Shadow of Mordor Wins Big at GDC Awards

Sauron reigns supreme as Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor wins Game of the Year at the 15th annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Gamasutra has provided a list of winners from the GDC's 15th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. This awards ceremony was hosted by adventure game pioneer Tim Schafer as part of the 2015 Game Developer's Conference. Monolith Productions' Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor took the big prize, the game of the year award, with ustwo's mobile puzzle hit, Monument Valley, raking in the most awards total.

“I continue to be amazed by the diversity of games that we honored tonight, from AAA action titles like Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor to standout mobile games like Monument Valley,” said Meggan Scavio, General Manager of the Game Developers Conference. “The games recognized tonight highlight that the video game industry is moving in bold new directions, and they can offer experiences that can be big, small, intimate, epic, unique, grand and compelling. Congratulations to all the nominees and winners.”

The 2015 Game Developers Choice Award winners are as follows:

Game of the Year

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith Productions/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment)

Best Debut

Stoic Studio (The Banner Saga)

Innovation Award

Monument Valley (ustwo)

Best Technology

Destiny (Bungie/Activision)

Best Audio

Alien: Isolation (Creative Assembly/Sega)

Best Visual Art

Monument Valley (ustwo)

Best Narrative

Kentucky Route Zero: Act III (Cardboard Computer)

Best Design

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft (Blizzard)

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

Monument Valley (ustwo)

Audience Award

Elite: Dangerous (Frontier Developments)

Pioneer Award

David Braben (co-developed Elite in the early 1980s, which revolutionized in-game 3D graphics and introduced moral decisions into a video game's story)

Ambassador Award

Brenda Romero (30 year veteran of game design and one of the longest serving women in the entire gaming industry)

Lifetime Achievement Award

Hironobu Sakaguchi (the creator of Final Fantasy series, founder and president of Mistwalker)

During the show, host Tim Schafer made a joke with a sock puppet while presenting that is causing a huge ruckus on social media (featured in the video below). Here is a transcript of the joke:

Schafer's sock puppet: “How many Gamergaters does it take to make a single piece of armor?” Schafer replies that he doesn't know.

The sock answers: “Fifty. One to do the modeling, one to do the materials, and forty-eight to tweet that it’s not your shield.”

Obviously, those in favor of the #NotYourShield hashtag on Twitter might take offense to it.