The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has finally announced the 2007 shortlist for the 2007 BAFTA Video Game Awards. BAFTA has long viewed gaming with a credibility equal to that of the film and television industry, and this year's event will be no different, with the Video Game Awards being televised live on the popular UK terestrial TV station, Channel 4.

Games must be released in the UK between October 6th, 2006, and December 31st, 2007 to be eligible for nomination in the BAFTA Video Game Awards, but had to be playable by the jury members by September 6th in order to appear in the nominations.

The family-bonding Wii Sports (come on, who here hasn't had at least one go of Wii Sports with their family around the TV?!) is the biggest hitter in the BAFTA Video Game Awards this year, being short listed in seven seperate category. Bioshock, Guitar Hero II, Okami and Gears of War are also amongst the popular shortlisted titles, which makes up a generous but insightful list of credible titles this year.

Anyway, on with the nominations!

Action and adventure
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Orange Box (Valve)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)

Artistic achievement
Bioshock (2K Boston/2K Australia)
Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
Okami (Clover(Capcom))
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac)
skate (EA Black Box)
Viva Piñata (Rare)

Best game
Bioshock (2K Boston/2K Australia)
Crysis (Crytek)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Eidos)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Casual
Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo)
Cake Mania (Digital Embryo)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
More Brain Training (Nintendo)
SingStar (SCE London Studio)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Gameplay
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
Sega Rally (SEGA Racing Studio)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
Warhawk (Incognito)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Innovation
fl0w (SCE Santa Monica Studio/Thatgamecompany)
Okami (Clover(Capcom))
Super Paper Mario (Intelligent Systems)
The Eye of Judgement (SCE Japan Studio)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Atlus USA)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Multiplayer
Battlefield 2142 (EA Dice)
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard Entertainment)

Original score
Final Fantasy XII (Final Fantasy XII Project Team)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Lair (SCE Foster City Studio & Factor 5)
Okami (Clover (Capcom))
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
Viva Piñata (Rare)

Sports
Football Manager 2008 (Sports Interactive)
Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters)
FIFA 08 (EA Chicago)
MotorStorm (SCE External Development Studio & Evolution)
Virtua Tennis 3 (Sumo Digital)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Strategy and simulation
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars (Electronic Arts LA)
Forza Motorsport 2 (Turn 10) Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (The Creative Assembly)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft Studios (Montreal))
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment)

Story and character
Final Fantasy XII (Final Fantasy XII Project Team)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
Okami Clover (Capcom))
The Darkness (Starbreeze Studios)
The Simpsons Game (EA)

Technical achievement
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Gears of War Epic Games)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
MotorStorm (SCE External Development Studio/Evolution)
Okami (Clover(Capcom))
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Naughty Dog)

Use of audio
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Elite Beat Agents (iNiS)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
skate (EA Black Box)

BAFTA One's To Watch Award (in association with Dare to Be Digital)
Ragnarawk (Voodoo Boogy)
ClimbActic (Carebox)
Bear Go Home (Phoenix Seed)

The PC World Gamers Award (voted for by the public)
Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
FIFA 07 (EA Canada)
Football Manager 2007 (Sports Interactive)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Leeds)
Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac)
Wii Play (Nintendo)

And the winner is...

Tags : awards : BAFTA : BAFTA Video Game Awards : Bioshock : gears of war : guitar hero ii : microsoft : Nintendo : Okami : PlayStation 3 : Sony : video game awards : Wii : Wii Sports : Xbox 360

Comments

By: Mobius Zero

On: 07:20 Sep 25th, 2007
Offline

Words of Ivory;31962

And the winner is...

Me and the rest of the gamers out there. All of the games are ones that have had huge say lately in industry and in the eyes of actual gamers. I am one of these people who has not got to play Wii Sports

FTL. This one might actually be worth watching for award show wise.