The glitz and glamour of this year's Academy Awards are behind us and with it, our celebration of motion picture arts and movie stars. Not to be outdone, our heroes of digital arts, those visionaries behind visual effects, animation and our favourite video games will get their due recognition next month with the ELAN Awards.Founded and hosted in Vancouver, this will be the 3rd year of the award show as it honours the best and brightest working in the digital realm today. A press conference was held yesterday at Radical Entertainment to announce the final nominees for each award category. ELAN Award producers, Holly Carinci and Jack Weatherell were on hand to coordinate the event. Radical president, Kelly Zmak, kicked off the presser with an affrimation of how important it is during these trying times to take a break from the negativity and celebrate the people in the industry that make it so great.
Following speeches from Zmak and Carinci, the podium was cleared for Victor Lucas, creator and executive producer of "The Electric Playground" and "Reviews on the Run", to announce this year's ELAN nominees and to reveal the statuette -- designed by Abbotsford-based Offload Studios -- each winner will be receiving. There was an overwhelming dominance by 4 games in the major video game categories, namely Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Fable 2 and Left 4 Dead. Some lower profile projects took the spotlight in other categories while my own personal favourite, Too Human, garnered a surprise nomination in Art Direction, so it was not a complete nominations sweep by the "Big Four".
The full list of nominees for the 3rd annual ELAN Awards are:
VIDEO GAME FINAL NOMINEES
VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR
• Gears of War 2 -- Epic Games / Microsoft
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Fable II -- Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
• Left 4 Dead -- Valve
BEST CONSOLE GAME
• Gears of War 2 -- Epic Games, Microsoft
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Fable II -- Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
• Left 4 Dead -- Valve
BEST PC GAME
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Crysis Warhead -- Crytek / Electronic Arts
• Lord of the Rings Online™: Mines of Moria™ -- Turbine, Inc.
• Left 4 Dead -- Valve
BEST SOUND in a VIDEO GAME PRODUCTION
• Gears of War 2 -- Epic Games, Microsoft
• Call of Duty:World At War -- Treyarch / Activision Publishing
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Fable II -- Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
BEST ART DIRECTION
• Gears of War 2 -- Epic Games, Microsoft
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Too Human -- Silicon Knights / Microsoft Games Studio
• Fable II -- Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
BEST GAME DESIGN
• Gears of War 2 -- Epic Games, Microsoft
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Fable II -- Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
• Left 4 Dead -- Valve
OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL INNOVATION
• Gears of War 2 -- Epic Games, Microsoft
• Fallout 3 -- Bethesda Softworks
• Fable II -- Lionhead Studios / Microsoft Games
• Left 4 Dead -- Valve
BEST CASUAL/ARCADE GAME
• Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst -- Big Fish Games
• Defend Your Castle -- XGen Games
• 4 Elements -- Playrix Entertainment
BEST MOBILE/HANDHELD GAME
• Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (handheld) -- 1st Playable Productions/Disney Interactive
• Planet Rescue: Ocean Patrol (handheld) -- Magic Pockets / Ubisoft
• Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep (mobile) -- Infinite Dreams / Nokia
• Party Island Bowling (mobile) -- Digital Chocolate
The ELAN Awards ceremony will be held on April 25th, 2009 at the Hotel Vancouver and will be hosted by Tom Kenny, the voice behind SpongeBob Squarepants.
For the full list of award categories and nominees, please check out The ELANS press release.