Awards Ceremony to Take Place Thursday, March 28th, 2013 During Game Developers Conference in San Francisco

LOS ANGELES, CA – February 27th, 2013– The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), the non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of game audio, is proud to announce the finalists for the 11th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards to honor outstanding creative, technical and artistic audio achievement in the world of interactive entertainment.

Voted and judged upon by the game audio industry and members of G.A.N.G., the finalists represent an array of the best audio in gaming from 2012. A 70 person Advisory Committee helps in deciding each of the final nominees which includes hundreds of hours of research, listening, watching, playing and discussing. The standouts for nominations this year include Journey with 7 nominations, Darkness II with 6, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, Diablo III and Halo 4 with 5 nominations each and Far Cry 3 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss receiving 4.

(Full nominee list after the fold)…

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We are saddened at the loss of an important musical voice and friend in our community. Normand Corbeil passed away earlier this week after a 6 month battle with pancreatic cancer. Normand was a vastly talented and prolific composer capable of deep and powerful expression.

In addition to many game, film and TV scores, he composed the scores for Paris developer Quantic Dream’s Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain, the latter soundtrack earning worldwide acclaim and both AIAS and BAFTA awards for Best Original Score in 2011. Normand was working on Quantic Dream’s upcoming title, Beyond: Two Souls up until his death.

Normand was born on April 6, 1956 in Montreal. Normand’s longtime producer, recording and mixing engineer, Jonathan Allen recounted,
“Normand was one of the most musical and talented composers I’ve had the privilege to work with. The saddest part of him passing away so early is the thought of the wonderful music we’ll never hear.”

London orchestra contractor, Isobel Griffiths remarked, “Normand was a lovely, kind and sincere man who was all about the music, he will be missed by everyone who worked with him.” Quantic Dream Founder and co-CEO, David Cage, said,”Normand was much more than a talented composer. He was one of the nicest persons I ever worked with. We will miss him a lot. He left us his music and the memory of a wonderful man. Bon vent, Normand.”

There are more quotes (after the jump here) about Normand and his music…

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Here’s our newest and returning GANG members this month…let’s give them a warm GANG welcome (names listed after the jump)…

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This contest is an outstanding opportunity for student and apprentice members in G.A.N.G., and is a great way to advance your game audio career and get noticed. So, get your creative juices flowing and submit your best material in the competition!

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GANG is happy to announce that we has a new sponsor in IZOTOPE, which we are very excited about! They have been creating some very special audio software products, and have some very specific game audio applications of their products coming soon. There will be more on IZOTOPE’s involvement with GANG very soon, but for now, here are the details of this quarter’s Q CHALLENGE (after the jump)

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