The Golden short-list

The countdown to the most eagerly-anticipated date in the UK games calendar gathers pace today, as the final nominations are announced for this year's Computer and Video Games Golden Joystick Awards.

Although there is a huge diversity in the list of games, companies and products nominated for this year's awards, two names are already edging ahead of the pack, with Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Namco's Soul Calibur II setting the early pace with three and four nominations respectively. Both are in the running for the prestigious 'Ultimate Game of the Year' accolade, alongside four other notables from the past 12 months: Metroid Prime, Pro Evolution Soccer 2, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

"We're absolutely delighted that this year's short-list has been determined by such a strong consumer mandate," says Duncan Tickell, Group Publishing Director for Dennis Publishing. "Having already equalled just about last year's total of just over 30,000 votes cast and with more than four weeks of voting to go, not to mention the additional impact of our tie-in with MTV and a concerted effort from all nominees, we are confident that we will have smashed last year's total by the time that voting closes."

The initial 12 awards, which are directly voted for by members of the general public through the official Computer and Video Games Golden Joystick Awards website (www.goldenjoystick.com), cover almost all aspects of the UK interactive entertainment business, including publishing, hardware, online gaming and retail. These will be supplemented by additional categories supported by the Awards' media partners and those voted for by members of Dennis Publishing's editorial staff.

The 'Hardware of the Year' category will see fierce competition between Sony's innovative EyeToy device for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo's eye-catching update to its venerable handheld platform, the Game Boy Advance SP. These two line up against the first online console offerings from Microsoft and Sony and the latest PC graphics cards from NVIDIA and ATi.

Those who are thinking of taking a flutter on which game will win the race for the all-important 'Christmas Number One' chart position might find a few pointers in the short-list for the 'Most Wanted Game for Xmas 2003' category, where the nominees are F-Zero GX, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Pro Evolution Soccer 3, Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Rebel Strike and WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain.

And some indication as to where the Great British public will be getting their hands on these games may come from the 'Games Retailer of the Year' category, which will see the high street represented by Gamestation, GAME and Toys 'R' Us, facing off against the virtual emporiums of Amazon.co.uk, Gameplay.com and Play.com.

With the final short-lists now in place, voting will continue until the final closing date of November 21st. The winners will be announced at the Golden Joystick Awards ceremony, which will be hosted by Phill Jupitus and will take place at London's Park Lane Hotel on Friday, November 28th. This year's awards ceremony will be filmed by MTV for broadcast in a special edition of the channel's movie and games programme, Screenplay (www.mtv.co.uk/screenplay) on Friday, December 5th.

The Golden Joystick Awards 2003 are sponsored by Electronic Arts (Retailer of the Year), GAME (Most Wanted Game for Xmas 2003), Macrovision (Publisher of the Year), Nokia N-Gage (After-show Party), Sonopress (Xbox Game of the Year) and Vivendi Universal Games and Crash Nitro (Best New Hardware).

The full list of nominees is as follows:

Xbox Game of the Year:
Burnout 2
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Shenmue II
Soul Calibur II
Splinter Cell
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

GameCube Game of the Year:
Metroid Prime
Resident Evil Zero
Soul Calibur II
Super Monkey Ball 2
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
TimeSplitters 2

Handheld Game of the Year:
Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Super Mario Bros 3: Super Mario Advance 4
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Wario Ware: Inc. Minigame Mania

PS2 Game of the Year:
EyeToy: Play
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Kingdom Hearts
Pro Evolution Soccer 2
SOCOM: US Navy SEALs
Soul Calibur ll

PC Game of the Year:
Age of Mythology
Battlefield 1942
Championship Manager 4
Command & Conquer Generals
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Splinter Cell

Online Game of the Year:
Battlefield 1942
Day of Defeat
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead
Phantasy Star Online
SOCOM: US Navy SEALs
Unreal Championship

Publisher of the Year:
EA
Konami
Microsoft
Nintendo
Rockstar
Ubi Soft

Games Retailer of the Year:
Amazon.co.uk
GAME
Gameplay.com
Gamestation
Play.com
Toys 'R' Us

New Hardware of the Year:
ATi Radeon 9800
EyeToy
Game Boy Advance SP
GeForce FX
PS2 Network Adaptor
Xbox Live!

Most Wanted Game for Xmas 2003:
F-Zero GX
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Pro Evolution Soccer 3
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Rebel Strike
WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain

Most Anticipated Game for 2004:
DOOM 3
Gran Turismo 4
Half-Life 2
Halo 2
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
The Sims 2
Warhammer Online

The Ultimate Game of The Year:
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Metroid Prime
Pro Evolution Soccer 2
Soul Calibur II
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker