The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the nominees for the annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The event will be held at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) from March 19-23 in San Jose, California. Nominations for the awards were free and open to all professional game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation.

　　"Every year, the Game Developers Choice Awards recognizes the most innovative individuals and games in the industry," said Warren Spector, director of ION Storm Austin and IGDA board member. "The nominees represent what game developers consider to be the best in game development--the work they most admire and the efforts that are advancing the state of the art."

　　The nominees for this year's Game Developers Choice Awards include the following:

　　Game of the Year

　　Black & White (Lionhead Studios)

　　Grand Theft Auto III (DMA Design/Rockstar Games)

　　Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie Studios)

　　Ico (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment)

　　Rookie Studio of the Year Adrenium Games for Azurik: Rise of Perathia

　　Bohemia Interactive Studio for Operation Flashpoint

　　Croteam for Serious Sam

　　Pseudo Interactive for Cel Damage

　　TimeGate Studios for Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns

　　Original Game Character of the Year Dante from Devil May Cry

　　Daxter from Jak & Daxter

　　Ico from Ico

　　Max Payne from Max Payne

　　Munch from Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

　　Excellence in Audio Erik Kraber and Jack Grillo for sound design in Clive Barker's Undying

　　Harry Gregson-Williams for composition in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

　　Josh Randall for sound design in Frequency

　　Marty O'Donnell and team for sound effects in Halo: Combat Evolved

　　Thomas Engel for sound engineering in Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II

　　Excellence in Game Design Fumito Ueda and team for game design in Ico

　　GTAIII team for gameplay in Grand Theft Auto III

　　Lorne Lanning and Chris Ulm for story/writing of Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

　　Peter Molyneux and team for game design in Black & White

　　Shigeru Miyamoto and team for game design in Pikmin

　　Excellence in Level Design Craig Filshie, William Mills, Chris Rothwell, and James Worrall for level design in Grand Theft Auto III

　　Fumito Ueda and team for level design in Ico

　　Ghost Recon team for level design in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

　　Scott Campbell, Dave Jaffe, Kellan Hatch and team for level design in Twisted Metal: Black

　　Toshihiro Nagoshi and team for level design in Super Monkey Ball

　　Excellence in Programming Kazunori Yamauchi and team for physics in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec

　　Andy Gavin for programming in Jak & Daxter

　　Jason Jones and team for programming in Halo: Combat Evolved

　　Richard Evans for artificial intelligence in Black & White

　　Sherman Archibald, John Carmack, and Ryan Feltrin for graphics in Return to Castle Wolfenstein

　　Excellence in Visual Arts Dan Arey and Evan Wells for animation in Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy

　　Fumito Ueda and team for art direction in Ico

　　Kazunori Yamauchi and team for modeling in Gran Turismo 3: A-spec

　　Lorne Lanning and Farzad Varahramyan for art direction in Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee

　　Tetsuya Mizuguchi and team for art direction in Rez

　　Game Innovation Spotlights Black & White (Lionhead Studios)

　　Cel Damage (Pseudo Interactive)

　　Frequency (Harmonix Music Systems)

　　Grand Theft Auto III (DMA Design)

　　Ico (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns (TimeGate Studios)

　　Majestic (Electronic Arts)

　　Max Payne (Remedy Entertainment)

　　Rez (United Game Artists)

　　Super Monkey Ball (Amusement Vision)

　　A committee from the IGDA will also select recipients for its Lifetime Achievement Award, its First Penguin Award, and its Community Contribution award. For more information about the IGDA and the GDC, visit the official IGDA Web site.