It took long enough, but the Game Developers Choice Awards nominees were finally named today. I mean, sheesh, 2008 was, like, more than a month ago and you guys are only just now figuring out the best games?

It's a short and practical list of nominations with only ten categories and mostly the usual suspects. You can peruse it here.

I'm glad to see my personal favorite, Far Cry 2, singled out for best design. The developers at Ubisoft did some really brave and innovative things and who better to recognize that than the peers who didn't do those brave and innovative things? I'm also glad to see it nominated for best writing, although I wonder where the design ended and the writing began. There's some good dialogue in Far Cry 2, but what beyond that constitutes its writing? The story arc? The setting? The malaria? The pace? I see it as a dark horse in its categories, but I'm really glad it's there.

It's mildly amusing that poor Fable 2 was nominated for best game and nothing else. Poor Fable, always the bridesmaid. Here, have a big ol' bone. Also, I didn't even notice until I dropped by Variety's videogaming blog, but Ben Fritz rightly pointed out the conspicuous absence of any Nintendo titles. That it didn't even occur to me speaks volumes.

Also, there was one game I'd never heard of. Something called Soul Bubbles -- Huh? -- was nominated for best debut. I put it's picture up there because I felt bad I'd never heard of it.