2010 GAME British Academy Video Games Awards

** STRICTLY EMBARGOED UNTIL 09:00 HRS TUESDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2010 **

London, 16 February 2010: The Academy today announced the nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards. This year 40 different games have been recognized and together they represent some of the most popular, innovative and cutting-edge creativity in today’s gaming industry.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Assassin’s Creed II are all nominated for Action, Artistic Achievement, Best Game, Gameplay, and Original Score. In addition, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves got the nod for Story and, together with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, also received nominations in Multiplayer, Use of Audio and Use of Online. Batman: Arkham Asylum was also nominated for Story and Use of Audio, and Assassin’s Creed II received its 6th nod for Story.

Left 4 Dead 2 took four nominations for Action, Best Game, Multiplayer, and Use of Audio. Battlefield 1943, FIFA 10, Flower, Football Manager 2010, LittleBigPlanet (PSP) New Super Mario Bros Wii, PixelJunk Shooter, The Beatles: Rock Band and Wii Sports Resort all received two.

Other nominated games include Broken Sword-Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s Cut, Brutal Legend, Buzz! Quiz World, Colin McRae: DiRT 2,Command and Conquer 3: Uprising, DJ Hero, Dragon Age: Origins, Empire: Total War, EyePet, FIFA Manager 10, Forza 3, Gran Turismo, Guitar Hero 5, Halo 3 ODST, Halo Wars, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, inFAMOUS, LocoRoco Midnight Carnival, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Plants vs Zombies, Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box, Scribblenauts, Singstar TakeThat, Streetfighter IV and Wii Fit Plus.

This year’s Awards will also include the publicly-voted category – the GAME Award of 2009. The shortlist was compiled by a panel of gaming journalists and enthusiasts, and comprises of Assassin’s Creed II, Batman: Arkham Asylum, The Beatles: Rockband, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, FIFA 10, GTA China Town Wars, Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks, Street Fighter IV, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Wii Sports Resort. Voting is now live at www.baftagameaward.com.

While the Academy recognises those individuals at the top of their game, it also wishes to nurture the developers of tomorrow by recognising up-and-coming talent. The nominations for the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to be Digital are Colour Coded, Quick as Thieves and Shrunk!

The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Friday 19 March at the London Hilton on Park Lane. The Awards will be streamed live for the first time at www.bafta.org and www.baftagameaward.com.

For information on buying tickets or about the Awards, visit BAFTA’s website at www.bafta.org/awards/video-games or contact James Rhodes on 020 7292 5839 or jamesr@bafta.org.

-ENDS-

For more information please contact:

Sasha Gibson Emma White

freud communications freud communications

Tel: 020 3003 6338 Tel: 020 3003 6302

Email: sasha.gibson@freud.com Email: emma.white@freud.com

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Notes to editors:

About BAFTA:

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is the UK’s leading organisation dedicated to the recognition and promotion of excellence in the fields of the moving image. Renowned for its high profile Film, Television and Video Games Awards ceremonies, the prestigious BAFTA mask has long been seen as a symbol of excellence.

About the judging process:

Games were entered by both developers and publishers into all the categories listed in this release and were initially voted on by BAFTA’s video games members and a carefully selected list of industry experts via a secure website.

The titles garnering the most votes went through to specialist juries who received the games approximately six weeks prior to making their nominations.

Each juror signs confidentiality papers and casts their votes on paper. The results in each category are not known until the envelope is opened on the night.

About GAME:

GAME is Europe’s leading specialist retailer of pc and video game products. Since the start of trading in 1991 with 11 stores in the UK, it has grown both organically and through acquisition to a chain of over 1,300 outlets in January 2009. It operates stores in ten countries, supported by eCommerce websites. Online retail is located at www.game.co.uk. For further corporate information, log onto www.gamegroup.plc.uk.

Nominations

Action

Assassin’s Creed II

Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets

Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development Team

Activision/Infinity Ward

inFAMOUS

Brian Fleming, Bruce Oberg, Chris Zimmerman

Sony Computer Entertainment/Sucker Punch Productions & SCE Foster City Studio

Left 4 Dead 2

Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard

Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Artistic Achievement

Assassin’s Creed II

Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets

Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development team

Activision/Infinity Ward

Flower

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/ThatGameCompany and SCE Santa Monica Studio

Streetfighter IV

Yoshinori Ono

Capcom/Capcom

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Best Game

Assassin’s Creed II

Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets

Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development Team

Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10

Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson

Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Left 4 Dead 2

Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard

Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Family & Social

The Beatles: Rock Band

Alex Rigopulos, Paul DeGooyer, Josh Randall

Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/Harmonix Music Systems

Buzz! Quiz World

David Amor, Andrew Eades, Lee Clare

Sony Computer Entertainment/Relentless Software & XDEV Studio Europe

EyePet

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE London Studio

Guitar Hero 5

Brian Bright, Paul Robinson, Allen Freese

Activision/Neversoft Entertainment/Vicarios Visions/Budcat

New Super Mario Bros Wii

Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura

Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Sports Resort

Katsuya Eguchi, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita

Nintendo/Nintendo

Gameplay

Assassin’s Creed II

Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets

Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development Team

Activision/Infinity Ward

New Super Mario Bros Wii

Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kimura

Nintendo/Nintendo

PixelJunk Shooter

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Q-Games & SCE Santa Monica Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Handheld

