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Game Developer’s Choice Awards
The Game Developer’s Choice Awards were held in an auditorium across from the main GDC convention center. This thing place must hold sporting events most of the time, as there was a gigantic scoreboard suspended from the ceiling. If only my camera had worked as I desired it to, you too would have experienced the hilarity. But it was not to be. For those who don't know, these awards are voted on by a panel of developers, ie the peers of the recipients.
Being journalists, we were sent to a choice spot to the left of the stage. The press section was conspicuously barren, only about twenty seats were filled, if that. The general rabble was contained in the nosebleed section, while VIPs sat at round tables on the floor in front of the stage. These were the developers et al who were to receive the awards.
Here is a chronicle of the awards and proceedings:
Independent Games Festival Awards:
(the following all received cash prizes – Wild Earth team came away with an amazing 18,000 dollars!)
Innovation in Visual Arts – Wild Earth (a safari/first person photography game)
Innovation in Audio – Terraformers (a game where players solve puzzles through sound. Designed for the visually impaired.
Innovation in Game Design – Wild Earth
Technical Excellence – Reinier Nizia’s Samurai
Audience Award – Pontifex II
Seumas McNally Award for Independent Game of the Year – Wild Earth.
GDC Awards
Rookie Studio of the Year
· Arkane Studios for ARX FATALIS
· Day 1 Studios for MECHASSAULT
· Gas Powered Games for DUNGEON SIEGE
· Pipeworks Software for GODZILLA: DESTROY ALL MONSTERS MELEE
· Retro Studios for METROID PRIME
Winner: Retro Studios. And everyone was completely shocked. *gasp!*
Excellence in Audio
· GTA Team for sound design in GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY
· Takayuki Kawagoe, Hideki Naganuma and Fumitaka Shibata for sound design in JET SET RADIO FUTURE
· Jack Grillo, Rebecca Hanck, Erik Kraber and Yuan Liu for sound effects in MEDAL OF HONOR: ALLIED ASSAULT
· Metroid Team for sound effects in METROID PRIME
· Andrew Boyd, Chris Hegstrom, Robb Mills and Howard Shore for composition in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS
Winner: The Medal of Honor guys. This one was tough to call...this category was so well represented here. And this is the only category in which sega had a game nominated this year. Something to note: this isn’t just sound design, it’s also musical score. But not necessarily both. See above: sound design, sound effects, composition. Not too clear on how those three things are judged under one umbrella term.
Excellence in Game Design
· Romain de Waubert de Genlis and Team for game design in BATTLEFIELD 1942
· GTA Team for game design in GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY
· Metroid Team for game design in METROID PRIME
· Satoru Iwata, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka and Kenta Usui for game design in SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE
· Splinter Cell Team Leaders for game design in TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL
Winner: Battlefield 1942
Excellence in Level Design
· Metroid Team for level design in METROID PRIME
· Brian Allgeier, Mark Cerny, Lesley Mathieson and Colin Munson for level design in RATCHET & CLANK
· Brendan McNamara, Chun Wah Kong and the SCEE Design Team for level design in THE GETAWAY
· François Pelland and Team for level design in TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL
· Pancho Eekels, Dave Ewing and James Schmalz for level design in UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2003
Winner: Metroid Prime. Another tough call here. This award was presented by your friend and mine, Stevie Case. Why?
Excellence in Programming
· Mike Biddlecombe, Scott Bilas, Bartosz Kijanka, James Loe, Eric Tams and Chad Queen for programming in DUNGEON SIEGE
· Metroid Team for programming in METROID PRIME
· Mark Brockington, Scott Greig, Jason Knipe, Don Moar and Don Yakielashek for network programming in NEVERWINTER NIGHTS
· Antoine Dodens and Team for graphics programming in TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL
· Warcraft III Team for programming in WARCRAFT III: REIGN OF CHAOS
Winner: Neverwinter Nights team. One of them said upon accepting the award: “when I heard that we were nominated I said – ‘they’re not going to look at our source code are they?’” Yes. So apparently it doesn’t mean clarity of code.
