The Academy today announced the nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards which this year feature 39 different games and reflect the growing diversity of games capturing the public’s imagination.

This year’s host Dara O’Briain, an avid gamer himself, recently described these times as a ‘golden age’ in videogames, and this year’s nominations showcase the breathtaking imagination and creativity of the development talent working in the videogames industry today. The Awards recognise the very best in artistic, creative and technical innovation in videogames, and will be held at the London Hilton on Park Lane on March 10^th.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Grand Theft Auto IV, and Fable II were all nominated in Action & Adventure, Story & Character and Best Game. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare also received nominations in Artistic Achievement, Gameplay, Multiplayer and Use of Audio. In addition, Grand Theft Auto IV was recognised in Gameplay, Use of Audio and Technical Achievement. Fable II was also nominated in Original Score and Technical Achievement. LittleBigPlanet received recognition in Artistic Achievement, Casual, Original Score, Technical Achievement and Use of Audio. Assassin’s Creed, Dead Space, and Fallout 3 have garnered four nominations each, while Gears of War 2, Rock Band, and Super Mario Galaxy all have three.

The British Academy recognises creative achievements across film, television and videogames and the synergies between these three art forms of the moving image could not be better exemplified than by the designer of year’s Boom Blox, nominated in the Casual category.  In addition to his prodigious film credits and his highly successful television serial Band of Brothers, Steven Spielberg can now add a BAFTA Video Games nomination to his credits.

Other nominated games include Advance Wars: Dark Conflict, Buzz! Quiz TV, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, FIFA 09, Football Manager 2009, Geometry Wars: Galaxies, God of War: Chains of the Olympus, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Left 4 Dead, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Mario Kart Wii, Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, Ninjatown, Patapon, Prince of Persia, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Pure, Race Driver: GRID,  Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution, SingStar Vol. 2, SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike, Soul Bubbles, Spore, Tomb Raider: Underworld, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise and Wii Fit.

This year’s Awards will include the one publicly-voted award of the evening – the GAME Award of 2008. Its shortlist was compiled by a panel of games journalists and gaming enthusiasts, and comprises Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Guitar Hero: World Tour, Left 4 Dead, LittleBigPlanet, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Wii Fit and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. Voting is now live at www.baftagameaward.com.

Whilst the Academy recognises those individuals at the top of their game, it also wishes to nurture the developers of tomorrow by recognising up-and-coming talent.  The nominations for BAFTA’s new talent award, The BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital are Boro-Toro, Origamee and VegeMe.

This year’s Fellowship, the highest accolade the Academy bestows is being received by legendary Pong creator and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell.

THE NOMINATIONS

ACTION & ADVENTURE

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Dead Space
Glen Schofield, Chuck Beaver, Bret Robbins
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts

Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios

Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games

Prince of Persia
Ben Mattes, Jean-Christophe Guyot
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment

Tomb Raider: Underworld
Noah Hughes, Pat Sirk, Toby Gard
Crystal Dynamics/Eidos

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin's Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Dead Space
Ian Milham
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts

Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios

LittleBigPlanet
Kareem Ettouney, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Yoji Shinkawa
Kojima Productions/Konami Digital Entertainment

BEST GAME

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studio

Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo, Istvan Pely
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe

Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games

Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Eran Egozy, Mike Dornbrook
Harmonix Music Systems/MTV Games

Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

CASUAL

Boom Blox
Development Team
Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts

Buzz! Quiz TV
David Amor, Andrew Eades, Lee Clare
Relentless Software & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment

Guitar Hero: World Tour
Development Team
Neversoft/Activision

LittleBigPlanet
Mark Healey, Dave Smith, Pete Smith
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment

SingStar Vol. 2
Vera So, Gillian Connole, Kevin Mason
SCE London Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Wii Fit
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

GAMEPLAY

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games

Left 4 Dead
Gabe Newell, Mike Booth, Chet Faliszek
Valve/Valve

Mario Kart Wii
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Dan Teasdale, Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom
Harmonix Music System/MTV Games

Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

HANDHELD

Geometry Wars: Galaxies
James Brooksby, Jim Mummery
Doublesix/Sierra

God of War: Chains of the Olympus
Development Team
Ready at Dawn & SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Patapon
Development Team
Pyramid & SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Soul Bubbles
Olivier Lejade, Omar Cornut, Frederick Raynal
McKensleep/Eidos

MULTIPLAYER

Buzz! Quiz TV
David Amor, Andrew Eades
Relentless Software& SCE XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios

Left 4 Dead
Gabe Newell, Mike Booth, Chet Faliszek
Valve/Valve

Mario Kart Wii
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Kasson Crooker
Harmonix Music System/MTV Games

ORIGINAL SCORE

Assassin's Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment

Dead Space
Development Team
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts

Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios

Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo, Istvan Pely
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe

LittleBigPlanet
Kenneth Young, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Harry Gregson-Williams
Kojima Productions/Konami Digital Entertainment

SPORTS

FIFA 09
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
EA Canada/Electronic Arts

Football Manager 2009
Development Team
Sports Interactive/SEGA

Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Development Team
Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment

Pure
Jason Avent, Jim Callin, Craig Gabell
Black Rock Studios/Disney Interactive Studios

Race Driver: GRID
Development Team
Codemasters Studios/Codemasters

Wii Fit
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

STRATEGY

Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Development Team
EA Los Angeles/Electronic Arts

Ninjatown
Shawn Smith, Brandon Curiel, Jeremy Pope
Venan in conjunction with Casmere Productions & Shalinamals/Southpeak Games

Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
Development Team
Firaxis Games/2K Games

SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike
Development Team
Slant Six Games & SCE Foster City Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment

Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
Gary Richards, Paul Machacek, Joe Humfrey
Rare/THQ

STORY AND CHARACTER

Assassin's Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios

Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe

Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games

Mass Effect
Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn, Derek Watts
Bioware/Electronic Arts

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin's Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment

Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios

Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Guy Carver
Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks Europe

Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games

LittleBigPlanet
Alex Evans, Dave Smith, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Europe

Spore
Development Team
Electronic Arts Montreal/Electronic Arts

USE OF AUDIO

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision

Dead Space
Don Veca
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts

Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios

Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games

LittleBigPlanet
Kenneth Young, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment

Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

BAFTA ONE'S TO WATCH AWARD in association with Dare to Be Digital

Boro-Toro
Adam Westwood, Graham Ranson, Yves Wheeler, Matthew Booton, Owen Schwehr (DarkMatter Designs)

Origamee
Richard Barlow, Alberto Fustinoni, Jonathon Holmes, Kevin Dunlop, Jade Law
(Blue Skies)

VegeMe
Guo Lin, Gao Ting, Zhang Jun, Laing Wei, Alexander Syminton (Ctrl_D)

GAME Award of 2008
(The only award to be voted for by the public)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
Infinity Ward/Activision

Fallout 3
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Software Europe

Gears of War 2
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar North/Take Two Interactive

Guitar Hero World Tour
Neversoft/Activision

Left 4 Dead
Valve/Valve

LittleBigPlanet
Media Molecule & XDEV Studio Europe/SCEE

Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Fit
Nintendo/Nintendo

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Blizzard Entertainment/Activision

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