The seventh annual Game Developers Choice Awards will be taking place next month, and the nominations have been announced. This year sees Okami and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion taking the lead, each with four nominations, including Best Game.

"The GDC derives its authenticity from the developers themselves, who teach and share at the show - the Game Developers Choice Awards is then the natural validation of their collective artistic effort, voted on and awarded to individual game creators," said GDC Executive Director Jamil Moledina. "Since the Choice Awards have an open nomination process and reflect the judgment of peers, the awards have earned the highest respect of the community."

The Game Developers Choice Awards will be produced and hosted by the Game Developers Conference, and presented by IGDA. Industry professionals from around the world submit their nominations to acknowledge their peers' creativity, artistry and technological ability. IGDA members then vote on the finalists. Other awards will be presented in addition to the voted categories. Those awards include Lifetime Achievement, First Penguin, Community Contribution, Maverick, and Innovation.

"There is no greater honor in the game industry than to be a recipient of a Game Developers Choice Award," says Jason Della Rocca, Executive Director at IGDA. "The accolade is a stamp of excellence, carrying the prestige of taking video games to a new level."

Other notable RPGs included in the award categories include The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy XII, and Titan Quest (for Best New Studio). The show will be hosted by Tim Schafer and will take place on Wednesday, March 7th at 6:30pm. A full list of nominees is as follows:

BEST GAME

• Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios) - Cliff Bleszinski, Michael Capps, Rod Fergusson

• Okami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment) - Atsushi Inaba, Hideki Kamiya

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios / 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks) - Todd Howard

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo) - Eiji Aonuma, Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto

• Wii Sports (Nintendo) - Satoru Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto, Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita

• Company of Heroes (Relic Entertainment / THQ) - Crispin Hands, John Johnson, Jennifer Lewis, John Tennant

• DEFCON: Everybody Dies (Introversion Software) - Alistair Lindsay, Michael Maidment

• Guitar Hero II (Harmonix Music Systems / RedOctane) - Jeff Allen, Eric Brosius, Izzy Maxwell

• Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend (Crystal Dynamics / Eidos Interactive) - Troels Folmann, Karl Gallagher, Mike Peaslee, Gregg Stephens

• LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment) - Kemmei Adachi, Tomonobu Kikuchi, Kouji Niikura, Nobuyuki Shimizu

• Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix) - Hideo Minaba, Hiroshi Minagawa, Akihiko Yoshida

• LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment) - Tsutomu Kouno, Keigo Tsuchiya

• Okami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment) - Mari Shimazaki, Sawaki Takeyasu, Kenichirou Yoshimura

• Rayman Raving Rabbids (Ubisoft Montpellier Studio / Ubisoft Entertainment) - Michel Ancel, Charles Beirnaert, Hubert Chevillard, Florent Sacre

• Viva Piñata (Rare / Microsoft Game Studios) - Ryan Stevenson

• Bully (Rockstar Vancouver / Rockstar Games) - Michael Skupa

• Okami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment) - Hideki Kamiya

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios / 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks) - Todd Howard

• Viva Piñata (Rare / Microsoft Game Studios) - Justin Cook, Gregg Mayles

• Wii Sports (Nintendo) - Keizo Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshiaki Yamashita

• Company of Heroes (Relic Entertainment / THQ) - Drew Dunlop, Shelby Hubick, David Swinerd, Ian Thomson

• Dead Rising (Capcom Entertainment) - Shinya Ikuta, Tomofumi Ishida, Yasuhide Sawada, Tomohiro Ueda

• Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios) - Michael Capps, Ray Davis, Tim Sweeney, Daniel Vogel

• Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis (Rockstar San Diego / Rockstar Games) - Ted Carson, Eugene Foss, Wil Paredes, Steve Reed

• Wii Sports (Nintendo) - Takuhiro Dohta, Takeshi Miyamoto, Keizo Ohta, Kenta Sato

• Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix) - Isamu Kamikokuryo, Hideo Minaba, Akihiko Yoshida

• Gears of War (Epic Games / Microsoft Game Studios) - Jerry O'Flaherty, Chris Perna

• Okami (Clover Studio / Capcom Entertainment) - Naoki Katakai, Kenichirou Yoshimura

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios / 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks) - Matthew Carofano, Christiane Meister, Istvan Pely

• Viva Piñata (Rare / Microsoft Game Studios) - Ed Bryan, Ryan Stevenson

• Bully (Rockstar Vancouver / Rockstar Games) - Dan Houser, Jacob Krarup

• Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Funcom / Aspyr Media) - Dag Scheve, Ragnar Tørnquist

• Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock (Telltale Games / GameTap) - Brendan Ferguson, Dave Grossman, Steve Purcell

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Game Studios / 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks) - Ken Rolston

• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo EAD / Nintendo) - Kyogoku Aya, Nate Bihldorff, Mitsuhiro Takano

• Gastronaut Studios (Small Arms) - Jacob Van Wingen, Don Wurster

• Iron Lore Entertainment (Titan Quest) - Paul Chieffo, Jeff Goodsill, Brian Sullivan

• Naked Sky Entertainment (RoboBlitz) - Joshua Glazer, Tian Mu, Sam Thibault

• Ready At Dawn Studios (Daxter) - Didier Malenfant, Andrea Pessino, Ru Weerasuriya

• Wadjet Eye Games (The Shiva) - Chris Femo, Dave Gilbert, Peter Gresser, Ian Schlaepfer