Nominations were free of charge and open to all professional game developers, regardless of membership or affiliation, ensuring that the nominees reflect the international development community's opinions.

"To be recognized by our peers is, without a doubt, one of the greatest forms of recognition we can receive," said Chris Taylor, President, Gas Powered Games. "As our industry grows and develops, we are happy to be a part of and recognized by, the great wealth of talent that is all around us."

The nominees are:

Game of the Year

• Battlefield 1942 (Digital Illusions)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Rockstar North)
• Metroid Prime (Retro Studios)
• Neverwinter Nights (BioWare Corp.)
• Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (Ubi Soft Montreal)

Original Game Character of the Year

• Blinx from Blinx the Time Sweeper
• Ratchet from Ratchet and Clank
• Rau from The Mark of Kri
• Sam Fischer from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Sly Cooper from Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus

Rookie Studio of the Year

• Arkane Studios for Arx Fatalis
• Day 1 Studios for MechAssault
• Gas Powered Games for Dungeon Siege
• Pipeworks Software for Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee
• Retro Studios for Metroid Prime

Excellence in Audio

• GTA Team for sound design in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Rich Briggs, Latch Brothers, Takayuki Kawagoe, Noah Musler, Hideki Naganuma and Fumitaka Shibata for sound design in Jet Set Radio Future
• EA Sound Studio for sound effects in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
• Metroid Team for sound effects in Metroid Prime
• Andrew Boyd, Chris Hegstrom and Robb Mills for composition in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Excellence in Game Design

• Romain de Waubert de Genlis for game design in Battlefield 1942
• GTA Team for game design in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Metroid Team for game design in Metroid Prime
• Satoru Iwata, Yoshiaki Koizumi, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka and Kenta Usui for game design in Super Mario Sunshine
• Splinter Cell Team leaders for game design in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

Excellence in Level Design

• Metroid Team for level design in Metroid Prime
• Brian Allgeier, Mark Cerny, Lesley Mathieson and Colin Munson for level design in Ratchet & Clank
• Brendan McNamara, Chun Wah Kong and the SCEE Design Team for level design in The Getaway
• Francois Pelland and Team for level design in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• Pancho Eekels, Dave Ewing and James Schmalz for level design in Unreal Tournament 2003

Excellence in Programming

• Mike Biddlecombe, Scott Bilas, Bartosz Kijanka, James Loe, Eric Tams and Chad Queen for programming in Dungeon Siege
• Metroid Team for programming in Metroid Prime
• Mark Brockington, Scott Greig, Jason Knipe, Don Moar and Don Yakielashek for network programming in Neverwinter Nights
• Antoine Dodens and Team for graphics programming in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
• WarCraft III Team for programming in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

Excellence in Visual Arts

• Jonathan Chey, Ken Levine and Team for art direction in Freedom Force
• Shinji Hashimoto and Tetsuya Nomura for art direction in Kingdom Hearts
• Hokyo Lim, Suzanne Kaufman, Dev Madan, Augie Pagan and Karin Yamagiwa for art direction in Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus
• Nicolas Cantin, Frederick Gagne and Benoit Sokal for art direction in Syberia
• Jay Beard, Erik Medina, Jeff Merghart, Dan Mueller and Tim Neveu for animation in The Mark of Kri

Excellence in Writing

• Denis Dyack and Ken McCulloch for writing in Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
• GTA Team for writing in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
• Lukas Kure and Dan Vavra for writing in Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven
• Craig Hubbard and Team for writing in No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy In H.A.R.M.S. Way
• Clint Hocking and JT Petty for writing in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

An advisory committee from the IGDA will select the recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award, First Penguin Award and the IGDA Award for Community Contribution.