The Golden Short-List

The final short-list of nominees
is announced for the Computer and Video Games Golden Joystick Awards 2003.

The countdown to the most
eagerly-anticipated date in the UK games calendar gathers pace today, as the
final nominations are announced for this year’s Computer and Video Games Golden
Joystick Awards.

Although there is a huge diversity
in the list of games, companies and products nominated for this year’s awards,
two names are already edging ahead of the pack, with Rockstar’s Grand Theft
Auto: Vice City and Namco’s Soul Calibur II setting the early pace with three
and four nominations respectively. Both are in the running for the prestigious
‘Ultimate Game of the Year’ accolade, alongside four other notables from the
past 12 months: Metroid Prime, Pro Evolution Soccer 2, Star Wars: Knights of the
Old Republic and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

“We’re absolutely delighted that
this year’s short-list has been determined by such a strong consumer mandate,”
says Duncan Tickell, Group Publishing Director for Dennis Publishing. “Having
already equalled just about last year’s total of just over 30,000 votes cast and
with more than four weeks of voting to go, not to mention the additional impact
of our tie-in with MTV and a concerted effort from all nominees, we are
confident that we will have smashed last year’s total by the time that voting
closes.”

The initial 12 awards, which are
directly voted for by members of the general public through the official
Computer and Video Games Golden Joystick Awards website
www.goldenjoystick.com , cover
almost all aspects of the UK interactive entertainment business, including
publishing, hardware, online gaming and retail. These will be supplemented by
additional categories supported by the Awards’ media partners and those voted
for by members of Dennis Publishing’s editorial staff.

The ‘Hardware of the Year’ category
will see fierce competition between Sony’s innovative EyeToy device for the
PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s eye-catching update to its venerable handheld
platform, the Game Boy Advance SP. These two line up against the first online
console offerings from Microsoft and Sony and the latest PC graphics cards from
NVIDIA and ATi.

Those who are thinking of taking a
flutter on which game will win the race for the all-important ‘Christmas Number
One’ chart position might find a few pointers in the short-list for the ‘Most
Wanted Game for Xmas 2003’ category, where the nominees are F-Zero GX, Mario
Kart: Double Dash!!, Pro Evolution Soccer 3, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Rebel
Strike and WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain.

And some indication as to where the
Great British public will be getting their hands on these games may come from
the ‘Games Retailer of the Year’ category, which will see the high street
represented by Gamestation, GAME and Toys ‘R’ Us, facing off against the virtual
emporiums of Amazon.co.uk, Gameplay.com and Play.com. 

With the final short-lists now in
place, voting will continue until the final closing date of November 21st. The
winners will be announced at the Golden Joystick Awards ceremony, which will be
hosted by Phill Jupitus and will take place at London’s Park Lane Hotel on
Friday, November 28th. This year’s awards ceremony will be filmed by MTV for
broadcast in a special edition of the channel’s movie and games programme,
Screenplay www.mtv.co.uk/ screenplay on
Friday, December 5th.

The Golden Joystick Awards 2003 are
sponsored by Electronic Arts (Retailer of the Year), GAME (Most Wanted Game for
Xmas 2003), Macrovision (Publisher of the Year), Nokia N-Gage (After-show
Party), Sonopress (Xbox Game of the Year) and Vivendi Universal Games and Crash
Nitro (Best New Hardware).

The full list of nominees is as
follows:

Xbox Game of the Year

• Burnout 2

• Panzer Dragoon Orta

• Shenmue II

• Soul Calibur II

• Splinter Cell

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old
  Republic

GameCube Game of the Year

• Metroid Prime

• Resident Evil Zero S

• oul Calibur II Super

• Monkey Ball 2

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind
  Waker

• TimeSplitters 2

Handheld Game of the Year

• Advance Wars 2: Black Hole

• Rising Golden Sun: The Lost Age
  

• Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Super
  

• Mario Bros 3: Super Mario Advance
  4

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the
  Past

• Wario Ware: Inc.

• Minigame Mania

PS2 Game of the Year

• EyeToy: Play

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
  

• Kingdom Hearts

• Pro Evolution Soccer 2

• SOCOM: US Navy SEALs

• Soul Calibur ll

PC Game of the Year

• Age of Mythology

• Battlefield 1942

• Championship Manager 4

• Command & Conquer Generals

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

• Splinter Cell

Online Game of the Year

• Battlefield 1942 Day of Defeat
  

• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault –
  Spearhead

• Phantasy Star Online

• SOCOM: US Navy SEALs

• Unreal Championship

Publisher of the Year

• EA

• Konami

• Microsoft

• Nintendo

• Rockstar

• Ubi Soft

Games Retailer of the Year

• Amazon.co.uk

• GAME Gameplay.com

• Gamestation

• Play.com

• Toys ‘R’ Us

New Hardware of the Year

• ATi Radeon 9800

• EyeToy

• Game Boy Advance SP

• GeForce FX

• PS2 Network Adaptor

• Xbox Live!

Most Wanted Game for Xmas 2003

• F-Zero GX

• Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

• Pro Evolution Soccer 3

• Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Rebel
  Strike

• WWE Smackdown! Here Comes
  the Pain

Most Anticipated Game for 2004

• DOOM 3

• Gran Turismo 4

• Half-Life 2

• Halo 2

• Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

• The Sims 2

• Warhammer Online

The Ultimate Game of The Year

• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

• Metroid Prime

• Pro Evolution Soccer 2

• Soul Calibur II

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old
  Republic

• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind
  Waker