Uncharted 2 Wins Big With Five Winners at the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, Including Game of the Year

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Uncharted 2 Wins Big With Five Winners at the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, Including Game of the Year

Creative Word-Wielding Adventure Game, Scribblenauts, Wins for Best Handheld Game and Innovation Award; Other Big Winners Include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Farmville, Flower and Torchlight

SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 -- Naughty Dog's critically-acclaimed Uncharted 2: Among Thieves was the big winner at the 10th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, presented at a ceremony this evening at UBM TechWeb Game Network's 2010 Game Developers Conference (GDC), receiving a total of five awards, including Best Writing and the coveted Game of the Year award.

Another major honoree, 5th Cell received the award for Best Handheld Game and the Innovation Award, for its creativity-fueled portable game, Scribblenauts.  Zynga, creators of the wildly addictive and popular Facebook game, Farmville, received the honor for Best New Social/Online Game, marking the first winner for this inaugural category.

Other winners include Rocksteady Studios' dark and gritty adventure, Batman: Arkham Asylum, which won for Best Game Design.  The Best Debut Game went to Runic Games' Torchlight.  The Best Downloadable Game award went to thatgamecompany's Flower, marking the second such award for the developer, following their win in 2008 with fl0w.

The Game Developers Choice Awards, which honor the very best games of the year, created for developers and voted on by developers. The finalists were chosen via a combination of open game industry nominations and the votes of the leading creators in the Choice Awards Advisory Committee. Starting this year, winners were selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is a new invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry.

This year, John Carmack, the technological patriarch and co-founder of id Software was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award for more than two decades of groundbreaking technical contributions, and his role pioneering and popularizing the first-person shooter genre with the groundbreaking Doom and Quake series.

The Game Developers Choice Awards also honored Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Robert Khoo, the crew behind the popular webcomic Penny Arcade, with the Ambassador Award.  The trio, who have also created and spearheaded the Child's Play Charity and the Penny Arcade Expo, were awarded the honor for their work creating their genuine, gamer-friendly empire by skewering video game culture and developers while building up a following, events and an industry-leading video game charity that help epitomize the positive elements of 'gamer spirit.'

Finally, Gabe Newell is being given the Pioneer Award for his work in co-creating PC key digital download service Steam, and helping to make possible some of the most important video games of recent years -- from the Half-Life series through Portal to Team Fortress and beyond.

  The recipients of the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

  Game of the Year
  Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)

  Best Game Design:
  Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)

  Best Writing:
  Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)

  Best Debut Game:
  Torchlight (Runic Games)

  Best Technology:
  Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)

  Best Handheld Game:
  Scribblenauts (5th Cell)

  Best Visual Arts:
  Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)

  Innovation Award:
  Scribblenauts (5th Cell)

  Best Audio:
  Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)

  Best Downloadable Game:
  Flower (thatgamecompany)

  Recipients for the evening's special awards were:

  Lifetime Achievement Award
  John Carmack

  Pioneer Award
  Gabe Newell

  Ambassador Award
  Penny Arcade (Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik, Robert Khoo)

"This year has seen some incredible titles across platforms and genres, big-budget blockbusters like Uncharted 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum to addictive online games like Farmville all made for an amazing year in games," says Meggan Scavio, event director of the Game Developers Conference. "The winners at the Game Developers Choice Awards have exhibited that they can create compelling experiences that set the bar even higher for other developers to follow.  We'd like to thank all the winners and the nominees for their countless hours furthering the art of game creation, and crafting some awesome experiences for gamers the world over."

For more information about the awards and all the recipients, please visit: http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/

About the UBM TechWeb Game Network

A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, the  UBM TechWeb Game Network - formerly known as the Think Services Game Group - offers market-defining content, and drives community through its award winning lineup of print, online, event and research products and services. These include the Game Developers Conference®, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com and network of sites, the Game Advertising Online ad network, the Game Developers Conference® Online, the Game Developers Conference(TM) Europe, the Game Developers Conference(TM) China, the Game Developers Conference(TM) Canada, Game Developer Magazine, Game Developer Research, the Game Career Seminars and GameCareerGuide.com, the Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

About UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media

UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology.  Through its core businesses - media solutions, marketing services and professional information - UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software and Game developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek,  Light Reading and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology.  UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.

  Contact:    Brian Rubin / Sibel Sunar
              fortyseven communications
              212.391.4707 / 323.658.1200
               brian@fortyseven.com /
               sibel@fortyseven.com

              Ben Veechai / Mellisa Andrade
              UBM TechWeb Game Network
              (415) 947-6280 / (415) 947-6232
               bveechai@think-services.com /
               mandrade@think-services.com

Source: UBM TechWeb Game Network
   

CONTACT:  Brian Rubin, +1-212-391-4707, brian@fortyseven.com or Sibel
Sunar, +1-323-658-1200, sibel@fortyseven.com, both of fortyseven
communications, or Ben Veechai, +1-415-947-6280, bveechai@think-services.com;
or Mellisa Andrade, +1-415-947-6232, mandrade@think-services.com, both of UBM
TechWeb Game Network

Web Site:  http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/

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