Shadow of Mordor Leads Game Developers Choice Awards

Game Developers Choice Awards organizers on Friday announced the nominees for this year's awards celebration, the event's 15th annual show. Leading the group is Lord of the Rings game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, which received five nominations, including one for Game of the Year.

Other games receiving multiple nominations included Alien: Isolation and Destiny, which were also both nominated for overall Game of the Year, as well as Blizzard's Hearthstone, which received three nominations. Finalists were selected by a panel of judges, and needed to be released in the 2014 calendar year to be considered.

Winners will be announced Wednesday, March 4 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco as part of the 2015 Game Developers Conference. There will also be an awards show for indie games, and you can see all of the nominees for that event here.

The full list of Game Developers Choice Awards nominees, including honorable mentions, is below.

Game of the Year:

• Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)
• Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)

Honorable Mentions: Titanfall (Respawn/Electronic Arts) Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft), Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft), Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts), Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Sora Ltd. and BANDAI NAMCO/Nintendo)

Innovation Award:

• Bounden (Game Oven)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)
• Monument Valley (Ustwo)

Honorable Mentions: Crypt of the Necrodancer (Brace Yourself Games), Extrasolar (Lazy 8 Studios), Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments), Elegy For A Dead World (Dejobaan Games), 80 Days (Inkle Studios)

Best Debut:

• Yacht Club Games (Shovel Knight)
• Respawn Entertainment (Titanfall)
• The Astronauts (The Vanishing of Ethan Carter)
• Stoic Studio (The Banner Saga)
• Upper One Games (Never Alone)

Honorable Mentions: Dynamighty (CounterSpy), Hinterland Games (The Long Dark), 1337 & Senri (Leo's Fortune), MachineGames (Wolfenstein: The New Order), Hipster Whale (Crossy Road)

Best Design:

• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• Shovel Knight (Yacht Club Games)
• Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts)
• Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Nintendo EAD Tokyo and 1-Up Studio/Nintendo)
• Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)

Honorable Mentions: Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo EAD Tokyo/Nintendo), Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega), Destiny (Bungie/Activision), Monument Valley (Ustwo), Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game:

• Threes! (Sirvo)
• Super Smash Bros. 3DS (Sora Ltd. and BANDAI NAMCO/Nintendo)
• Hearthstone (Blizzard)
• 80 Days (Inkle Studios)
• Monument Valley (Ustwo)

Honorable Mentions: Bounden (Game Oven), Bravely Default (Silicon Studio and Square Enix/Nintendo and Square Enix), Desert Golfing (Blinkbat Games), Velocity 2X (FuturLab), Fantasy Life (Level-5/Nintendo)

Best Visual Art:

• Monument Valley (Ustwo)
• Hohokum (Honeyslug and Sony Santa Monica/Sony)
• Child of Light (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
• Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo)
• Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)

Honorable Mentions: Never Alone (Upper One Games/E-Line Media), The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts), Transistor (Supergiant Games), Broken Age: Act 1 (Double Fine Productions), Destiny (Bungie/Activision)

Best Narrative:

• 80 Days (Inkle Studios)
• This War of Mine (11 bit studios)
• Kentucky Route Zero: Episode 3 (Cardboard Computer)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)

Honorable Mentions: Dragon Age: Inquisition (BioWare/Electronic Arts), Valiant Hearts: The Great War (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft),Tales From The Borderlands: Episode 1 (Gearbox Software/Telltale Games), D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (Access Games/Microsoft), Hatoful Boyfriend (Mediatonic/Devolver Digital)

Best Audio:

• Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)
• Hohokum (Honeyslug/Sony)
• Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
• Transistor (Supergiant Games)
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts)

Honorable Mentions: Child of Light (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft), Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft), D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die (Access Games/Microsoft), Bayonetta 2 (Platinum Games/Nintendo), Crypt of the Necrodancer (Brace Yourself Games)

Best Technology:

• Destiny (Bungie/Activision)
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)
• Wolfenstein: The New Order (MachineGames/Bethesda)
• Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments)
• Far Cry 4 (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Honorable Mentions: Assassin's Creed Unity (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft), The Last of Us: Remastered (Naughty Dog/Sony), Sunset Overdrive (Insomniac Games/Microsoft), Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega), Infamous: Second Son (Sucker Punch Productions/Sony)