Excellence in Visual Arts
· Jonathan Chey, Ken Levine and Team for art direction in FREEDOM FORCE
· Tetsuya Nomura for art direction in KINGDOM HEARTS
· Hokyo Lim, Suzanne Kaufman, Dev Madan, Augie Pagan and Karin Yamagiwa for art direction in SLY COOPER AND THE THIEVIUS RACCOONUS
· Nicolas Cantin, Frédérick Gagné and Benoit Sokal for art direction in SYBERIA
· Jay Beard, Erik Medina, Jeff Merghart , Dan Mueller and Tim Neveu for animation in THE MARK OF KRI
Winner: Tetsuya Nomura. This was pretty much a given, but I think The Mark of Kri should have gotten some attention in this category. And Jaimie basically thought it should have won. Perhaps.
Excellence in Writing
· Denis Dyack and Ken McCulloch for writing in ETERNAL DARKNESS: SANITY'S REQUIEM
· GTA Team for writing in GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY
· Daniel Vavra for writing in MAFIA: THE CITY OF LOST HEAVEN
· Craig Hubbard and Team for writing in NO ONE LIVES FOREVER 2: A SPY IN H.A.R.M.S. WAY
· Clint Hocking and JT Petty for writing in TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL
Winner: Clint Hocking and JT Petty for Splinter Cell. This one was really close in my mind. I would really have leaned more towards Vice City myself. Writing is a brand new category this year, and one long overdue. Rather, long overdue is attention paid to a game script. This year was one of the first where scripts were taken very seriously across the board outside of the RPG genre.
Another note – JT Petty wasn’t there to receive the award as he’s moved to Hollywood to write for films. That says something, but I’ll leave the judgement up to you.
Original Game Character of the Year
· Blinx from BLINX THE TIME SWEEPER
· Ratchet from RATCHET AND CLANK
· Rau from THE MARK OF KRI
· Sam Fisher from TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL
· Sly Cooper from SLY COOPER AND THE THIEVIUS RACCOONUS
Winner: Sly Cooper.
Game Innovation Spotlight Awards
Animal Crossing
Battlefield 1942
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
The Thing
These were all given to those games which the GDC judges felt really stood out in terms of innovation in 2002. The presenters were Trent Oster from Bioware and Kathy Schoback from Sega. One of the ladies next to me (shan’t say her name) exclaimed: ‘ooh she’s lost weight hasn’t she?’. Good to know.
IGDA Award for Community Contribution
Presented to Doug Church for his efforts in schools, building community, the usual stuff. His speech was brilliant, and it’s a pity that I wasn’t able to record it.
First Penguin Award
This award is given to someone who has paved the way and dared go where no-one has gone before, sink or swim. The founding fathers of Activision received this honor, for being the first to form a 3rd party company. In truth, the gaming world might well be a different place without them.
Lifetime Achievement Award
This was awarded posthumously (of course) to the brilliant Gunpei Yokoi by the previous year’s winner, Sonicteam’s Yuji Naka. His widow and son accepted the award on his behalf. To hear Yuji Naka speak of him as a rival, yet someone who drove him to make better games himself – well it was very moving. His son gave a speech thereafter, and everyone gave a standing ovation for the two family members who survive him.
It makes me come a little closer to understanding Elvis fans. Sure he wasn’t the first, or necessarily the best, but his artistry can move you. Gunpei-san, oretachi no kokoro ni eien ni ikiteimasu.
Game of the Year
· BATTLEFIELD 1942 (Digital Illusions)
· GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY (Rockstar North)
· METROID PRIME (Retro Studios)
· NEVERWINTER NIGHTS (BioWare Corp.)
· TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL (Ubi Soft Montreal)
Winner: Metroid Prime. The presenter was Graeme Devine from ID software. Initially he announced the game of the year as Doom III. HAH!
Nintendo were the big winners here, with a total of three awards awarded either to them or to a second party. Congratulations, big N! Your 10x10 booth at the GDC will surely overflow with praises.
After the award show was over, we headed out for some great smelling food, none of which I could eat. Are there no vegetarian developers? It seems as though there are not! I had to survive on bread, cheese and beer, while Jaimie ate what she said was the best free food she’s ever had. They really went all out for the buffet.
Last: Initial Impressions
brandon sheffield
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