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The Game Design award recognizes the overall excellence of design in a game - including, but not limited to, gameplay mechanics, puzzles, play balancing, scenarios, etc.

12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2012)

Recipient

  • Portal 2 (Valve)
    - Valve Team

Nominees

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo)
  • Batman: Arkham City (Rocksteady Studios)
  • Dark Souls (FromSoftware)

11th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2011)

Recipient

  • Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)
    - Rockstar San Diego Team

Nominees

  • Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo)
  • Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)
  • Limbo (Playdead)
  • God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)

10th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2010)

Recipient

  • Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady)
    - Sefton Hill, Ian Ball

Nominees

  • Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal)
    - Patrick Plourde
  • Flower (Thatgamecompany)
    - Jenova Chen, Nick Clark
  • Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog)
    - Jenova Chen, Nick Clark
  • Plants Vs. Zombies (PopCap)
    - George Fan, Tod Semple, Sukhbir Sidhu, Jason Kapalka

9th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2009)

Recipient

  • LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
    - Mark Healey, David Smith

Nominees

  • Far Cry 2 (Ubisoft Montreal)
  • Braid (Number None)
  • Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios)
  • Left 4 Dead (Valve Software)

8th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2008)

Recipient

  • Portal (Valve)
    - Kim Swift, Realm Lovejoy, Paul Graham

Nominees

  • BioShock (2K Boston / 2K Australia / 2K Games)
    - Paul Hellquist, Bill Gardner
  • Call of Duty 4 (Infinity Ward / Activision)
    - Jason West, Grant Collier, Vince Zampella
  • Mass Effect (Bioware / Microsoft Game Studios)
    - Casey Hudson, Preston Watamaniuk
  • Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
    - Yoshiaki Koizumi

7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2007)

Recipient

  • Wii Sports (Nintendo)
    - Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita

Nominees

  • Bully (Rockstar Vancouver / Rockstar Games)
    - Hideki Kamiya
  • Okami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment)
    - David Jaffe
  • The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios / 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks)
    - Todd Howard
  • Viva Piñata (Rare / Microsoft Game Studios)
    - Justin Cook, Gregg Mayles

6th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2006)

Recipient

  • Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)
    - Junichi Hosono, Fumito Ueda

Nominees

  • Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
    - Katsuya Eguchi, Hisashi Nogami, Takashi Tezuka, Kazumi Totaka
  • God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
    - David Jaffe
  • Nintendogs (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo)
    - Tsutomu Kaneshige, Hideki Konno, Shigeru Miyamoto, Kiyoshi Mizuki
  • Psychonauts (Double Fine Productions / Majesco Entertainment Company)
    - Erik Robson, Tim Schafer

5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2005)

Recipient

  • Katamari Damacy (Namco)
    - Keita Takahashi

Nominees

  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
    - Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij
  • Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
    - Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly
  • Pikmin 2 (Nintendo)
    - Masamichi Abe, Hino Shigefumi
  • World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
    - Chris Metzen, Rob Pardo

4th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2004)

Recipient

  • David Chateauneuf, Patrice Desilets, Jordan Mechner and team for game design in PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME

Nominees

  • Michel Ancel, Jacques Exertier, Frederic Houde, and Sebastien Morin for game design in BEYOND GOOD & EVIL
  • The Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando team for game design in RATCHET & CLANK: GOING COMMANDO
  • Casey Hudson, James Ohlen and team for game design in STAR WARS: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC
  • Goro Abe, Hirofumi Matsuoka, Kazuyoshi Ohsawa and Ko Takeuchi for game design in WARIOWARE INC.: MEGA MICROGAME$

3rd annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2003)

Recipient

  • Romain de Waubert de Genlis and Team for game design in BATTLEFIELD 1942

Nominees

  • GTA Team for game design in GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY
  • Metroid Team for game design in METROID PRIME
  • Satoru Iwata, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka and Kenta Usui for game design in SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE
  • Splinter Cell Team Leaders for game design in TOM CLANCY'S SPLINTER CELL

2nd annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2002)

Recipient

  • GTA3 team for game play in GRAND THEFT AUTO III

Nominees

  • Fumito Ueda & team for game design in ICO
  • Lorne Lanning & Chris Ulm for story/writing in ODDWORLD: MUNCH'S ODDYSEE
  • Peter Molyneux & team for game design in BLACK & WHITE
  • Shigeru Miyamto & team for game design in PIKMIN

1st annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2001)

Recipient

  • Harvey Smith & Warren Spector for game design in DEUS EX

Nominees

  • Sean Clark & Michael Stemmle for puzzles in ESCAPE FROM MONKEY ISLAND
  • Shigeru Miyamoto & Eiji Aonuma for gameplay in LEGEND OF ZELDA: MAJORA'S MASK
  • Ragnar Tornquist for story in THE LONGEST JOURNEY
  • Neversoft Entertainment for gameplay in TONY HAWK'S PRO SKATER 2