Game Developers Choice Awards nominations open

Nominations are now open for two new categories of the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards, to be presented at GDC in February.

The Ambassador Award honours an individual (or group of individuals) who has helped the game industry advance to a better place, either through facilitating a better game community from within, or by reaching outside the industry to be an advocate for video games to help further the art.

The Pioneer Award celebrates those individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept or gameplay design at a crucial juncture in videogame history, paving the way for the myriad developers who followed them.

Qualified game professionals can offer nominations for both of these awards, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award which recognises the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development.

"Like the GDC itself, the Game Developers Choice Awards must evolve with the breakthroughs we celebrate, particularly in light of the industry's growing impact on pop culture," said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference.

"By creating new, more inclusive categories and a new Ambassador award that focuses on advancing the industry itself -- as well as partnering with Gamasutra.com on our peer-based voting mechanism -- we are ideally positioned to spotlight all the game industry's choices for professional achievement."

An advisory committee has been established for the purposes of picking recipients of the Ambassador, Pioneer and Lifetime Achievement Awards following the public nominations, and to help adjudicate on the awards process in general.

Committee members include Bob Rafei (Naughty Dog), Brian Reynolds (Big Huge Games), Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), John Vechey (PopCap), Susan O'Connor (Susan O'Connor Writing Studio), Raph Koster (Areae), Julien Merceron (Eidos), Hal Barwood (Finite Arts), Clinton Keith (High Moon Studios), Ryan Lesser (Harmonix), Clint Hocking (Ubisoft) and Tommy Tallarico (Video Games Live).

In addition to the Ambassador, Pioneer and Lifetime Achievement Awards, Choice Awards will be given in the following categories: Best Audio, Best Game Design, Best Technology, Best Visual Arts, Best Writing, Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, Best Handheld Game, Innovation, and Game of the Year.

The awards ceremony wll be hosted during GDC 2008 in the Esplanade Room at San Franciscoâs Moscone Center.