Spike TV Game Awards nominations @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on November 17, 2004

News: It ain't the Oscars, but it's what we got.

It wasn't exactly Oscar nomination tuesday, but yesterday the nominations for the second annual Spike TV Video Game Awards were announced. Three games, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, shared the top spot with five nominations apiece. The awards show will be broadcast live on Tuesday December 14 at 9 PM ET. This is a first for the awards show as last year's was tape delayed. The ever-versatile Snoop Dogg will be the host.

Twenty-four awards will be handed out at this year's event, including new categories "Designer of the Year," and "Best New Technology." Like any good award show, musical guests will include SUM 41, Ludacris and our host pulling double duty by performing "Riders on the Storm" with The Doors. No that is not a typo.

The producers of the awards were also kind enough to include how the voting is conducted and how gamers at home can get in on the act and vote for their favorite games:

Nominees of Spike TV's VIDEO GAME AWARDS 2004 were determined by the Video Game Awards Advisory Board, made up of a group of gaming industry experts. Winners will be determined by votes from the Advisory Board and consumer voting. Viewers will exclusively determine the winner in three award categories -- these are the Fan Favorite awards of "Most Addictive Game" and "Best Gaming Website" as well as the Viewers Choice award of "Best Gaming Publication." Voting for this year's nominees on SpikeTV.com starts today, November 16 and runs through December 14. Fans logging onto SpikeTV.com can view clips of nominated games and other streaming video and information leading up to the show. For the first time this year, fans who are Virgin Mobile subscribers will be able to vote for Spike TV's VIDEO GAME AWARDS 2004 nominees directly from the Virgin Extras Menu on their wireless phones.

Finally, here's the full list of nominees. Interestingly, just like the Oscars, the general public has not had a chance to see many of these games yet and the nomination list includes few titles that weren't released in the last few weeks. Has everyone forgotten La Pucelle already?

GAME OF THE YEAR
Burnout 3: Takedown (Electronic Arts)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal Games)
Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Konami)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (Vivendi Universal Games)
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (Electronic Arts)
Spider-Man 2 (Activision)
Star Wars: Battlefront (LucasArts)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN-FEMALE
Brooke Burke - Need for Speed Underground 2 (Electronic Arts)
Judi Dench - Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (Electronic Arts)
Carmen Electra - Def Jam: Fight For New York (Electronic Arts)
Jennifer Garner - Alias (Acclaim)
Heidi Klum - James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing (Electronic Arts)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN-MALE
Vin Diesel - The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Vivendi Universal Games)
Hugh Jackman - Van Helsing (Vivendi Universal Games)
Samuel L. Jackson - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
Christopher Lee - GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (Electronic Arts)
Tobey McGuire - Spider-Man 2 (Activision)

HOTTEST VIDEO VIXENS
Tina Armstong - Dead or Alive Ultimate (Tecmo)
Carmen Electra- Def Jam: Fight For NY (Electronic Arts)
BloodRayne - BloodRayne 2 (Majesco Games)
Luba Licious - Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (Vivendi Universal Games)
Rachel Teller (played by Brooke Burke) - Need for Speed Underground 2 (Electronic Arts)

BEST DRIVING GAME
Burnout 3: Takedown - (Electronic Arts)
NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup - (Electronic Arts)
Need For Speed Underground 2 - (Electronic Arts)

BEST SPORTS GAME
ESPN NFL 2K5 (Sega)
Madden NFL 2005 (Electronic Arts)
NBA Ballers (Midway)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005 (Electronic Arts)
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (Activision)

BEST FIGHTING GAME
Def Jam: Fight For New York (Electronic Arts)
Dead or Alive Ultimate (Tecmo)
Fight Night 2004 (Electronic Arts)
Mortal Kombat: Deception (Midway)
WWE: Smackdown! vs. Raw (THQ)

BEST ACTION GAME
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Konami)
Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo)

BEST FIRST PERSON ACTION
Doom 3 (Activision)
Far Cry (Ubisoft)
Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal Games)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (Atari)

BEST SONG IN A VIDEO GAME
Chingy "I Do" Need for Speed Underground 2 (Electronic Arts)
Green Day "American Idiot" Madden NFL 2005 (Electronic Arts)
Jimmy Eat World - "Pain" Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (Activision)
Terror Squad -"Lean Back"- Need for Speed Underground 2 (Electronic Arts)
Will I Am - "GO" NBA Live 2005 (Electronic Arts)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (Electronic Arts)
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games)
Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
Madden NFL 2005 (Electronic Arts)

DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
Sam Houser and Rockstar North, for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Rockstar Games / Rockstar North)
Tomonobu Itagaki and Team Ninja, for Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo / Team Ninja)
Jason Jones and Bungie Studios, for Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios / Bungie Software)
Hideo Kojima for Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Konami / KCEJ)
Alex Ward and Criterion, for Burnout 3: Takedown (Electronic Arts / Criterion)

MOST ADDICTIVE GAME - VIEWER'S CHOICE
Burnout 3: Takedown (Electronic Arts)
City of Heroes (NCsoft)
Donkey Konga (Nintendo)
Katamari Damacy (Namco)
The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts)

BEST GAMING PUBLICATION - FAN FAVORITE
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM)
Game Informer
Official Playstation Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
GMR

BEST GAMING WEB SITE - FAN FAVORITE
1up
GameSpot
Gamespy
IGN
Shack News

[John chimes in: 1up? They suck. And IGN and Gamespy are the same company. There should be a rule against that. Where's the love for Gaming Target? Next year, oh next year!]

BEST MILITARY GAME
Call of Duty: Finest Hour (Activision)
Conflict: Vietnam (Global Star Software)
Full Spectrum Warrior (THQ)
Rome: Total War (Activision)
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War (THQ)

BEST PC GAME
Doom 3 (Activision)
Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal Games)
Rome: Total War (Activision)
The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts)

BEST WIRELESS GAME
CBS Sportsline Baseball 2004 (Mforma)
Jamdat Sports NFL 2005 (Jamdat Mobile)
Might and Magic (Ubisoft - Gameloft)
National Treasure (Starwave)

BEST GRAPHICS
Doom 3 (Activision)
Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal Games)
Halo 2 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Ninja Gaiden (Tecmo)

BEST NEW TECHNOLOGY
Half-Life 2 Engine (Vivendi Universal Games / Valve)
Nintendo DS (Nintendo)
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 (NVIDIA)
Spherex XBOX 5.1 Surround Sound System (Spherex Inc.)

BEST HANDHELD
Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Sega)
Mario Golf: Advance Tour (Nintendo)
Metroid: Zero Mission(Nintendo)
Pokemon FireRed Version (Nintendo)

BEST MASS MULTI-PLAYER GAME
City of Heroes(NCsoft)
Everquest II (Sony Online Entertainment)
Final Fantasy XI (Square Enix)

BEST RPG
The Bard's Tale (InXile Entertainment)
Fable (Microsoft Game Studios)
Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (Atlus Co.)
X-Men Legends (Activision)