Fallout: New Vegas, Assassin's Creed receive WGA noms

The twin Writers Guilds of America--the Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE)--today announced their 2010 Videogame Writing Award nominations. Six titles were given nods, including Bethesda and Obsidian's Fallout: New Vegas, the story for which was crafted under the supervision of creative design lead and lead writer John Gonzalez. Primary writers included Eric Fenstermaker, Travis Stout, and Chris Avellone, who helped write the original Interplay Fallout games.

Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood was also nominated. Story credits go to Jeffery Yohalem, Corey May, and Patrice Desilets, who has since left the company to found a Montreal studio for THQ. The lead script writer was Yohalem, with Ethan Petty, Nicholas Grimwood, and Matt Turner also contributing.

Another Ubisoft game, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, got a WGA nod as well. It was written by Benjamin McCaw with Marianne Krawczyk serving as its dialogue editor. Krawczyk was also the sole writer of Sony's God of War III, which received a WGA nomination too. That game had additional writing by Stig Asmussen, Ariel Lawrence, and William Weissbaum.

Though it wasn't a smash hit at retail, Activision's Singularity was also honored by the WGA for the skills of its writers. They included Marc Guggenheim, Lindsey Allen, and Emily Silver, with additional writing from Jason Henderson, Adam Foshko, and Michael Cassut.

The last, but in Star Wars fans' estimation not least, nominee is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed from LucasArts. Its executive-producer-writer was Haden Blackman, with David Collins, John Stafford, and Cameron Suey penning the actual in-game script. Additional writing was performed by Tid Cooney, Ian Dominguez, and Tony Rowe.

The Videogame Writing Award will be handed out with the rest of the Writers Guild Awards during simultaneous ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles on February 5, 2011.