GDC 2011 Awards Nominees Announced

Today the nominees for the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards were announced. The noms include indie games like MineCraft and Limbo as well as heavyweights like Red Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2.

The winners will be selected by a group of 500 leading professionals from the games industry. Awards will be doled out on March 2nd at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, the site of the 2011 Game Developers Conference. The ceremony begins at 6:30 pm. No word on who's hosting yet.

If the below games are too mainstream for you, direct your attention to the Independent Games Festival awards. The IGF's will be handed out on the same night as the GDC awards.

Best Game Design

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Nintendo)

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)

Limbo (Playdead)

Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)

Innovation

Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)

Kirby's Epic Yarn (Good-Feel & HAL Laboratory)

Minecraft (Mojang)

Limbo (Playdead)

Dance Central (Harmonix)

Best Technology

Starcraft II (Blizzard)

Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)

God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)

Best Handheld Game

God of War: Ghost of Sparta (Ready At Dawn/SCE Santa Monica)

Cut the Rope (ZeptoLab)

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (Kojima Productions)

Game Dev Story (Kairosoft)

Dragon Quest IX (Level 5)

Best Audio

Limbo (Playdead)

Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Halo: Reach (Bungie)

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (DICE)

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)

Best Downloadable Game

Costume Quest (Double Fine)

Limbo (Playdead)

Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)

Minecraft (Mojang)

Monday Night Combat (Uber Entertainment)

Best Writing

Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)

Costume Quest (Double Fine)

Fallout: New Vegas (Obsidian)

Best Debut Game

Limbo (Playdead)

Darksiders (Vigil Games)

Minecraft (Mojang)

Monday Night Combat (Uber Entertainment)

Super Meat Boy (Team Meat)

Best Visual Arts

God of War III (SCE Santa Monica)

Limbo (Playdead)

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Treyarch)

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft Montreal)

Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Game of the Year

Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)

Call of Duty: Black Ops (Treyarch)

Limbo (Playdead)

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Ubisoft Montreal)