2007 nominees for game BAFTAs named

Following weeks of discussion amongst video gaming’s top professionals, the nominations for the The British Academy Video Game Awards have finally been revealed – and it is Nintendo’s popular Wii Sports that leads the way with seven nominations.

Nintendo’s game is amongst the recognised titles in the Best Game, Casual, Gameplay, Innovation, Multiplayer, Sports and Strategy and Simulation categories. Hot on its heels Microsoft’s Crackdown and Gears of War, Capcom’s Okami and Sony’s God of War 2 all pick up three nominations. Activision’s Guitar Hero II wins four nods.

In total 43 different games have received nominations spanning all age ratings and achievements in fields such as Artistic Achievement, Technical Achievement, Use of Audio and Story and Character.

The nominations in full:

ACTION AND ADVENTURE

Crackdown(Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Rod Fergusson, Michael Capps, Cliff Bleszinski
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios
God of War 2 (PS2)
Cory Barlog, Michael Cheng, Eric Williams
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Orange Box (PC)
Development Team
Valve/Electronic Arts
Ratchet and Clank:Tools of Destruction (PS3)
Development Team
SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Bioshock (Xbox 360)
Development Team
2K Boston/2K Australia/2K Games
Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Development Team
Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover(Capcom)/Capcom
Ratchet and Clank:Tools of Destruction (PS3)
Development Team
SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Skate (PS3)
Development Team
EA Black Box/Electronic Arts
Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)
Ryan Stevenson, Ed Bryan
Rare/Microsoft Game Studios

BEST GAME

Bioshock (Xbox 360)
Development Team
2K Boston/2K Australia/2K Games
Crysis (PC)
Development Team
Crytek/Electronic Arts
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Rod Fergusson, Michael Capps, Cliff Bleszinski
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios
Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Eidos/Eidos
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

CASUAL

Big Brain Academy for Wii (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Cake Mania (DS)
Development Team
Digital Embryo/Sandlot Games/Majesco
Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane
More Brain Training (DS)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
SingStar (PS3)
Development Team
SCE London Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

GAMEPLAY

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Cliff Bleszinski, Ray Davis, Lee Perry
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios
Sega Rally (PS3)
Development Team
SEGA Racing Studio/SEGA
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Warhawk (PS3)
Dylan Jobe, Bruce Woodard, Brian Upton
Incognito/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

INNOVATION

Fl0w (PSN)
Jenova Chen, Nicholas Clark, Austin Wintory
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover(Capcom)/Capcom
Super Paper Mario (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
The Eye of Judgement (PS3)
Kazuhito Miyaki, Yuseke Watanabe
SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Trauma Center:Second Opinion (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

MULTIPLAYER

Battlefield 2142 (PC)
Development Team
EA Dice/Electronic Arts
Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios
Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
World in Conflict (PC)
Development Team
Massive Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment/Vivendi Games
World of Warcraft:The Burning Crusade (PC)
Development Team
Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment

ORIGINAL SCORE

Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Hitoshi Sakimoto, Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy XII Project Team/Square Enix
God of War 2 (PS2)
Clint Bajakian, Jonathan Mayer, Chuck Doud
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Lair (PS3)
John Debney, Ryan Hamlyn, Clint Bajakian
SCE Foster City Studio & Factor 5/Sony Computer Entertainment America
Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover (Capcom)/Capcom
The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)
Grant Kirkhope
Rare/Microsoft Game Studio

SPORTS

Football Manager 2008 (PC)
Development Team
Sports Interactive/SEGA
Colin McRae: Dirt (Xbox 360)
Gavin Raeburn, Matt Horsman, Alex Grimbley
Codemasters/Codemasters
FIFA 08 (PS3)
Development Team
EA Chicago/Electronic Arts
MotorStorm (PS3)
Mick Hocking, Martin Kenwright, Pete Smith
SCE External Development Studio & Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Sumo Digital/SEGA
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

STRATEGY AND SIMULATION

Command & Conquer:Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts
Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Turn 10/Microsoft Game Studios
Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (PC)
Development Team
The Creative Assembly/SEGA
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Ubisoft Studios (Montreal)/Ubisoft Entertainment
Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
World in Conflict (PC)
Development Team
Massive Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment

STORY AND CHARACTER

Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Development Team
Final Fantasy XII Project Team/Square Enix
God of War 2 (PS2)
Cory Barlog, David Jaffe
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Development Team
Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover (Capcom)/Capcom
The Darkness (Xbox 360)
Denby Grace, Lars Johansson, Jerk Gustafsson
Starbreeze Studios/ 2K
The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360)
Scot Amos, Jonathan Knight, Greg Rizer
EA/Electronic Arts

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/ Microsoft Game Studios
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studio
God of War 2 (PS2)
Tim Moss, Christer Ericson
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
MotorStorm (PS3)
Scott Kirkland, Martin Kenwright, Pete Smith
SCE External Development Studio/Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover(Capcom)/Capcom
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
Development Team
Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

USE OF AUDIO

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios
Elite Beat Agents (DS)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios
God of War 2 (PS2)
Dave Murrant, Philip Kovats, Chuck Russom
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane
Skate (PS3)
Development Team
EA Black Box/Electronic Arts

BAFTA ONE’S TO WATCH AWARD IN ASSOCIATION WITH DARE TO BE DIGITAL

Ragnarawk
Voodoo Boogy (Malcom Brown, Robert Clarke, Peter Carr, Lynne Robertson,
Finlay Sutton)
ClimbActic
Carebox (Jack Potter, Alan Campbell, Benjamin Rollinson, Zarek Cohen, Duncan Harrison)
Bear Go Home
Phoenix Seed (Fengming Bao, Xi Deng, Yi Li, Guangyao Wang, Christopher Isaacs)

THE PC WORLD GAMERS AWARD
(The only award to be voted for by the public)

Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS)
Nintendo/Nintendo
FIFA 07 (PS2)
EA Canada/Electronic Arts
Football Manager 2007 (PC)
Sports Interactive/SEGA
Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Epic Games/Microsoft
Grand Theft Auto:Vice City Stories (PSP)
Rockstar Leeds/Take Two
Resistance:Fall of Man (PS3)
Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Wii Play (Wii)
Nintendo/Nintendo