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Game Developers Choice Awards
Wednesday, March 19, 2025

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2nd Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

2002 Finalists & Winners

Honoring the Best Games of 2001

For photos, please browse our albums.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Yuji Naka

President and CEO of Sega's SONICTEAM, for the innovative and award-winning work he has produced during his career, including the creation of SEGA mascot, Sonic The Hedgehog.

First Penguin Award

Hubert Chardot

For his risk-taking work on Alone in the Dark, a game that started the "survival-horror" genre.

IGDA Award for Community Contribution

Jeff Lander

For his writings on game development, community building efforts and student outreach.

Game of the Year

GRAND THEFT AUTO III (DMA Design/Rockstar Games)

Finalists:

  • BLACK & WHITE (Lionhead Studios)
  • HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED (Bungie Studios)
  • ICO (Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.)
  • MAX PAYNE (Remedy Entertainment)

Rookie Studio of the Year

Bohemia Interactive Studio (OPERATION FLASHPOINT)

Finalists:

  • Adrenium Games (AZURIK: RISE OF PERATHIA)
  • Croteam (SERIOUS SAM)
  • Pseudo Interactive (CEL DAMAGE)
  • TimeGate Studios (KOHAN: IMMORTAL SOVEREIGNS)

Original Game Character of the Year

Daxter (JAK & DAXTER: THE PRECURSOR LEGACY)

Finalists:

  • Dante (DEVIL MAY CRY)
  • Ico (ICO)
  • Max Payne (MAX PAYNE)
  • Munch (ODDWORLD: MUNCH'S ODDYSEE)

Excellence in Audio

Marty O'Donnell & Team for sound effects (HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED)

Finalists:

  • Erik Kraber and Jack Grillo for sound design (CLIVE BARKER'S UNDYING)
  • Harry Gregson-Williams for composition in (METAL GEAR SOLID 2: SONS OF LIBERTY)
  • Josh Randall for sound design (FREQUENCY)
  • Thomas Engel, Rudolf Stember and Chris Huelsbeck for sound engineering (STAR WARS ROGUE SQUADRON II: ROGUE LEADER)

Excellence in Level Design

Fumito Ueda & Team (ICO)

Finalists:

  • Craig Filshie, William Mills, Chris Rothwell and James Worrall (GRAND THEFT AUTO III)
  • Ghost Recon Team (TOM CLANCY'S GHOST RECON)
  • Scott Campbell, Dave Jaffe, Kellan Hatch & Team (TWISTED METAL: BLACK)
  • Toshihiro Nagoshi & Team (SUPER MONKEY BALL)

Excellence in Programming

Richard Evans for artificial intelligence (BLACK & WHITE)

Finalists:

  • Akihiko Tan & Team for physics (GRAN TURISMO 3 A-SPEC)
  • Andy Gavin and Stephen White for programming (JAK & DAXTER: THE PRECURSOR LEGACY)
  • Jason Jones & Team for programming (HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED)
  • Sherman Archibald, John Carmack and Ryan Feltrin for graphics (RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN)

Excellence in Game Design

GTA3 team for game play (GRAND THEFT AUTO III)

Finalists:

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

Excellence in Visual Arts

Fumito Ueda & Team for art direction (ICO)

Finalists:

  • Greg Griffith, Bill Harper, John Kim, Jordan Pitchon, Bob Rafei, Josh Scherr and Rob Titus for animation (JAK & DAXTER: THE PRECURSOR LEGACY)
  • Kazunori Yamauchi & Team for modeling (GRAN TURISMO 3 A-SPEC)
  • Lorne Lanning and Farzad Varahramyan for art direction (ODDWORLD: MUNCH'S ODDYSEE)
  • Tetsuya Mizuguchi, Jun Kabayashi & Team for art direction (REZ)

Game Innovation Spotlights

BLACK & WHITE (Lionhead Studios)
GRAND THEFT AUTO III (DMA Design)
ICO (Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc.)
MAJESTIC (Electronic Arts)
REZ (United Game Artists)

Finalists:

  • CEL DAMAGE (Pseudo Interactive)
  • FREQUENCY (Harmonix Music Systems)
  • KOHAN: IMMORTAL SOVEREIGNS (TimeGate Studios)
  • MAX PAYNE (Remedy Entertainment)
  • SUPER MONKEY BALL (Amusement Vision)