Game British Academy VGA Nominations Announced

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves leads with 9 BAFTA nominationsCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 garners 8 nominationsBatman: Arkham Asylum follows with 7 and Assassin's Creed II with 6

London, 16 February 2010: The Academy today announced the nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards. This year 40 different games have been recognized and together they represent some of the most popular, innovative and cutting-edge creativity in today’s gaming industry.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II are all nominated for Action, Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Gameplay, and Original Score. In addition, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves got the nod for Story and, together with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, also received nominations in Multiplayer, Use of Audio and Use of Online. Batman: Arkham Asylum was also nominated for Story and Use of Audio, and Assassin’s Creed II received its 6th nod for Story.

Left 4 Dead 2 took four nominations for Action, Best Game, Multiplayer, and Use of Audio. Battlefield 1943, FIFA 10, Flower, Football Manager 2010, LittleBigPlanet (PSP) New Super Mario Bros Wii, PixelJunk Shooter, The Beatles: Rock Band and Wii Sports Resort all received two.

Other nominated games include Broken Sword-Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s Cut, Brutal Legend, Buzz! Quiz World, Colin McRae: DiRT 2,Command and Conquer 3: Uprising, DJ Hero, Dragon Age: Origins, Empire: Total War, EyePet, FIFA Manager 10, Forza 3, Gran Turismo, Guitar Hero 5, Halo 3 ODST, Halo Wars, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, inFAMOUS, LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Plants vs Zombies, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, Scribblenauts, Singstar TakeThat, Streetfighter IV and Wii Fit Plus.

This year’s Awards will also include the publicly-voted category – the GAME Award of 2009. The shortlist was compiled by a panel of gaming journalists and enthusiasts, and comprises of Assassin’s Creed II, Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Beatles: Rockband, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10, GTA China Town Wars, Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks, Street Fighter IV, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Wii Sports Resort. Voting is now live at www.baftagameaward.com.

While the Academy recognises those individuals at the top of their game, it also wishes to nurture the developers of tomorrow by recognising up-and-coming talent. The nominations for the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital are Colour Coded, Quick as Thieves and Shrunk!

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Friday 19 March at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The Awards will be streamed live for the first time at www.bafta.org and www.baftagameaward.com.

For information on buying tickets or about the Awards, visit BAFTA’s website at www.bafta.org/awards/video-games or contact James Rhodes on 020 7292 5839 or jamesr@bafta.org.

-ENDS-

For more information please contact:
Sasha Gibson Emma White
freud communications freud communications
Tel: 020 3003 6338 Tel: 020 3003 6302
Email: sasha.gibson@freud.com Email: emma.white@freud.com

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Notes to editors:

About BAFTA:
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is the UK’s leading organisation dedicated to the recognition and promotion of excellence in the fields of the moving image. Renowned for its high profile Film, Television and Video Games Awards ceremonies, the prestigious BAFTA mask has long been seen as a symbol of excellence.

About the judging process:
Games were entered by both developers and publishers into all the categories listed in this release and were initially voted on by BAFTA’s video games members and a carefully selected list of industry experts via a secure website.
The titles garnering the most votes went through to specialist juries who received the games approximately six weeks prior to making their nominations.
Each juror signs confidentiality papers and casts their votes on paper. The results in each category are not known until the envelope is opened on the night.

About GAME:
GAME is Europe’s leading specialist retailer of pc and video game products. Since the start of trading in 1991 with 11 stores in the UK, it has grown both organically and through acquisition to a chain of over 1,300 outlets in January 2009. It operates stores in ten countries, supported by eCommerce websites. Online retail is located at www.game.co.uk. For further corporate information, log onto www.gamegroup.plc.uk.

Nominations

Action
Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

inFAMOUS
Brian Fleming, Bruce Oberg, Chris Zimmerman
Sony Computer Entertainment/Sucker Punch Productions & SCE Foster City Studio

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Artistic Achievement

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

Flower
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/ThatGameCompany and SCE Santa Monica Studio

Streetfighter IV
Yoshinori Ono
Capcom/Capcom

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Best Game

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Family & Social

The Beatles: Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Paul DeGooyer, Josh Randall
Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/Harmonix Music Systems

Buzz! Quiz World
David Amor, Andrew Eades, Lee Clare
Sony Computer Entertainment/Relentless Software & XDEV Studio Europe

EyePet
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE London Studio

Guitar Hero 5
Brian Bright, Paul Robinson, Allen Freese
Activision/Neversoft Entertainment/Vicarios Visions/Budcat

