Shortlist for 2009 BAFTA GAME Award announced @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on February 11, 2010

News: Have your say in the 2009 BAFTA Awards.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the shortlist for the 2009 GAME Award, a gamer's choice category in the annual BAFTA Video Game Awards sponsored by UK retailer GAME.

The following ten games are being considered for the award:

Assassin's Creed II

Batman: Arkham Asylum

The Beatles: Rock Band

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

FIFA 10

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Street Fighter IV

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Wii Sports Resort

Sadly, the top criterion for choosing the shortlisted titles appears to have been which games sold best in 2009. Not to say that any of these games are undeserving (they're all highly acclaimed by critics and gamers alike, after all). But I'm guessing it's unlikely that BAFTA would ever hand a people's choice award to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. BAFTA gives the full reasoning behind the selections here:

The ten shortlisted titles were chosen by a hand-picked expert panel of games journalists and passionate gamers. They began by looking at the top selling games of the year sold in GAME stores and arrived at the final shortlist through furious game-playing and fierce debate.

Gamers can vote for their favorite at BAFTAGameAward.com from now until March 16. The winner will be announced during the 2009 BAFTA Video Game Awards ceremony on March 19.

Congratulations to all the nominees and we'll have more soon.