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Game Development Community Chooses 'Portal' as Game of the Year at the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Valve's 'Orange Box' Puzzler and 2K Boston/2K Australia's 'Bioshock' Receive 3 Awards Each; 'Crackdown,' 'Crysis,' 'Fl0w' and 'The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' Take Prizes

Valve's genre-blending first person shooter/puzzler, "Portal," was the recipient of three honors including Game of the Year at the 8th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, presented at a ceremony this evening at CMP's 2008 Game Developers Conference (GDC). The game -- one of three new games on the developer's "Orange Box," alongside "Half-Life 2: Episode 2" and "Team Fortress 2"-- also took the prizes for Innovation and Best Game Design. Also taking three awards was 2K Boston/2K Australia's blockbuster shooter, "Bioshock," which won for Best Audio, Best Visual Art and Best Writing. Realtime Worlds' "Crackdown," Thatgamecompany's "Fl0w," Crytek's "Crysis" and Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass" were the recipients of the remaining awards, taking home one honor each. Produced and hosted by GDC and presented by Gamasutra.com and Game Developer Magazine, the Game Developers Choice Awards honors the creators of the best video games released during the previous calendar year, as well as awarding key figures from the video game community.

"The Game Developers Choice Awards stand out from other game industry prizes by being open to all games of a calendar year and by recognizing the individual developers behind each celebrated game," said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the Game Developers Conference. "We are thrilled gamers at home will be able to meet the people behind their favorite games when our first ever television broadcast special on the awards airs soon on the G4 television network."

The recipients of the 8th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

     2007 Best Game Design

     Portal (Valve)

     Kim Swift, Realm Lovejoy, Paul Graham

     2007 Best Visual Art

     BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games)

     Scott Sinclair, Shawn Robertson, Andrew James

     2007 Best Technology

     Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts)

     Cevat Yerli, Douglas Binks, Timur Davidenko, Martin Mittring

     2007 Best Writing

     BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games)

     Ken Levine, Emily Ridgway, Joe McDonagh, Susan O'Connor

     2007 Best Audio

     BioShock (2K Boston/2K Australia / 2K Games)

     Eric Brosius, Pat Balthrop, Emily Ridgway, Justin Mullins

     2007 Best Debut

     Crackdown (Real Time Worlds / Microsoft Game Studios)

     Ramon Gonzalez, Violetta Sanchez, Rafael Diaz, Jose Guerra

     2007 Innovation

     Portal (Valve)

     Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw

     2007 Best Handheld Game

     The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo / Nintendo)

     Eiji Aonuma

     2007 Best Downloadable Game

     Flow (thatgamecompany / Sony Computer Entertainment)

     Kellee Santiago, Jenova Chen, Martin Middleton, Hao Cui, John Edwards,

     Nick Clark

     2007 Game of the Year

     Portal (Valve)

     Kim Swift, Erik Wolpaw

    Recipients for the evening's special awards were:

     Lifetime Achievement Award

     Sid Meier

     Pioneer Award

     Ralph Baer

     Ambassador Award

     Jason Della Rocca

"It was an incredible year of innovation, top-notch explorations within known franchises and introductions of great new properties," Simon Carless, publisher, Gamasutra.com and Game Developer. "The whole community mobilized to express their admiration for the best works, and we are proud to present these meaningful peer awards."

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

About the Game Developers Conference ( http://www.gdconf.com