Services’ Game Developers Conference 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 EA Maxis’ Spore, 2D Boy’s World of Goo, Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid 4, Epic Games’ Gears of War 2, and Ubisoft Montreal’s Far Cry 2. The complete list of nominees is:

Continue reading "LittleBigPlanet, Braid, Left 4 Dead Lead Game Developers Choice Award Finalists" »

Posted by Staff at 01:51 PM | Permalink

The 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, the highest honors in game development acknowledging excellence in game creation, have named the recipients of two of its special awards, while also revealing that popular host of the 2007 Awards and Double Fine founder Tim Schafer is returning to present this year's Choice Awards.

Harmonix co-founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, co-developers of a groundbreaking decade-plus long line of music games culminating in the Rock Band franchise, will receive the Pioneer Award for their work.

In addition, Tommy Tallarico, co-founder of the Video Games Live concert series and founder of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), will receive the Ambassador Award for helping to advance the game audio community.

Continue reading "2009 Choice Awards Names Ambassador, Pioneers, Schafer As Host" »

Posted by Staff at 07:21 AM | Permalink

[The organizers have just opened nominations for the 2008 Choice Awards, so if you're a developer and would like to vote on the best games of the year, with winners showcased at the big GDC ceremony in March - now's the time.]

The 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards has now opened nominations for the best games of 2008, with awards given out at GDC 2009 and Gamasutra members able to help decide nominees.

Next year’s 9th Annual Award Ceremony, will be hosted on March 25th, 2009 in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, as part of Game Developers Conference 2009.

The Choice Awards, the most prestigious honors in video game development, are now available for you to nominate, after logging on with your main Gamasutra.com user ID. (You can register for free if you do not currently have one.)

The Game Developers Choice Awards recognizes excellence in the art of game creation in any genre or platform. Last year's event saw Valve's Portal the recipient of three major honors, including Game of the Year, with three awards also going to 2K Boston/2K Australia's BioShock.

The 2009 award categories currently open for nominations until January 5th, 2009, are:

Continue reading "Game Developers Choice Awards Opens Full Nominations" »

Posted by Staff at 07:24 AM | Permalink

The 9th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards has launched a call for nominations for its three Special Awards, including Lifetime Achievement, Pioneer, and Ambassador Awards, with nominating power for Gamasutra members.

Voted on entirely by game professionals, next year’s 9th Annual Award Ceremony will be hosted on March 25th, 2009 in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Center, as part of Game Developers Conference 2009.

As the first part of this year's voting process, three special Choice Awards - the Ambassador Award, the Pioneer Award, and the Lifetime Achievement Award - are available for nominations after logging on with your main Gamasutra.com user ID. (You can register for free if you do not currently have one.)

These special awards honor individuals whose achievements have made an impact on games and the game community as a whole, and not necessarily only over the past year:

Continue reading "9th Game Developers Choice Awards Opens Special Nominations" »

Posted by Staff at 09:44 AM | Permalink

The Game Developers Choice Awards, the highest honors in game development acknowledging excellence in game creation, will honor computer strategy game luminary Sid Meier with a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s ceremony taking place at the Game Developers Conference (GDC). The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of developers such as Meier who have made an indelible impact on the craft of game development, as he has with the creation of a number of genre-defining titles including Civilization and Pirates! This year's show, presented by GDC and Webby-award winning Gamasutra.com, is held in conjunction with the Independent Games Festival and will be hosted on Wednesday, February 20, in the Esplanade Room in the South Hall of San Francisco’s Moscone Center. For complete details, please visit www.gamechoiceawards.com

Posted by GDC Staff at 04:21 PM | Permalink

The Game Developers Choice Awards have named the recipients of two of the special awards. Electronic engineer Ralph Baer, known to many as the “Father of Video Games” for inventing the first home video game system, commercialized as the Magnavox Odyssey game system, will receive the Pioneer Award; and Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), a professional society committed to advancing the careers and enhancing the lives of game developers, will receive the Ambassador Award. Find out more at www.gamechoiceawards.com

Posted by GDC Staff at 04:31 PM | Permalink