Call of Duty 4 leads BAFTA shortlist

BAFTA has this morning unveiled the shortlist for its 2009 video game awards – with Call of Duty 4 leading the shortlist.

The Activision Blizzard FPS gets seven nominations. GTA IV gets six nominations, while Fable II and LittleBigPlanet get five each.

The winners will be named on March 10th, at an event hosted by comedian Dara O’Braian.

The Academy seels to recognise creative achievements across Film, Television and Video Games” and says that one nomination – for Steven Spielberg’s EA game Boom Blox ‘could not better exemplify the synergies between these three art forms of the moving image’.

For this year’s awards a special publicly-voted prize will be up for grabs too, the GAME Award of 2008.

The nominations in full are:

ACTION & ADVENTURE

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity War/Activision
Dead Space
Glen Schofield, Chuck Beaver, Bret Robbins
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Prince of Persia
Ben Mattes, Jean-Christophe Guyot
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Noah Hughes, Pat Sirk, Toby Gard
Crystial Dynamics/Eidos

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Dead Space
Ian Milham
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios
LittleBigPlanet
Kareem Ettouney, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Yoji Shinkawa
Kojima Productions/Konami Digital Entertainment

BEST GAME

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studio
Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo, Istvan Pely
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Eran Egozy, Mike Dornbrook
Harmonix Music Systems/MTV Games
Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

CASUAL

Boom Blox
Development Team
Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts
Buzz! Quiz TV
David Amor, Andrew Eades, Lee Clare
Relentless Software & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Guitar Hero: World Tour
Development Team
Neversoft/Activision
LittleBigPlanet
Mark Healey, Dave Smith, Pete Smith
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
SingStar Vol. 2
Vera So, Gillian Connole, Kevin Mason
SCE London Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Wii Fit
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

GAMEPLAY

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Grand Theft Auto IV
Development Team
Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Left 4 Dead
Gabe Newell, Mike Booth, Chet Faliszek
Valve/Valve
Mario Kart Wii
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Dan Teasdale, Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom
Harmonix Music System/MTV Games
Super Mario Galaxy
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

HANDHELD

Geometry Wars: Galaxies
James Brooksby, Jim Mummery
Doublesix/Sierra
God of War: Chains of the Olympus
Development Team
Ready at Dawn & SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Patapon
Development Team
Pyramid & SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Soul Bubbles
Olivier Lejade, Omar Cornut, Frederick Raynal
McKensleep/Eidos

MULTIPLAYER

Buzz! Quiz TV
David Amor, Andrew Eades
Relentless Software& SCE XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Gears of War 2
Development Team
Epic Games/Microsoft Games Studios
Left 4 Dead
Gabe Newell, Mike Booth, Chet Faliszek
Valve/Valve
Mario Kart Wii
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Rock Band
Alex Rigopulos, Kasson Crooker
Harmonix Music System/MTV Games

ORIGINAL SCORE

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Dead Space
Development Team
Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios
Fallout 3
Todd Howard, Emil Pagliarulo, Istvan Pely
Bethesda Game Studio/Bethesda Softworks Europe
LittleBigPlanet
Kenneth Young, Mark Healey, Leo Cubbin
Media Molecule & XDev Studio Europe/Sony Computer Entertainment
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Harry Gregson-Williams
Kojima Productions/Konami Digital Entertainment

SPORTS

FIFA 09
Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson
EA Canada/Electronic Arts
Football Manager 2009
Development Team
Sports Interactive/SEGA
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Development Team
Evolution Studios/Sony Computer Entertainment
Pure
Jason Avent, Jim Callin, Craig Gabell
Black Rock Studios/Disney Interactive Studios
Race Driver: GRID
Development Team
Codemasters Studios/Codemasters
Wii Fit
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

STRATEGY

Advance Wars: Dark Conflict
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
Development Team
EA Los Angeles/Electronic Arts
Ninjatown
Shawn Smith, Brandon Curiel, Jeremy Pope
Venan in conjunction with Casmere Productions & Shalinamals/Southpeak Games
Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
Development Team
Firaxis Games/2K Games
SOCOM: US Navy Seals Tactical Strike
Development Team
Slant Six Games & SCE Foster City Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment
Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise
Gary Richards, Paul Machacek, Joe Humfrey
Rare/THQ

STORY AND CHARACTER

Assassin’s Creed
Jade Raymond, Patrice Desilets, Claude Langlais
Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Entertainment
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Development Team
Infinity Ward/Activision
Fable II
Development Team
Lionhead Studios/Microsoft Game Studios