Canadian Videogame Award Finalists Announced

The Canadian Videogame Awards finalists have been announced and as you might expect, it pretty much comes down to a three-way brawl between Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver.

I don’t have much use for awards shows, to be honest, mostly because nothing I like ever wins anything, but I do enjoy the way they encourage venomous, hate-filled arguments on the internet. In that spirit, I present you with the list of finalists for the Canadian Videogame Awards, honoring the best in Canadian-made videogames in a ceremony being held on May 18th in Vancouver. Your nominees are:

Game of the Year

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Dead Rising 2
• FIFA 11
• Mass Effect 2
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Console Game

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Dead Rising 2
• FIFA 11
• Mass Effect 2
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Game on the Go

• Lil’ Pirates
• Osmos for iPad
• Scrabble for iPad
• A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks
• Trainyard

Best Downloadable Game

• Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
• Deathspank
• HOARD
• Shank
• A Space Shooter for 2 Bucks

Best Audio

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
• Mass Effect 2
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Social/Casual Game

• Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist
• GardenMind
• Mercenaries of War
• Pocket God on Facebook
• Pot Farm

Best Game Design

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Deathspank
• Mass Effect 2
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
• Trainyard

Best Technology

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Kinect for XBOX 360
• Mass Effect 2
• Scrabble for iPad
• Your Shape Fitness Evolved

Best Visual Arts

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Mass Effect 2
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction
• Tron: Evolution

Best Writing

• Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood
• Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising
• Mass Effect 2
• Prince of Persia – The Forgotten Sands
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction

Best Student Game

• Codex
• Ginkgo
• Hootlin
• WOMP!

Innovation Award

• Kinect Joy Ride
• ModNation Racers
• Scrabble for iPad
• Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
• Your Shape Fitness Evolved

Unsurprisingly, BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 features prominently in this list, as do Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood and Splinter Cell: Conviction, both from Ubisoft Montreal. The Vancouver connection is a little less obvious and includes titles like Dead Rising 2, developed in part by Capcom-owned Blue Castle Games, FIFA Soccer 11 from EA Canada and Shank, created by Klei Entertainment. Public voting is open now and runs until May 15.

I’m a bit mystified about why there’s a “Best Console Game” category but not a “Best PC Game,” but whatever credibility dents are inflicted by that bit of oddness are at least partially offset by the fact that something called Pot Farm is up for an award. Welcome to Canada, eh.