The Academy today announced the nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards. 44 different games have been recognized and together they represent some of the most popular, innovative and cutting-edge creativity in today’s gaming industry.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Call of Duty: Black Ops are both nominated for Action, Artistic Achievement, Multiplayer, Technical Innovation, and Use of Audio. In addition, Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood is nominated for Best Game and Gameplay, and Call of Duty: Black Ops got the nod for Story. Heavy Rain and Mass Effect 2 received nominations for Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Gameplay, Original Music, Story and Heavy Rain got its 6th nod for Technical Innovation.

LIMBO is nominated for Artistic Achievement and Use of Audio. Super Mario Galaxy 2 received nominations for Technical Innovation and Original Music, and both games are also nominated for Best Game and Gameplay. Alan Wake, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, God of War III, and Halo: Reach all have three nominations. Bioshock 2, Fallout: New Vegas, FIFA 11, Kinectimals, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty all received two.

This year’s new Social Network Game category garnered nominations for the following games: Bejeweled Blitz, Farmerama, FIFA Superstars, My Empire, Zoo Mumba, and Zuma Blitz.

Other nominated games include: Civilization V, Cut The Rope, Dance Central, DJ Hero 2, F1 2010, Fable III, FIFA Manager 11, Football Manager 2011, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Gran Turismo 5, International Cricket 2010, James Bond 007: Bloodstone, Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports, Napoleon Total War, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Plant vs. Zombies XBLA, Pro Evolution Soccer 2011, Professor Layton and the Lost Future, Sonic Colours, Super Scribblenauts and Toy Story 3.

This year’s Awards will also include the publicly-voted category – the GAME Award of 2010. The shortlist was compiled by a panel of gaming journalists and enthusiasts, and comprises of Call of Duty: Black Ops, Dance Central, FIFA 11, Halo: Reach, Heavy Rain, LIMBO, Mass Effect 2, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Voting is now live at www.baftagameaward.com.

While the Academy recognises those individuals at the top of their field, it also nurtures the developers of tomorrow by recognising up-and-coming talent. This year’s nominations for the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital are Mush, Sculpty and Twang.

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Wednesday 16 March at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The Awards will be streamed live for the first time at http, as well as 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 Amy Elton on 020 7292 5839 or [email protected]

For more information please contact:

Kristoff Clark
freud communications
Tel: 020 3003 6472
Email: [email protected]
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Notes to editors:

About BAFTA:

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is an independent charity that supports, develops and promotes the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public. In addition to its Awards ceremonies, BAFTA has a year-round Learning & Events programme that offers unique access to some of the world’s most inspiring talent through workshops, masterclasses, lectures and mentoring schemes, connecting with audiences of all ages and backgrounds across the UK, Los Angeles and New York. BAFTA relies on income from membership subscriptions, individual donations, trusts, foundations and corporate partnerships to support its ongoing outreach work. For further information, visit www.bafta.org.

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 receive the games 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 part of GAME Group plc, Europe’s leading retailer of pc and video games, video game consoles and related accessories. We operate from over 1,000 GAME stores, concessions and franchises in the UK, Eire, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Portugal, France and Australia; and over 220 Gamestation stores in the UK. Together with our on-line and multi channel shopping services, our aim is to be the destination of choice for every consumer.