SONY® SCORES MOST NOMINATIONS (34), FOLLOWED BY ACTIVISION AND CAPCOM;

PSYCHONAUTS™ AND GOD OF WAR™ LEAD THE RACE WITH 14 NOMINATIONS EACH, FOLLOWED BY RESIDENT EVIL 4™ AND SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS™

January 13, 2006 --- The National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers Corp.™ is pleased to announce the nominees for its fifth annual awards honoring the best of the interactive entertainment industry in the fields of art, technology, and production.  A voting body of more than 1,200 eligible video game media critics determined the final 223 nominees in 48 categories, up from 211 nominations last year. 

The nominees for Game of the Year are Civilization IV™, God of War™, Psychonauts™, Resident Evil 4™, and Shadow of the Colossus™.  The nominees for Game of the Year represent 22.87% of the total nominations, up from 14.69% last year.  With 14 nominations, Psychonauts™ and God of War™ have set a new record, previously held by critics’ favorite ICO™ (13 nominations), for being the most-nominated original property in Academy history. 

Other leading original properties over the years have been Devil May Cry (9 nominations), Halo (9 nominations), Kingdom Hearts (10 nominations), Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus (10 nominations), Fable™ (10 nominations), and Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay™ (10 nominations). 

Not since the year of ICO™ have three original properties been nominated for Game of the Year.  Of the games which tallied three or more nominations this year, 60% of the nominations went to original properties (84 nominations), compared to franchises (57 nominations).  Also mirroring the year of ICO™ is Sony’s record:  that year Sony led all other companies with 27 nominations; this year, Sony leads all other companies with 34 nominations.  In 2002, Nintendo® set a record with 41 nominations.  The record still stands. 

Activision® and Capcom® also lead with 22 nominations each, followed by last year’s leader, Nintendo, with 20 nominations, making 2005 the first year in which four companies totaled 20 nominations or more.  Other top performers were Ubisoft® with 19 nominations, followed by Majesco (16), Electronic Arts (11), Namco (9), Vivendi (9), Microsoft (8), Atari (7), THQ (7), Red Octane (6), 2K Games (5), Rockstar (5), Konami (4), and Square Enix (3). 

Psychonauts™ and God of War™ are leading the pack with 14 nominations each.  Resident Evil 4™ received the next highest total with eleven (11) nominations, while Shadow of the Colossus scored ten (10) nominations.  They are the only games to score double-digit nominations. 

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones received eight (8) nominations, while Indigo Prophecy™ and We Love Katamari™ each took seven (7) nominations.  Nintendogs barked up six (6) nominations; Guitar Hero and Destroy All Humans! took five (5) nominations each.  Scoring four (4) nominations each were F.E.A.R.™, Jade Empire™, King Kong™, The Movies™, Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath™, Quake 4™, and The Warriors™.  Lastly, Call of Duty 2™, Devil May Cry 3™, Gun™, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory™ each earned three (3) nominations.

For more information on NAVGTR Corp.’s missions and programs, log onto www.navgtr.org.  Winners will be announced March 31, 2005. 

The general voting body of more than 1,200 journalists and writers includes contributors for such varied outlets as About.com, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Austin American-Statesman, NBC, CNN, CNN.com, CNNmoney.com, Chicago Sun-Times, Computer Gaming World, Contra Costa Times, Digital Journal, ElectricPlayground.com, FHM, GamersTemple.com, GamingTarget.com, Gannett News Service, Gear, HappyPuppy.com, Kids & Computers, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, National Post, New York Times, Marquee, PC Gamer, Philadelphia Inquirer, PlanetPong.com, Salon, San Jose Mercury-News, USA Today, USAToday.com, Wired News, Wizard Magazine, WOW Weekly, ZDNet, Detroit Free Press, National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Play Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff-Davis Media), Evergeek Media (www.evergeek.com), The Ottawa Citizen, The Vancouver Sun, The Regina Leader-Post, Canada.com, myTelus.com, www.YesWonder.com, www.GamesArcadia.com, www.gamingtrend.com, www.freep.com/gameon, and hundreds more.