Game Developers Choice, IGF Winners
The 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards, the only honors for developers as voted on by developers, were celebrated tonight in a packed hall full of exuberant developers and media. The event was hosted by Double Fine founder Tim Schafer, whose one liners may indicate a career to fall back on should this game development gig fall through.
Harmonix co-founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy received the Pioneer Award for their innovation in the music game genre with such games as Guitar Hero and Rock Band, while Video Games Live co-founder and founder of the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) Tommy Tallarico, was honored with the Ambassador Award for helping to advance game audio, music and games. Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Kojima said that there were a lot more things that he wanted to do with his life, like maybe write a novel, or direct a film - but he also said that he has a long career ahead in the game industry.
The big winner of the 9th annual Game Developers Choice Awards was Fallout 3, which picked up the nod for Game of the Year, and Best Writing. LittleBigPlanet was honored with awards for Innovation, Technology, Game Design, and Best Debut game ( “Best debut? We’ve been doing this shit for twenty years!” - Mark Healey, Media Molecule),
Best Visual Art? Prince of Persia, of course.
Best Audio: Dead Space
Best handheld went to God of War: Chains of Olympus by Ready at Dawn.
Best Downloadable Game: World of Goo
Prior to the GDC Awards, the IGF awards were handed out to much excitement. Excellence in visual art was award to Machinarium, while Musaic Box picked up excellence in game design, and Digital Eel was shocked and excited to win an award for BrainPipe’s audio. Between won the Innovation award, while the audience award winner was Cortex Command. The Seumus McNally award was given to Blueberry Garden, while the student showcase winner award went to Tag: The Power of Paint. Here’s the rest:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize: Blueberry Garden
Direct2Drive Vision Award: Osmos
Technical Achievement: Cortex Command
Audience Award: Cortex Command
Innovation Award: Between
Excellence in Design: Musaic Box
