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.

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LittleBigPlanet Sweeps Interactive Achievement Awards

The 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony is over and the big winners of this year’s awards were LittleBigPlanet, Fallout 3, Dead Space and Left 4 Dead - but mostly it was Media Molecule’s big night in the spotlight, leaving every other big name franchise released in 2008 eating its dust for most of the night.

Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet was the big winner of the night, sweeping the Overall and Console Game of the Year awards, in addition to multiple awards for Outstanding Achievement in art direction, visual engineering, character performance and game direction. The PS3 exclusive also won the Family Game of the Year Award and the Outstanding Innovation in Gaming Award.

The other big winners of the night, (garnering more than one award) were Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3 and Dead Space. Two indie titles, World of Goo and Braid, scored awards as well. A full listing of all the winners can be found after the break.

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Game Developers Choice Award Finalists Announced

The ninth annual Game Developers Choice Awards finalists have been announced this morning, with Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet leading with seven nominations and Jonathan Blow’s Xbox Live Arcade title Braid following closely with five nominations.

Other nominees include Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Fable 2, Far Cry 2, World of Goo, Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV and many others. The Game Developers Choice Awards are held annually in tandem with the Game Developers Conference in March.

The full list of categories and nominees after the jump:

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World of Goo Publisher Files for Chapter 11

With the state of the economy these days, everybody’s hurting. Case in point: Brighter Minds Media, the Ohio-based publisher the critically acclaimed World of Goo for the PC and Wii, has been forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. By filing for Chapter 11, the company will be able to retain control of its properties and continue business operations while reorganizing financially and protecting itself from creditors. While Brighter Minds is keeping quiet on the entire situation, the Chapter 11 court filing has been confirmed as of Monday.

Aside from World of Goo, Brighter Minds’ Beanstalk Games division is also responsible for publishing games such as Iron Chef and Bob the Builder: Can-Do Zoo. Outside of the game industry, Brighter Minds is responsible for various children’s activity books based on properties such as DC Comics, Kung Fu Panda, and Thomas the Tank Engine.