The lights are on
The annual Game Developers Conference plays host to several awards ceremonies, the highest profile including the Independent Game Festival Awards and Game Developer Choice Awards. Another yearly celebration is found in the Game Audio Network Guild Awards, a more focused ceremony aimed to honor “outstanding creative, technical and artistic audio achievement in the world of interactive entertainment.” Chosen by fellow game audio professionals on a 70-person committee, the final nominees for excellence in audio have been announced.
“I hate to sound redundant, but each and every year the quality and workmanship of the industry continues to soar higher and higher,” said Tommy Tallarico, G.A.N.G. Founder, CEO and Chairman. “The level of quality continues to be outstanding and each of these nominees is a unique and wonderful creation and incredible piece of art for the entire industry to be proud of.”
“With over 350 submissions this year, just making it to the final nomination process is something to be very proud of,” G.A.N.G. President Paul Lipson added. “Spotlighting the hard work and talented game audio individuals from around the world has always been a major focus of G.A.N.G. and something we pride ourselves on.”The winners will be announced on Thursday March 3 after the daily GDC festivities conclude.
Check out the full list of nominees below. AUDIO OF THE YEARBattlefield: Bad Company 2Dante's InfernoGod of War IIIHeavy RainRed Dead Redemption MUSIC OF THE YEARAssassin's Creed: Brotherhood Bioshock 2Dante's InfernoHeavy RainJames Bond 007: Blood StoneRed Dead RedemptionSOUND DESIGN OF THE YEARBattlefield: Bad Company 2Bioshock 2Dante's InfernoEnslaved: Odyssey to the West God of War IIIRed Dead Redemption BEST SOUNDTRACK ALBUMBioshock 2 Dante's InfernoHalo: ReachMass Effect 2 Red Dead RedemptionVideo Games Live - Level 2 BEST INTERACTIVE SCOREDante's InfernoGod of War IIIHalo: ReachHeavy RainJames Bond 007: Blood StoneRed Dead Redemption BEST HANDHELD AUDIOGod of War: Ghost of Sparta Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck's RevengeMonster Hunter Portable 3Ni no Kuni: Shikkoku no MadoshiPrince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands BEST CINEMATIC/CUT-SCENE AUDIOBattlefield: Bad Company 2God of War IIIMedal of HonorRed Dead RedemptionStarCraft IIWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm BEST DIALOGUEBioshock 2Enslaved: Odyssey to the WestGod of War IIIMafia IIMedal of HonorRed Dead Redemption BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL"Athens Harbour Chase" - James Bond 007: Blood Stone "Ethan Mars Theme" - Heavy Rain"Main Theme" - Red Dead Redemption"Northern Grasslands" - Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer"The Palace Gates" - Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Wii) BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL - CHORAL"Alice's Theme" - Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland"Dante's Theme" - Dante's Inferno"Hymn" - Halo: Reach"Invincible" - World of Warcraft: Cataclysm"Overture" - God of War III "Redemption" - Dante's Inferno BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL - POP"Dagomba" - Just Dance 2"Dead Man's Gun" - Red Dead Redemption"Far Away" - Red Dead Redemption"I’ll Take It All" - James Bond 007: Blood Stone"No Death In Love" - Enslaved: Odyssey to the West"The Peri" (Zahara's Theme) - Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands BEST USE OF MULTI-CHANNEL SURROUNDBattlefield: Bad Company 2Call of Duty: Black-OpsCrackdown 2Fable IIIHalo: ReachStar Wars: The Force Unleashed IITransformers: War for CybertronBEST USE OF LICENSED MUSICBioShock 2 Civilization VDJ Hero 2 Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Mafia IIRock Band 3 BEST GAME AUDIO ARTICLE, PUBLICATION OR BROADCASTAPM Film & Television Music Podcast"Composing the Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic" "From the Shadows of Film Sound: Cinematic Production & Creative Process in Video Game Audio""Recording Firearms Explosions""The Weight of Silence - How Silence Can Indicate a Character's Importance"
Music of the year I would have to say Heavy Rain. I can not stop listening to that album, it's such a well written score.
Some of the games on this list surprise me, as well as some of the omissions. I wasn't expecting 007 to get any credit and Mass Effect 2's absence seems unusual since it was in the running for pretty much every other award last year.
Dante's Inferno get's a lot of recognition in this department. But I have to say that Jesper Kyd's Assassin's Creed work (not to mention his Adventures of Batman and Robin OST) are the best of the best
I'm very surprised that Alan Wake didn't make the nominations somewhere.
This is a good awards ceremony for games who may have gotten snubbed for falling short on their gameplay qualities but excelling in other arenas such as sound.
god of war III never realy stood out on the sound department now i got replay that game with my eyes closed to see what is soo good about it.
Alan Wake isn't nominated? WOW!
Where's Mass Effect 2!?
Halo Reach isn't nominated enough either!
I love the Assassin's Creed soundtrack. Most of the songs give me chills. I was looking for the "Ezio's Family" nomination, but then I remembered that the song is technically from ACII...
I'm glad Fallout: New Vegas wasn't nominated for anything. Fallout 3 had one of the best game soundtracks of all time, and the sequel seriously hindered that aspect of the game. If you put the F3 soundtrack into New Vegas, that could have been up for that nomination.
Awesome. I don't think enough people pay attention to the sound design in most games. Probably my favorite aspect of Bad Company 2 was the audio! Congrats to all the nominees!
Very cool. I didn't know about these awards. Nice to see game audio get more recognition.
No love for FINAL FANTASY XIII, ALAN WAKE, or DEADLY PREMONITION???
What a bunch of B.S.!!!
Well we all know that Red Dead Redemption will win in the Best Dialogue catagory, which it REALLY deserves.
It's pretty cool to look through all the nominees, just goes to show you that sound and audio can be just as important as gameplay.
I haven't seen the name Tommy Tallarico since he was co-hosting that video game review show on G4 before G4 got lame. The name of that show escapes me but i remember it was a good show, oh the good ol' days when g4 had something to do with video games...
I dont think Video Games Live should count as a soundtrack. It's a compilation of soundtracks. Nice try Tommy.
Mafia II should run away wth best dialogue. I will keep an eye out for the results on 3/3...there are some really solid nominations here
I'm sorry, but I think it's awful that Super Mario Galaxy 2 isn't in a single category. The soundtrack in that game is excellent. Out of the ones listed, I guess I like Heavy Rain's music the best.