Spike TV's 2007 Video Game Awards Nominations Unveiled

Spike TV announced its list of nominees for the upcoming 2007 Video Game Awards (VGA) ceremony, which airs on Spike TV on December 9.

A crack team of nearly two dozen game journalists including GameDaily's own game goddess / editor-in-chief Libe Goad helped create the list of nominees. Those chosen games must have been released between November 16, 2006 and December 1, 2007.

While standout games in the list include both Bioshock and Halo 3, which each earned seven nominations the lack of either Rock Band (four nominations) and Guitar Hero III (three nominations) in the same category seemed odd considering all the hype. Libe's reply to GameDaily News' query contained only two words, which we won't publish here. With that said, both games will fight it out in Best Rhythm Games and Best Soundtracks.

While winners for the categories will be panel selected, players will vote on the Most Addictive Game on the official VGA site.

And the nominees are...

GAME OF THE YEAR
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston - 2K Australia)
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
The Orange Box (Valve/ Valve)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bioware)

STUDIO OF THE YEAR
2K Boston/ 2K Australia
Bungie Studios
Valve
Harmonix

BEST SHOOTER
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision/ Infinity Ward)
The Orange Box (Valve/ Valve)
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston - 2K Australia)

BEST RPG
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bioware)
Eternal Sonata (Namco Bandai Games/ Tri-Crescendo)
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix, Inc./ Square Enix Co., LTD)
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (Atlus/ Atlus)

BEST MILITARY GAME
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision/ Infinity Ward)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Ubisoft/ Red Storm Entertainment - Ubisoft Paris)
World in Conflict (Sierra/ Massive Entertainment)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft/ Ubisoft Montreal)

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
Skate (Electronic Arts/ EA Black Box)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 (Electronic Arts/ EA Tiburon)
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Activision/ Neversoft)
Virtua Tennis 3 (Sega/ Sega-AM2)

BEST HANDHELD GAME
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (Nintendo/ Nintendo)
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Square Enix/ Square Enix)
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (D3 Publisher/ Infinite Interactive)
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (Sony Computer Entertainment/ Sony Bend)

BEST GRAPHICS
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston - 2K Australia)
Crysis (Electronic Arts/ Crytek Studios)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision/ Infinity Ward)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bioware)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW
The Simpsons Game (Electronic Arts/ EA Redwood Shores)
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Ubisoft/ Ubisoft Montreal)
The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (Midway Games – Turbine/ Turbine)
John Woo Presents Stranglehold (Midway Games/ Midway Games)

BEST RHYTHM GAME
Rock Band (MTV Games/ Harmonix)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision/ Neversoft)
Jam Sessions (Ubisoft/ Plato)
Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s (Activision/ Harmonix)

BEST DRIVING GAME
Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Turn 10 Studios)
Project Gotham Racing 4 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bizarre Creations)
Dirt (Codemasters/ Codemasters)
Need for Speed Prostreet (Electronic Arts/ EA Black Box)

BEST ACTION GAME
God of War II (Sony Computer Entertainment/ SCE Studios Santa Monica)
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft/ Ubisoft Montreal)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo/ Nintendo)
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Sony Computer Entertainment/ Insomniac Games)

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
Madden NFL 08 (Electronic Arts/ EA Tiburon)
NHL 08 (Electronic Arts/ EA Canada)
NBA 2K8 (2K Sports/ Visual Concepts)
Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 (Konami/ Konami)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Rock Band (MTV Games/ Harmonix)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision/ Neversoft)
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston – 2K Australia)
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Activision/ Neversoft)

BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Rock Band (MTV Games/ Harmonix)
The Orange Box/ Portal (Valve/ Valve)
Halo 3 – Saved Films/ Theatre Mode (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
Crysis (Electronic Arts/ Crytek)

BEST XBOX 360 GAME
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston – 2K Australia)
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bioware)
The Orange Box (Valve/ Valve)

BEST WII GAME
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Nintendo/ Retro Studios)
Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo/ Nintendo)
Super Paper Mario (Nintendo/ Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/ Nintendo)

BEST PS3 GAME
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (Sony Computer Entertainment/ Insomniac Games)
Heavenly Sword (Sony Computer Entertainment/ Ninja Theory)
Warhawk (Sony Computer Entertainment/ Incognito Entertainment)
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Sony Computer Entertainment/ Naughty Dog)

BEST PC GAME
The Orange Box (Valve/ Valve)
World in Conflict (Sierra/ Massive Entertainment)
Crysis (Electronic Arts/ Crytek)
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston – 2K Australia)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
Bioshock (2K Games/ 2K Boston – 2K Australia)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bioware)
God of War II (Sony Computer Entertainment/ SCE Studios Santa Monica)

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
The Orange Box (Valve/ Valve)
Rock Band (MTV Games/ Harmonix)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision/ Infinity Ward)

MOST ADDICTIVE GAME
Halo 3 (Microsoft Game Studios/ Bungie Studios)
The Orange Box (Valve/ Valve)
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision/ Neversoft)
WII Sports (Nintendo/ Nintendo)