BAFTA shortlist announced for public vote

The shortlist for the BAFTA GAME Award of 2009 has been announced, with the public being encouraged to vote for their favourite title of the last year.

The award is the only one in the GAME sponsored BAFTA event to be voted for by the public, with titles including Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10, Assassin's Creed II, FIFA 10 and Batman: Arkham Asylum amongst the possible choices.

In 2008 more than 60,000 people voted for the award, which was won by 2007 release Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

The public are invited to vote at the official BAFTA Game Award website, with the results due to be announced at the gala awards ceremony on March 19.

The event will be hosted by comedian Dara O'Briain, a lifelong gamer, who commented: "I am delighted to have been asked back to host the GAME BAFTA’s for the second year running. It’s an honour to acclaim the very real people whose creativity, innovation and wit produce such amazing virtual worlds".

The full list of GAME Award nominations is as follows:

• Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Rocksteady Studios)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (EA/MTV Games/Harmonix)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision/Infinity Ward)
• FIFA 10 (EA/EA Canada)
• Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar/Rockstar Leeds)
• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)
• Street Fighter IV (Capcom/Dimps)
• Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves (Sony/Naughty Dog)
• Wii Sports Resort (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)