1st Annual Game Developers Choice Awards

Honoring the Best Games of 2000

For photos, please browse our albums.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Will Wright

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

Chip Morningstar and Randy Farmer

For Habitat/Club Caribe (LucasFilm)

Rookie Studio of the Year

Counter-Strike Team (Counter-Strike)

Finalists:

• Free Radical Design (TimeSplitters)
• Massive Entertainment (Ground Control)
• Nihilistic Software (Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption)
• Planet Moon Studios (Giants: Citizen Kabuto)

IGDA Award for Community Contribution

John Carmack

Finalists:

• Chris Crawford
• Michael Abrash
• Robert Huebner
• Warren Spector

Original Game Character of the Year

Seaman (Seaman)

Finalists:

• Cate Archer (No One Lives Forever)
• Kabuto (Giants: Citizen Kabuto)
• Ulala (Space Channel 5)
• Tamale Loco (Tamale Loco @ shockwave.com)

Excellence in Audio

Matt Uelmen, Jason Hayes, Glenn Stafford and Andrea Pessino for composition (Diablo II)

Finalists:

• Michael Sweet for music (BliX)
• Fumitaka Shibata for music (Samba de Amigo)
• Naofumi Hataya and Kenichi Tokoi for music (Space Channel 5)
• Kemal Amarasingham and Eric Brosius for sound effects (Thief II: The Metal Age)

Excellence in Game Design

Harvey Smith and Warren Spector for game design (Deus Ex)

Finalists:

• Sean Clark and Michael Stemmle for puzzles (Escape from Monkey Island)
• Shigeru Miyamoto and Eiji Aonuma for gameplay (Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)
• Ragnar Tornquist for story (The Longest Journey)
• Neversoft Entertainment for gameplay (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2)

Excellence in Level Design

American McGee, Jim Molinets & Team (American McGee's Alice)

Finalists:

• NOLF Team (No One Lives Forever)
• Michel Ancel & Team (Rayman 2: The Great Escape)
• SSX Team (SSX)
• Christopher Foster, Tom Odell & Team (Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force)

Excellence in Programming

Sims programming Team for AI (The Sims)

Finalists:

• Yu Suzuki & Team for physics (F355 Challenge)
• Scott Guest and Andy Astor for graphics (Giants: Citizen Kabuto)
• Visual Concepts Dev Ream for networking (NFL2K1)
• Martin Brownlow for graphics (Sacrifice)

Excellence in Visual Arts

Ryuta Ueda and Kazuki Hosokawa for art direction (Jet Grind Radio)

Finalists:

• American McGee for art direction (American McGee's Alice)
• Tomonobu Itagaki, Hiroaki Matsui & Team for animation (Dead or Alive 2)
• Joby Otero for art direction (Sacrifice)
• Insomniac Team for art direction (Spyro: Year of the Dragon)

Game of the Year

The Sims (Maxis)

Finalists:

• Deus Ex (ION Storm Austin)
• Jet Grind Radio (Smilebit)
• No One Lives Forever (Monolith)
• Shenmue (Sega AM2)

Game Innovation Spotlights

Counter-Strike (Counter-Strike team)

Crazy Taxi (Sega AM3)

Deus Ex (ION Storm Austin)

Jet Grind Radio (Smilebit)

No One Lives Forever (Monolith)

Finalists:

• American McGee's Alice (Rogue/EA)
• NFL2K1 (Visual Concepts)
• Sacrifice (Shiny)
• Samba de Amigo (Sega Sonic Team)
• Seaman (Vivarium)
• Shenmue (Sega AM2)
• SSX (EA Canada)
• The Sims (Maxis)
• Virtua Tennis (Sega)
• Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Nintendo)