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura
Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Sports Resort
Katsuya Eguchi, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita
Nintendo/Nintendo

Gameplay

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura
Nintendo/Nintendo

PixelJunk Shooter
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Q-Games & SCE Santa Monica Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Handheld

Gran Turismo
Kazunori Yamauchi, Yuji Yasuhara, Hiroki Imanish
Sony Computer Entertainment/Polphony Digital Inc

LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
James Shepherd, Piers Jackson, Mark Green
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Cambridge & xev Studio Europe

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival
Kenji Sakai, Saeka Horikoshi, Hiroya Matsugami
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Japan Studio

Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kubota
Nintendo/Nintendo

Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box
Akira Tago, Akihiro Hino, Tatsuya Shinkai
Nintendo/Nintendo

Scribblenauts
Jeremiah Slaczka, Marius Fahlbusch
Warner Bros Interactive Entertainmnent/5th Cell

Multiplayer

Battlefield 1943
Patrick Liu, Gordon Van Dyke
Electronic Arts/Dice

The Beatles: Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Paul DeGooyer, Josh Randall
Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/Harmonix Music Systems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

Halo 3 ODST
Development Team
Microsoft Game Studios/Microsoft

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Original Score

Assassin’s Creed II
Jesper Kyd
Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
James Hannigan, Zsolt Marx, Campbell Askew
Electronic Arts/EA Bright Light

PixelJunk Shooter
Dom Beken, Alex Paterson
Sony Computer Entertainment/Q-Games and SCE Santa Monica Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Sports

Colin McRae: DiRT 2
Matt Horsman, Clive Moody, Guy Pearce
Codemasters/Codemasters Studios

FIFA 10
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Football Manager 2010
Development Team
Sega/Sports Interactive

Forza 3
Development Team
Microsoft/Turn 10

Wii Fit Plus
Shigeru Miyamoto, Tadashi Sugiyama, Hiroshi Matsunaga
Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Sports Resort
Katsuya Eguchi, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita
Nintendo/Nintendo

Story

Assassin’s Creed II
Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets
Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s Cut
Charles Cecil, Neil Richards, Tony Warringer
Ubisoft Entertainment/Revolution Software

Brutal Legend
Tim Schafer
Electronic Arts/Double Fine Productions

Dragon Age: Origins
Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Mike Laidlaw
Electronic Arts/BioWare

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Strategy

Command and Conquer 3: Uprising
Development team
Electronic Arts/EA Los Angeles

Empire: Total War
Development Team
Sega/Creative Assembly

FIFA Manager 10
Gerald Köhler, Cord Westhoff, Bernhard Maiberg
EA Sports/Bright Future

Football Manager 2010
Development Team
Sega/Sports Interactive

Halo Wars
Development Team
Microsoft/Ensemble Studios

Plants vs Zombies
George Fan, Tod Semple, Rich Werner
Popcap Games/Popcap Games

Use of Audio

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development team
Activision/Infinity Ward

DJ Hero
Jamie Jackson, Dan Neil, Tim Riley
Activision/Freestyle Games

Flower
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/ThatGameCompany and SCE Santa Monica Studios

Left 4 Dead 2
Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard
Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Use of Online

Battlefield 1943
Patrick Liu, Gordon Van Dyke
Electronic Arts/EA DICE

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Development Team
Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
Electronic Arts/ EA Canada

LIttleBigPlanet (PSP)
James Shepherd, Piers Jackson, Matt Porter
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Cambridge & XEV Studio Europe

Singstar TakeThat
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE London Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Development Team
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

Colour Coded
Murray Sinclair, Faye Wright, Liam Wong, Sean Donnelly, Nnanna Kama
(PixelPirates)

Quick as Thieves
William Wright, Michael Doig, Andrew Knight, Jamie MacKinnon, Lee Cresswell
(Gentleman of Fortune)

Shrunk!
Vykintas Kazdailis, Andrew Macdonald, Michael Cummings, Jacek Wernikowski, Stuart Kemp
(The Butterflyers)

GAME Award of 2009
(The only award to be voted for by the public)

Assassin’s Creed II
Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman Arkham Asylum
Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

The Beatles: Rockband
Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/ Harmonix Music Systems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10
Electronic Arts/EA Canada

GTA China Town Wars
Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North

Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks
Nintendo/Nintendo

Street Fighter IV
Capcom/Capcom

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Wii Sports Resort
Nintendo/Nintendo