Gran Turismo

Kazunori Yamauchi, Yuji Yasuhara, Hiroki Imanish

Sony Computer Entertainment/Polphony Digital Inc

LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

James Shepherd, Piers Jackson, Mark Green

Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Cambridge & xev Studio Europe

LocoRoco Midnight Carnival

Kenji Sakai, Saeka Horikoshi, Hiroya Matsugami

Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Japan Studio

Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Hiroyuki Kubota

Nintendo/Nintendo

Professor Layton and Pandora’s Box

Akira Tago, Akihiro Hino, Tatsuya Shinkai

Nintendo/Nintendo

Scribblenauts

Jeremiah Slaczka, Marius Fahlbusch

Warner Bros Interactive Entertainmnent/5th Cell

Multiplayer

Battlefield 1943

Patrick Liu, Gordon Van Dyke

Electronic Arts/Dice

The Beatles: Rock Band

Alex Rigopulos, Paul DeGooyer, Josh Randall

Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/Harmonix Music Systems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development team

Activision/Infinity Ward

Halo 3 ODST

Development Team

Microsoft Game Studios/Microsoft

Left 4 Dead 2

Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard

Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Original Score

Assassin’s Creed II

Jesper Kyd

Ubisoft Entertainment Ltd/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development team

Activision/Infinity Ward

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

James Hannigan, Zsolt Marx, Campbell Askew

Electronic Arts/EA Bright Light

PixelJunk Shooter

Dom Beken, Alex Paterson

Sony Computer Entertainment/Q-Games and SCE Santa Monica Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Sports

Colin McRae: DiRT 2

Matt Horsman, Clive Moody, Guy Pearce

Codemasters/Codemasters Studios

FIFA 10

Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson

Electronic Arts/EA Canada

Football Manager 2010

Development Team

Sega/Sports Interactive

Forza 3

Development Team

Microsoft/Turn 10

Wii Fit Plus

Shigeru Miyamoto, Tadashi Sugiyama, Hiroshi Matsunaga

Nintendo/Nintendo

Wii Sports Resort

Katsuya Eguchi, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita

Nintendo/Nintendo

Story

Assassin’s Creed II

Sebastien Puel, Patrice Desilets

Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Broken Sword – Shadow of the Templars: The Director’s Cut

Charles Cecil, Neil Richards, Tony Warringer

Ubisoft Entertainment/Revolution Software

Brutal Legend

Tim Schafer

Electronic Arts/Double Fine Productions

Dragon Age: Origins

Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, Mike Laidlaw

Electronic Arts/BioWare

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Strategy

Command and Conquer 3: Uprising

Development team

Electronic Arts/EA Los Angeles

Empire: Total War

Development Team

Sega/Creative Assembly

FIFA Manager 10

Gerald Köhler, Cord Westhoff, Bernhard Maiberg

EA Sports/Bright Future

Football Manager 2010

Development Team

Sega/Sports Interactive

Halo Wars

Development Team

Microsoft/Ensemble Studios

Plants vs Zombies

George Fan, Tod Semple, Rich Werner

Popcap Games/Popcap Games

Use of Audio

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Sefton Hill, David Hego, Nick Arundel

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development team

Activision/Infinity Ward

DJ Hero

Jamie Jackson, Dan Neil, Tim Riley

Activision/Freestyle Games

Flower

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/ThatGameCompany and SCE Santa Monica Studios

Left 4 Dead 2

Gabe Newell, Chet Faliszek, Tom Leonard

Valve/EA

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

Use of Online

Battlefield 1943

Patrick Liu, Gordon Van Dyke

Electronic Arts/EA DICE

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Development Team

Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10

Andrew Wilson, David Rutter, Gary Paterson

Electronic Arts/ EA Canada

LIttleBigPlanet (PSP)

James Shepherd, Piers Jackson, Matt Porter

Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Cambridge & XEV Studio Europe

Singstar TakeThat

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE London Studio

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Development Team

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog and SCE Foster City Studio

BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital

Colour Coded

Murray Sinclair, Faye Wright, Liam Wong, Sean Donnelly, Nnanna Kama

(PixelPirates)

Quick as Thieves

William Wright, Michael Doig, Andrew Knight, Jamie MacKinnon, Lee Cresswell

(Gentleman of Fortune)

Shrunk!

Vykintas Kazdailis, Andrew Macdonald, Michael Cummings, Jacek Wernikowski, Stuart Kemp

(The Butterflyers)

GAME Award of 2009

(The only award to be voted for by the public)

Assassin’s Creed II

Ubisoft Entertainment/Ubisoft Montreal

Batman Arkham Asylum

Eidos/Rocksteady Studios

The Beatles: Rockband

Electronic Arts/MTV Games/Apple Corp/ Harmonix Music Systems

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Activision/Infinity Ward

FIFA 10

Electronic Arts/EA Canada

GTA China Town Wars

Rockstar Games/Rockstar Leeds/Rockstar North

Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks

Nintendo/Nintendo

Street Fighter IV

Capcom/Capcom

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Sony Computer Entertainment/Naughty Dog & SCE Foster City Studio

Wii Sports Resort

Nintendo/Nintendo