Nominations announced for Game Developers Choice Awards

With just two months to go until GDC 2007 kicks off, The finalists for the seventh annual Game Developers Choice Awards have been announced.

Topping the bill are Capcom's Okami and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Both have four nominations each including Best Game, Game Design and Visual Arts.

Also up for the Best Game trophy are Gears of War, Wii Sports and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Wii Sports makes another appearance in the Game Design category, along with Rockstar's Bully and Rare's Viva Piñata.

Nominees for Character Design include Final Fantasy XII, Rayman Raving Rabbids and LocoRoco, plus Okami and Viva Piñata once again.

In the Technology category it's Xbox 360 exclusives Gears of War, Table Tennis and Dead Rising, along with THQ's PC title Company of Heroes - and another entry for Wii Sports.

Joining Okami, Oblivion, Gears and Viva Piñata on the list of awards for Visual Arts is Final Fantasy XII.

And finally, the list of nominees for New Studio is comprised of Daxter developer Ready At Dawn, Iron Lore (Titan Quest), Gastronaut (Small Arms), Naked Sky (RoboBlitz) and Wadjet Eye Games (The Shiva).

The awards will be presented at a special ceremony on Wednesday March 7 as part of GDC 2007. The event will take place at 6.30pm in the Esplanade ballroom, and the awards will be handed out by Double Fine's Tim Schafer.

"The GDC derives its authenticity from the developers themselves, who teach and share at the show. The Game Developers Choice Awards is then the natural validation of their collective artistic effort, voted on and awarded to individual game creators," said conference director Jamil Moledina.

"Since the Choice Awards have an open nomination process and reflect the judgement of peers, the awards have earned the highest respect of the community."