Golden Joystick Award Nominees Announced

The Golden Joystick nominees have been announced, with Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion making it into five different categories.

GOLDEN JOYSTICK AWARDS 2006 SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED

First Stage Of The Voting Period Ends As Top Ten Games Are Unveiled!

The panel for the 2006 Golden Joystick Awards will today unveil the shortlist for each category of the 24th annual Golden Joystick Awards. Games released between 1 August 2005 and the 31 July 2006 have been eligible for the 16 long lists and more gamers than ever have been furiously voting to decide on the best games of the last 12 months.

In a surprising turn up, handheld games and consoles have taken an early lead in the GJA polls with the likes of Mario Kart DS featuring heavily across the 16 categories grabbing six shortlist places for Mario Kart DS and one for Mario as ‘˜Favourite Character’. Nintendo currently lead the field for the ‘˜Publisher of the Year’ category while GAME occupies the top spot in the ‘˜Retailer of the Year’ category. Guitar Hero and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories both get nods in the ‘˜Soundtrack Award’ category while front-runner for the prestigious ‘˜Ultimate Game of the Year’ gong is Take 2 Interactive’s popular Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which has no less than five nominations in total. However, everything could change between now and October so to support your favourite games and consoles visit www.goldenjoysticks.co.uk and vote now! The shortlists in full are as follows:

Favourite Character Award

· Mario (Mario Bros.)
· Agent 47 (Hitman: Blood Money)
· Lara Croft
· Alyx Vance (Half-Life: Episode 1)
· Prince of Persia (Prince of Persia The Two Thrones)

Girls Choice Award

· Nintendogs
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Special Edition
· 50 Cent: Bulletproof
· Evil Dead Regeneration
· Super Princess Peach
· Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
· The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
· Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
· Mario Kart DS

Handheld Game of the Year

· Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
· Mario Kart DS
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· New Super Mario Bros.
· Metroid Prime: Hunters
· Nintendogs
· Advance Wars: Dual Strike
· Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
· Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
· LocoRoco

Innovation Award in association with T3 magazine

· Xbox Live Marketplace
· Nintendo Wi-Fi Connect
· Nintendo DS Lite
· Guitar Hero
· Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day
· Nintendogs
· The Movies
· We Love Katamari
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· Buzz!: The BIG Quiz

The Sun’s Family Game Award in association with The Sun and The Sun Online

· Nintendogs
· Kameo: Elements of Power
· Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
· Shadow the Hedgehog
· Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
· Super Princess Peach
· Kirby: Power Paintbrush
· Super Monkey Ball Touch and Roll
· Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
· SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, PANTS!

Nuts All-Nighter Award in association with Nuts magazine

· Mario Kart DS
· Metroid Prime: Hunters
· Pro Evolution Soccer 5
· Call of Duty 2
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
· Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
· Project Gotham Racing 3
· Buzz!: The BIG Quiz
· Far Cry Instincts Predator

Nintendo Game of the Year

· Mario Kart DS
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· New Super Mario Bros.
· Metroid Prime: Hunters
· Nintendogs
· Gun
· Advance Wars: Dual Strike
· Chibi-Robo!
· Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
· LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
· Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
· Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
· 2006 FIFA World Cup
· Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
· Fire Emblem: Path of RAdiance

One to Watch 2007

· Nintendo Wii
· The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
· Halo 3
· Grand Theft Auto IV
· Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
· PlayStation 3
· Super Smash Bros. Brawl
· Resident Evil 5
· Gears of War
· Spore
· Final Fantasy XII
· Crysis
· Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
· World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
· Super Mario Galaxy

Online Game of the Year

· Mario Kart DS
· Call of Duty 2
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· Metroid Prime: Hunters
· Project Gotham Racing 3
· Age of Empires III
· Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis
· Final Fantasy XI Treasures of Aht Urhgan
· Perfect Dark Zero
· Quake IV

PC Game of the Year in association with ebuyer.com

· The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
· Half-Life 2: Episode One
· F.E.A.R.
· Call of Duty 2
· Age of Empires III
· Football Manager 2006
· Civilization IV
· Fable: The Lost Chapters
· The Movies
· Black & White 2
· Guild Wars Factions
· Battlefield 2: Special Forces
· The Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth II
· Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
· Hitman: Blood Money
· The Sims 2 Nightlife

Playstation Game of the Year

· Shadow of the Colossus
· Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Special Edition
· Resident Evil 4
· Guitar Hero
· Pro Evolution Soccer 5
· Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
· Hitman: Blood Money
· Black
· 50 Cent: Bulletproof
· Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
· Dragon Quest: The Journey of the Cursed King
· Burnout: Revenge
· WWE Smackdown! Vs. RAW 2006
· Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
· Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

Publisher of the Year in association with Sonopress

· Nintendo
· Rockstar
· EA Games
· Ubisoft
· Microsoft Game Studios
· Capcom
· Konami
· Square Enix
· Activision
· Sony Computer Entertainment
· Sega
· Eidos
· Vivendi
· THQ
· Atari
· NCSoft
· Take Two

Retailer of the Year in association with Sierra

· GAME
· Play.com
· Gameplay.com
· Gamestation
· Amazon.co.uk
· HMV
· Gameseek
· Virgin

Soundtrack of the Year

· The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
· Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
· Guitar Hero
· Need For Speed Most Wanted
· Shadow of the Colossus
· Sonic Rush
· Call of Duty 2
· Hitman: Blood Money
· 50 Cent: Bulletproof
· Phoenix Wright

Xbox Game of the Year

· The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
· Half-Life 2
· Call of Duty 2
· Project Gotham Racing 3
· Black
· Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter
· Pro Evolution Soccer 5
· 50 Cent: Bulletproof
· Burnout: Revenge
· Perfect Dark Zero
· Hitman: Blood Money
· Dead or Alive 4
· Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
· The King of Fighters Neowave
· Psychonauts

Ultimate Game of 2006

· The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
· Resident Evil 4
· Animal Crossing: Wild World
· Mario Kart DS
· Half-Life 2
· Shadow of the Colossus
· Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Special Edition
· Metroid Prime: Hunters
· New Super Mario Bros.
· Call of Duty 2
· Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
· Pro Evolution Soccer 5
· 50 Cent: Bulletproof
· Guitar Hero
· Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
· Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend
· Hitman: Blood Money
· Project Gotham Racing 3
· Half-Life 2: Episode One
· Battlefield 2: Modern Combat

The final results of the Golden Joystick Awards will be unveiled at the glitzy award ceremony, held at London’s Park Lane Hilton hotel on Friday, 27th October 2006. This year, for the first time ever, the Golden Joystick Awards will be webcast live on the computerandvideogames.com website.

Officially the world’s oldest and most respected games ceremony, the Golden Joystick Awards were first held back in 1982, when Atari, Commodore and Spectrum ruled the earth and Sony were still best known for the Walkman. Promising to be bigger than ever, the Golden Joystick Awards 2006 will feature 17 award categories and are the only UK gaming awards to be voted for by those who matter gamers themselves! Last year, almost 200,000 UK gamers had their say on what deserved a prestigious Golden Joystick, and now organisers want YOU to help smash the 250,000 votes mark.