While the vast majority of Best of 2007 awards already adorn their creators' mantles, a few of the more prestigious ceremonies remain for the month ahead. Last week, organizers of the D.I.C.E. Summit threw their support behind 2K Boston/Australia's BioShock with an impressive 12 Interactive Achievement Awards nominations, followed closely by Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with 10 nods.

　　Today, the CMP Game Group issued its list of nominees for the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, which will be held in concert with the Independent Games Festival on February 20 as part of this year's Game Developers Conference. Not unlike the IAAs, 2K Boston/Australia's BioShock tops the list of nominees with five nominations. Sharing BioShock's limelight is Portal, the unexpectedly sharp first-person shooter packed in with Valve's Orange Box, which received a similar quintet of award nods. Both BioShock and Portal were named as Game of the Year contenders, alongside Call of Duty 4, Harmonix's Rock Band, and Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy.

　　Whereas Psychonauts creator and Double Fine Studios head Tim Schafer was master of ceremonies at last year's award show, CMP has tapped Jak and Daxter creator and Naughty Dog founder Jason Rubin to host this year's event. The Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony will be held in concert with the Independent Games Festival on February 20. GDC 2008 will be held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from February 18-22.

　　This year's nominees are listed in full below.

　　Game of the Year:

　　BioShock

　　Call of Duty 4

　　Portal

　　Rock Band

　　Super Mario Galaxy

　　Best Game Design:

　　BioShock

　　Call of Duty 4

　　Mass Effect

　　Portal

　　Super Mario Galaxy

　　Best Visual Art:

　　Assassin's Creed

　　Team Fortress 2

　　Crysis

　　BioShock

　　Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

　　Best Technology:

　　Halo 3

　　Crysis

　　Call of Duty 4

　　Portal

　　Assassin's Creed

　　Best Writing:

　　Portal

　　God of War II

　　Mass Effect

　　Half-Life 2: Episode 2

　　BioShock

　　Best Audio:

　　Call of Duty 4

　　Everyday Shooter

　　BioShock

　　God of War II

　　Mass Effect

　　Best Debut:

　　Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)

　　flOw (ThatGameCompany)

　　The Witcher (CD Projekt)

　　Everyday Shooter (Queasy Games)

　　Aquaria (Bit Blot)

　　Innovation:

　　Rock Band

　　Portal

　　flOw

　　Peggle

　　Mass Effect

　　Best Handheld Game:

　　Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

　　The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

　　Phase

　　Contra 4

　　Peggle (for iPod)

　　Best Downloadable Game:

　　Pac-Man Championship Edition

　　Everyday Shooter

　　Peggle

　　Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (XBLA version)

　　flOw