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)…
Final voting has begun and the final winners are chosen by the entire membership of the G.A.N.G. organization. Over 2,500 people representing over 30 countries have signed up as members of G.A.N.G. since its inception in 2002. “This year’s G.A.N.G. award nominees continue to raise the bar, pushing creative boundaries, innovating in technology and delivering exceptional execution and production across all aspects of game audio,” said G.A.N.G. President Brian Schmidt. “With a record number of nominations this year, the G.A.N.G. awards provide an opportunity to put on display and recognize the incredible talent, skill and craft in our industry both to industry peers and the public at large. G.A.N.G. is proud to highlight these final nominees and their works as the best of our industry.”
The winners will be announced at the 11th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards ceremony being held on Thursday, March 28th, 2013 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA during the Game Developers Conference. The show will be recorded and edited for viewing via streaming on the Video Games Live Twitch.TV channel (http://www.twitch.tv/videogameslive). Game composers, sound designers and game audio professionals from around the world will be taking part in the stream to interact with viewers.
The complete list of nominees are as follows…
AUDIO OF THE YEAR
Diablo III
Far Cry 3
Halo 4
Journey
The Darkness II
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
MUSIC OF THE YEAR
FEZ
Journey
The Unfinished Swan
Wonderbook: Book of Spells
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
SOUND DESIGN OF THE YEAR
Diablo III
Far Cry 3
Halo 4
Journey
The Darkness II
BEST SOUNDTRACK ALBUM
Dear Esther
Halo 4
Journey
Mass Effect 3
The Unfinished Swan
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
BEST INTERACTIVE SCORE
Diablo III
Journey
Sound Shapes
Starhawk
The Unfinished Swan
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
BEST HANDHELD AUDIO
Need for Speed Most Wanted
ORC: Vengeance
Ravensword: Shadowlands
Rayman Jungle Run
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
BEST AUDIO IN A CASUAL/INDIE/SOCIAL GAME
Deadlight
Dear Esther
Ghost Recon Commander
Globulous
Solitaire Blitz
The Unfinished Swan
BEST CINEMATIC/CUT-SCENE AUDIO
Halo 4
Resident Evil 6
The Darkness II
Transformers: Fall of Cybertron
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
BEST DIALOGUE
Diablo III
Fable: The Journey
Far Cry 3
The Darkness II
The Walking Dead
Uncharted: Golden Abyss
BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL
“Apotheosis” – Journey
“Heart of Pandaria” – World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
“I Have Begun My Ascent” – Dear Esther
“Pigs In Space” – LittleBigPlanet 2: The Muppets
“Outcast Theme” – Starhawk
“The Unfinished Swan” – The Unfinished Swan
BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL – CHORAL
“Angelus” – The Darkness II
“Incantation” – Diablo III
“Main Menu” – Halo 4
“Main Theme” – Assassin’s Creed III Liberation
“The Eored” – Riders of Rohan
“The Resistance Fighters” – Kinect Star Wars
BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL – POP
“Always” – Dear Esther
“I Was Born For This” – Journey
“Song of Liu Lang” – World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
“The Taking” – Cognition: An Erica Reed Thriller
“Try And Forget Me” – 1954: Alcatraz
BEST AUDIO MIX
Dragon’s Dogma
Far Cry 3
Planetside 2
Prototype 2
The Darkness II
BEST USE OF LICENSED MUSIC
Kinect Star Wars
LittleBigPlanet Karting
MLB 12: The Show
Need for Speed Most Wanted
Tiny & Big: Grandpa’s Leftovers
BEST GAME AUDIO ARTICLE, PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST
Adaptive Game Music: The Evolution and Future of Dynamic Music Systems in Video Games
All In The Mix – The Importance Of Real-Time Mixing In Video Game
Audio In Unity 101
How Loud Should It Be?
Meet Diablo III’s Sound Team
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria “Sounds of the Mists”
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to industry veteran Clint Bajakian. Clint started his game audio career in 1991 where he spent nearly 10 years at LucasArts working on their biggest franchises such as Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Maniac Mansion and Star Wars. From there he formed his own independent audio company for which he was involved in such franchises as Unreal, The Lord of the Rings, James Bond: 007, Bard’s Tale, Battlestar Galactica and others. In 2004 he joined Sony Computer Entertainment and was head of the music production group for their biggest projects such as God of War, Uncharted, SOCOM, Jak & Daxter, Heavy Rain and most recently, the Grammy nominated Journey.
Other presentations at the Awards Ceremony will include the Rookie of the Year award, the G.A.N.G. Recognition Awards, Student/Apprentice competition winners and the G.A.N.G. Distinguished Service Awards.