Several RPGs Nominated for Visual Effects

The Visual Effects Society sent out a press release earlier this week announcing that The Witcher, Mass Effect, Hellgate: London, and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade have all been nominated for outstanding visual effects in a video game. Below you’ll find the press release with all the movie and TV categories snipped from it:

VISUAL EFFECTS SOCIETY (VES) ANNOUNCES NOMINEES FOR 6TH ANNUAL VES AWARDS

Los Angeles, January 7, 2008 – The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 6th Annual VES Awards ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects in over a dozen categories of film, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were chosen Saturday, January 5, 2008 by numerous panels of VES members who viewed submissions at the FotoKem screening facilities in Burbank.

(We received hundreds of submissions from around the world and we are proud to present nominees that push the boundaries of how visual effects can enhance the storytelling process,) says Jeff Okun, VES Chair. (Looking at the level of complexity and creativity of this year’s nominees, it is clear that the VES is the single most important pool of talent, experience and knowledge in the visual effects world.)

The nominees for the 6th Annual VES Awards are the following:

…

Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game

NEED FOR SPEED PRO STREET – ProStreet
Michael Mann, Wilson Tang, Eduardo Agostini, Carl Jarrett

CRYSIS – Realtime Visuals
Michael Endres, Michael Khaimzon

TEAM FORTRESS 2
Jason Mitchell, Moby Franke, Chris Green, Dhabih Eng

HALO 3 – Halo 3 Footage
Marcus Lehto, Jonty Barnes, Stephen Scott, CJ Cowan

MASS EFFECT – Game Sequence
Derek Watts, Casey Hudson

Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game

COMMAND AND CONQUER 3 TIBERIUM WARS – GDI, NOD & Scrin Scenes
Richard Taylor, Matt Britton, Ben Hopkins, Tang Katai

HELLGATE: LONDON
Tim Miller, Jerome Denjean, Al Shier

WORLD OF WARCRAFT: THE BURNING CRUSADE – Cinematic Intro
Jeff Chamberlain, Scott Abeyta

THE WITCHER CINEMATIC – Intro
Tomek Baginski, Marcin Kobylecki, Grzegorz Kukus, Maciek Jackiewicz

…

The 6th Annual VES Awards will take place on Feb. 10, 2008 at the Kodak Theatre Grand Ballroom in Hollywood. Last year’s event attracted more than eight hundred celebrities, visual effects and animation artists, dozens of nominees and members of the film, television and gaming industries. Winners from 2007 included Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (John Knoll, Jill Brooks, Hal Hickel, Charlie Gibson) for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture and Battlestar Galactica – Episode 303b (Exodus) (Gary Hutzel, Michael Gibson, Alec McClymont, Brenda Campbell) for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series.

This year the VES will present Steven Spielberg the VES Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognizes the contribution that his vast body of work, as both a director and producer, has made to the art and science of visual effects.

Updated information on the VES Awards can be found at www.vesawards.com.

About the VES

The VES is a professional, honorary society, dedicated to advancing the arts, sciences, and applications of visual effects and to upholding the highest uniform standards and procedures for the visual effects profession. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary year, VES is the entertainment industry’s only official trade organization representing the extended community of visual effects practitioners including supervisors, artists, producers, technology developers, educators and studio executives.

Its 1,600 global members contribute to all areas of entertainment from film, television and commercials to music videos, games and new media. VES strives to enrich and educate its members and the entertainment community at large through many domestic and international events, screenings and programs. Visual effects professionals constitute a vital creative force in content creation and are literally shaping the future of entertainment.