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Portal wins GDC Game of the Year

BioShock bags multiple honours, too.

Portal has scooped Game of the Year at the eighth Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco.

The puzzler from Valve also bagged Best Game Design and Innovation awards.

BioShock took home three of its own too, winning Best Audio, Best Visual Arts, and Best Writing.

Elsewhere Eurogamer favourite Crackdown won Best Debut Game, flOw took Best Downloadable Game, Phantom Hourglass received Best Handheld Game, and Crysis was given Best Technology.

Some chap called Sid Meier earned himself a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work on the Civilization series among others, and Ralph Baer was given the Pioneer Award for making the first home videogame system, the Magnavox Odyssey.

Independent Seumas McNally game honours went to Crayon Physics Deluxe, with World of Goo picking up a couple of IGF awards for Technical Excellence and Design Innovation. Synaesthete was selected as the Best Student Game.

You can read our thoughts on the Independent Games Festival short list elsewhere on the site, as well as our impressions of Crayon Physics Deluxe.

The full Game Developers Choice Awards nominees list is below. Winners are at the top of each category in bold.

Game of the Year:

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

Best Game Design:

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

Best Debut Game:

  • Crackdown
  • flOw
  • The Witcher
  • Everyday Shooter
  • Aquaria

Best Audio:

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

Best Downloadable Game:

  • flOw
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition
  • Everyday Shooter
  • Peggle
  • Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Best Technology:

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

Innovation Award:

  • Portal
  • Rock Band
  • flOw
  • Peggle
  • Mass Effectú

Best Visual Arts:

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

Best Handheld Game:

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

Best Writing:

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

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