Portal and BioShock top GDC award list News

Portal and BioShock are in with the best chances at this year's Game Developers Choice Awards, having racked up a hefty five nominations each.

Following closely with four shouts are Mass Effect and Call of Duty 4, while casual title Peggle picked up three.

Super Mario Galaxy and Rock Band each take two nominations and join BioShock, Portal and Call of Duty 4 in the running for Game of the Year.

Voting is handled in an open peer-based way, so other game makers are responsible for picking the winners. Results will be aired at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco on 20th February.

Entertaining the masses on the night will be video entertainment from Zero Punctuation and Mega64.

Last year Gears of War picked up three awards including Best Game, with Okami and Wii Sports also bagging multiple honours.

Full list follows.

Best Game Design

• BioShock
• Call of Duty 4
• Mass Effect
• Portal
• Super Mario Galaxy

Best Visual Art

• Assassin's Creed
• Team Fortress 2
• Crysis
• BioShock
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Best Technology

• Halo 3
• Crysis
• Call of Duty 4
• Portal
• Assassin's Creed

Best Writing

• Portal
• God of War II
• Mass Effect
• Half-Life 2: Episode 2
• BioShock

Best Audio

• Call of Duty 4
• Everyday Shooter
• BioShock
• God of War II
• Mass Effect

Best Debut

• Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
• flOw (ThatGameCompany)
• The Witcher (CD Projekt)
• Everyday Shooter (Queasy Games)
• Aquaria (Bit Blot)

Innovation

• Rock Band
• Portal
• flOw
• Peggle
• Mass Effect

Best Handheld Game

• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
• The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
• Phase
• Contra 4
• Peggle (for iPod)

Best Downloadable Game

• Pac-Man Championship Edition
• Everyday Shooter
• Peggle
• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (XBLA version)
• Flow

Game of the Year

• BioShock
• Call of Duty 4
• Portal
• Rock Band
• Super Mario Galaxy