The Last of Us, Tearaway, Gone Home Lead 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards Nominations

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Organizers have revealed the finalists for the 14th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry's top games and developers. Winners in all categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, taking place on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2014 Game Developers Conference alongside the Independent Games Festival Awards.

Jointly leading the nominations with five each, are Naughty Dog's action-adventure survival horror title The Last of Us - receiving nods for Game of the Year, Best Design, Best Visual Art, Best Narrative and Best Technology - and Media Molecule's PlayStation Vita title Tearaway, which received acclaim throughout 2013 for its art style and its creative use of the PS Vita inputs and sensors, and which was nominated for awards including Innovation and Best Handheld/Mobile Game.

Mirroring years past, titles from smaller teams have once again received strong recognition, with nominations or honorable mentions in nine of the 10 categories. The Fullbright Company's Gone Home, a touching first-person interactive storytelling experience, is nominated in five categories: Game of the Year, the Innovation Award, Best Debut Game, Best Narrative and Best Downloadable Game. Several other similar games garnered multiple category nominations including Galactic Café's The Stanley Parable; Lucas Pope's Papers, Please and Starbreeze's Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.

Nintendo also showed strongly in the Choice Awards nominations across both the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. The latest iteration of the publisher's flagship platformer franchise, Super Mario 3D World, picked up nominations for Game of the Year and Best Design, while the nostalgic action-adventure title The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds was recognized as a contender for Best Design, Best Handheld/Mobile Game and as an Honorable Mention for Game of the Year.

Additional titles with multiple nominations included Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix's classic action-adventure IP reboot Tomb Raider (three nominations), the return of Rockstar's expansive open-world franchise in the form of Grand Theft Auto V (three nominations), and Simogo's surreal mobile text thriller DEVICE 6 (two nominations).

The 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards are freely open to any video game that was initially released and made publicly available to consumers during the 2013 calendar year, irrespective of platform or delivery medium. Industry professionals participated in open nominations for the selection of this year's finalists. Winners will be selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only organization comprised of leading game creators from all parts of the industry.

The complete list of nominees, including honorable mentions, for the 14^th annual Game Developers Choice Awards is as follows:

Game of the Year
Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games)
The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)
Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo EAD Tokyo/Nintendo)
Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo), Papers, Please (Lucas Pope), The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe), Tearaway (Media Molecule/Sony).

Innovation Award
DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
Tearaway (Media Molecule/Sony)
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Honorable Mentions: Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (Starbreeze/505 Games), Candy Box (Aniwey), Kerbal Space Program (Squad), The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony), Proteus (Ed Key/David Kanaga).

Best Debut
Blue Manchu (Card Hunter)
The Fullbright Company (Gone Home)
Galactic Cafe (The Stanley Parable)
Squad (Kerbal Space Program)
Undead Labs (State Of Decay)

Honorable Mentions: Facepalm Games (The Swapper), Frogmind Games (Badland), Grinding Gear Games (Path Of Exile), Suspicious Developments (Gunpoint), Warner Bros. Games Montreal (Batman: Arkham Origins).

Best Design
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games)
The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo EAD Tokyo/Nintendo)
Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix)

Honorable Mentions: DOTA 2 (Valve) Pokemon X & Y (Game Freak/Nintendo), Rogue Legacy (Cellar Door Games), The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe), SteamWorld Dig (Image & Form), TowerFall (Matt Thorson/Miniboss/Alec Holowka).

Best Handheld/Mobile Game
DEVICE 6 (Simogo)
Fire Emblem: Awakening (Intelligent Systems/Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)
Ridiculous Fishing (Vlambeer)
Tearaway (Media Molecule/Sony)

Honorable Mentions: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo), 868-HACK (Michael Brough), Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (Next Level Games/Nintendo), Plants Vs. Zombies 2 (PopCap/Electronic Arts), The Room Two (Fireproof Games), SteamWorld Dig (Image & Form).

Best Visual Art
BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games)
DmC (Ninja Theory/Capcom)
The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)
Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Level 5/Namco Bandai)
Tearaway (Media Molecule/Sony)

Honorable Mentions: Don't Starve (Klei Entertaintment), Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games), Papers, Please (Lucas Pope), Puppeteer (SCE Japan/Sony), Ryse: Son Of Rome (Crytek/Microsoft), Wonderful 101 (Platinum Games/Nintendo).

Best Narrative
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (Starbreeze/505 Games)
Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)
The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)
Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix)
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Honorable Mentions: Attack Of The Friday Monsters (Millennium Kitchen/Level 5), BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games), The Cave (DoubleFine Games), Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch (Level 5/Namco Bandai), Shadowrun Returns (Harebrained Schemes).

Best Audio
BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games/2K Games),
Forza Motorsport 5 (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Games)
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games)
Saints Row IV (Volition/Deep Silver)
Tearaway (Media Molecule/Sony)

Honorable Mentions: Animal Crossing: New Leaf (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo), Battlefield 4 (DICE/Electronic Arts), Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft), Gone Home (The Fullbright Company), Metro: Last Light (4A Games/Deep Silver).

Best Downloadable Game
Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons (Starbreeze/505 Games)
Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)
Papers, Please (Lucas Pope)
Resogun (Housemarque/Sony)
The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Honorable Mentions: Guacamelee (DrinkBox Studios), Gunpoint (Suspicious Developments), State Of Decay (Undead Labs), SteamWorld Dig (Image & Form), TowerFall (Matt Thorson/Miniboss/Alec Holowka), The Wolf Among Us (Telltale Games).

Best Technology
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North/Rockstar Games)
The Last Of Us (Naughty Dog/Sony)
Killzone: Shadow Fall (Guerrilla Games/Sony)
Tearaway (Media Molecule/Sony)

Honorable Mentions: Battlefield 4 (DICE/Electronic Arts), DOTA 2 (Valve), Forza Motorsport 5 (Turn 10 Studios/Microsoft Games), Metro: Last Light (4A Games/Deep Silver), Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix).

The Game Developers Choice Awards also gives out three Special Awards yearly: the Pioneer, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement awards, all of which will be announced in the near future. The Audience Award for the Choice Awards – open to all finalists for this year – will also return and will open for online voting on February 19, 2014.

For more information about the 14^th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, visithttp://www.gamechoiceawards.com.  For information about the 2014 GDC, visithttp://www.gdconf.com.

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