IGDA Names Recipients Of 2005 Game Developers Choice Awards

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has announced the recipients of the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards at a ceremony during the 2005 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. "The Choice Awards are a celebration of all the passion and hard work that goes into creating ground-breaking games," says Jason Della Rocca, executive director, IGDA. "Developers are the talent that drives this industry and they deserve the recognition for having worked on these great games." Professional game developers around the world nominated and voted for the awards, free of charge, ensuring that the recipients reflect the community's opinions. The recipients for the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards are: Best Game Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) Ken Birdwell, Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly Audio Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios) C Paul Johnson, Marty O'Donnell, Jay Weinland Character Design Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Bill Fletcher, Bill Van Buren Game Design Katamari Damacy (Namco) Keita Takahashi Technology Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) Yahn Bernier, Brian Jacobson Visual Arts World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment) Sam Didier, William Petras, Justin Thavirat Writing Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games) Marc Laidlaw New Studio Crytek (Far Cry) Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli Innovation Donkey Konga (Namco / Nintendo) Hiroshi Igarashi, Hiroyuki Onoda I Love Bees (4orty2wo Entertainment / Microsoft Game Studios) Elan Lee Katamari Damacy (Namco) Keita Takahashi Recipients for IGDA's special Awards were: Lifetime Achievement Eugene Jarvis - legendary arcade game developer First Penguin Richard Allan Bartle, Ph.D - founding father of Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs) Maverick Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj -- founders and leaders of Blast Theory, an internationally renowned interactive media artists' group Community Contribution Sheri Graner Ray -- revered advocate of women's interests in game development "We are extremely happy to host the awards ceremony at the Game Developers Conference," said Jamil Moledina, director, Game Developers Conference. "We believe it's important to celebrate the individual recipients and provide them with as much exposure as possible."