GDC 08: Portal leads GDC award winners

PALGN News | Beats out Super Mario Galaxy and Bioshock for the top award.

The winners of the eighth annual Game Developer's Choice awards were announced in San Francisco last night at GDC.

Portal received the top Game of the Year honour, beating out names like Super Mario Galaxy, Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock. Portal also grabbed two other awards - for Best Game Design and Innovation.

Bioshock was the other big winner of the awards, nominated in five categories and taking out awards for Best Audio, Best Visual Arts and Best Writing.

Sid Meier - a founder member of Microprose and responsible for games such as Civilization and Pirates! - received a lifetime achievement award. Ralph Baer received the pioneer award for helping to create the first commercial videogame system for the home, while Jason Della Roca, executive director for the International Game Developer's Association, received the Ambassador reward recognising his work in moving the industry forward.

All the nominees for the awards can be found below, with the winners marked in bold.

Game of the Year:

Bioshock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Portal
Rock Band
Super Mario Galaxy

Best Game Design:

Bioshock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Mass Effect
Portal
Super Mario Galaxy

Best Debut Game:

Crackdown
flOw
The Witcher
Everyday Shooter
Aquaria

Best Audio:

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Everyday Shooter
Bioshock
God of War II
Mass Effect

Best Downloadable Game:

Pac-Man Championship Edition
Everyday Shooter
Peggle
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
flOw

Best Technology:

Halo 3
Crysis
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Portal
Assassin's Creed

Innovation Award:

Rock Band
Portal
flOw
Peggle
Mass Effect

Best Visual Arts:

Assassin's Creed
Team Fortress 2
Crysis
Bioshock
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Best Handheld Game:

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Phase
Contra 4
Peggle

Best Writing:

Portal
God of War II
Mass Effect
Half-Life 2: Episode 2
Bioshock

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8 Comments

rankodour

4 years ago

I think Portal really deserves the award. It's the only game over the last six or so years which hasn't become a chore for me. Just the right length, clever and fun. Great stuff.

Mr Waffle

4 years ago

Glad Portal beat out SMG. Originally is actually valued for a change, who'd have thunk it.

Good results. A lot better than the jokes that are most video game awards...

Samboy

4 years ago

portal cleans up! good stuff.

im kinda surprised portal didnt win best writing, because portal had brilliant writing. but i havent played bioshock yet (will be getting it soon)

admeister

4 years ago

Bioshock beat Uncharted for the visual award? Hmm.. Interesting results, poor Mario Galaxy missed out completely.

Sinthesys

4 years ago

Samboy wrote

im kinda surprised portal didnt win best writing, because portal had brilliant writing. but i havent played bioshock yet (will be getting it soon)

Trust me, Bioshock's writing is better. I found the dialogue in Bioshock better written than mainstream movies.

Aftershock

4 years ago

I guess all the full-release games on steam don't count as downloadable games. Thats a good idea, imo.

Ive never heard of this game "Everyday Shooter"
looking at all the nominations, i should check it out.

Eyce

4 years ago

Congrats to Infinite Interactive for having Puzzle Quest Nominated in two categories too, that's just awesome.

Now to go and pass Portal. I've actually forgotten about the fact that I never finished the final level because I'm such a procrastinator.

Samboy

4 years ago

psylacine wrote

Samboy wrote

im kinda surprised portal didnt win best writing, because portal had brilliant writing. but i havent played bioshock yet (will be getting it soon)

Trust me, Bioshock's writing is better. I found the dialogue in Bioshock better written than mainstream movies.

thats good to know

anticipation for playing it is rising

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