5th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Honoring the Best Games of 2004

For photos, please browse our albums.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Eugene Jarvis

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole.

First Penguin Award

Richard Allan Bartle, Ph.D

The Pioneer Award (formerly known as the First Penguin Award) celebrates those individuals who developed a breakthrough technology, game concept, or gameplay design at a crucial juncture video game history - paving the way for the myriads who followed them.

Maverick Award

Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj

Founders and leaders of Blast Theory, an internationally renowned interactive media artists' group

IGDA Award for Community Contribution

Sheri Graner Ray

Revered advocate of women's interests in game development

Best Game

Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Ken Birdwell, Gabe Newell, Jay Stelly

Finalists:

• Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
  - Paul Glancey, Chris Roberts, Paul Cross, Fiona Sperry, Alex Ward
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
  - Leslie Benzies, Adam Fowler, Aaron Garbut, Sam Houser, Alexander Roger, Obbe Vermeij
• Katamari Damacy (Namco)
  - Keita Takahashi
• World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
  - Mark Kern, Mike Morhaime, Rob Pardo

Best New Studio

Crytek (Far Cry)
- Avni Yerli, Cevat Yerli, Faruk Yerli

Finalists:

• Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes)
  - Michael Lewis
• inXile entertainment (The Bard's Tale)
  - Brian Fargo, Matthew Findley
• Obsidian Entertainment (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
  - Chris Avellone, Chris Jones, Darren Monahan, Chris Parker, Feargus Urquhart
• The Behemoth (Alien Hominid)
  - John Baez, Tom Fulp, Brandon LaCava, Dan Paladin

Excellence in Audio

Halo 2 (Bungie Software / Microsoft Game Studios)
- C Paul Johnson, Marty O'Donnell, Jay Weinland

Finalists:

• Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Spark Unlimited / Activision)
  - Jack Grillo, Caleb Sweazy
• Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
  - Christian Antkow, John Carmack, Tim Willits
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
  - Craig Conner, Allan Walker
• Katamari Damacy (Namco)
  - Yu Miyake

Best Character Design

Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Ted Backman, Dhabih Eng, Bill Fletcher, Bill Van Buren

Finalists:

• Katamari Damacy (Namco)
  - Keita Takahashi
• Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montréal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
  - Nicolas Bouvier, Mickael Labat
• Sly 2: Band Of Thieves (Sucker Punch Productions / Sony Computer Entertainment America)
  - Travis Kotzebue, Dev Madan
• World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
  - Brandon Idol, Chris Metzen

Best Game Design

Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi

Finalists:

• 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

Best Technology

Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Yahn Bernier, Brian Jacobson

Finalists:

• Burnout 3: Takedown (Criterion Games / Electronic Arts)
  - Alex Fry, Ciaran Rooney, Paul Ross, Hamish Young
• Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
  - John Carmack, Robert Duffy, Jan Paul van Waveren
• EyeToy: AntiGrav (Harmonix Music Systems / Sony Computer Entertainment America)
  - Eran Egozy, Eric Malafeew
• Far Cry (Crytek / Ubisoft Entertainment)
  - Timur Davidenko, Vladimir Kajalin, Andrey Khonich, Anton Knyazyev, Cevat Yerli

Best Visual Art

World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
- Sam Didier, William Petras, Justin Thavirat

Finalists:

• Doom 3 (id Software / Activision)
  - Andy Chang, Seneca Menard, Kenneth Scott
• Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
  - Viktor Antonov, Randy Lundeen
• Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
  - Hiroyuki Hayashi, Chie Kawabe
• Prince Of Persia: Warrior Within (Ubisoft Montréal / Ubisoft Entertainment)
  - Mickael Labat, Patrick Limoges

Best Writing

Half-Life 2 (Valve Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Marc Laidlaw

Finalists:

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar North / Rockstar Games)
- Dan Houser, James Worrall

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (High Voltage Software / Vivendi Universal Games)
- Matt Entin, Ed Kuehnel, Eric Nofsinger

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Intelligent Systems / Nintendo)
- Nate Bihldorff, Ryota Kawade

Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Obsidian Entertainment / LucasArts Entertainment)
- Chris Avellone

Game Innovation Spotlights

Donkey Konga (Namco / Nintendo)
- Hiroshi Igarashi, Hiroyuki Onoda

I Love Bees (4orty2wo Entertainment / Microsoft Game Studios)
- Elan Lee

Katamari Damacy (Namco)
- Keita Takahashi