2005 Game Developer's Choice Award Winners

Quite a ceremony. The winners this year were all extremely deserving and a lot of good games received their due respect. While commentary and images from the ceremony will be available here on Slashdot later today, read on for a look at the list of winners. Best Game -
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Ken Birdwell, Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly

Innovation -
Donkey Konga (Namco / Nintendo)
Hiroshi Igarashi, Hiroyuki Onoda

Innovation -
I Love Bees (4orty2wo Entertainment / Microsoft Game Studios)
Elan Lee

Innovation -
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
Keita Takahashi

New Studio -
Crytek (Far Cry)
Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

Audio -
Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios)
C Paul Johnson, Marty O'Donnell, Jay Weinland

Character Design -
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Bill Fletcher, Bill Van Buren

Game Design -
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
Keita Takahashi

Technology -
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Yahn Bernier, Brian Jacobson

Visual Arts -
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Sam Didier, William Petras, Justin Thavirat

Writing -
Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
Marc Laidlaw

Community Contribution - Shari Graner Ray
First Penguin - Richard Bartle
Lifetime Achievement Award - Eugene Jarvis

Comments

Slightly strange choices

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a little surprised by a couple of the choices on the list. The games mentioned are all pretty worthy games, but I'm not sure the order here is "right" (in as far as something so subjective can ever be right).

The writing award for HL2 strikes me as particularly odd. HL2 was a good game, but I found the writing distinctly disappointing. The plot felt tired and lazy (and lacked a proper ending) and the dialogue was cheesy in the extreme. I kind of see Valve's point about not wanting to have cutscenes where the player doesn't control the character, but ultimately, I don't think this is worth the credibility hit you take from having a main character who goes through the game entirely mute (particularly where said character is apparently supposed to be both an academic and a charismatic resistance leader). Quite frankly, Doom 3 had a better plot, which isn't saying much. If I had to make a pick for writing, I'd probably go for KOTOR 2 (this came out in 2004 in the States, didn't it?).

World of Warcraft as the pick for visual arts also seems a bit of a strange choice. The game has some strengths, but quite frankly, its visuals seem pretty dire after the first hour or so, when you realise that they consist of extremely low-detail models and a few fancy lighting effects. I know MMORPGs are never visual powerhouses, but quite frankly, the two-year-old FFXI looks better. Doom 3 and Farcry are the only real contenders on the PC I can think of for this category. The Japanese release of Gran Turismo 4 (December 04) should have put it in the running on the console side, while Burnout 3 and Halo 2 were also visually stunning in both technical and aesthetic senses.

On the plus side, it's nice to see Crytek being recognised as best new studio. Farcry wasn't perfect, but it's still damned impressive on its own merits, even if it hadn't been Crytek's debut game.