Epic Games and Microsoft Game Studios' already award winning Xbox 360 shooter Gears of War, has won some more awards at the Game Developers Conference this week - perhaps the most important awards a game can get because these were chosen by fellow developers. Gears of War was the recipient of three honors including Best Game at the 7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards. The blockbuster hit game also received the awards for Technology and Visual Arts.

Following close behind with two awards each were Clover Studios and Capcom Entertainment's Okami and Nintendo's Wii Sports. The ceremony, produced and hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and presented by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), is the only peer-based, open nomination awards program in the industry where honors are bestowed to developers by developers.

Nominations were free of charge and open to all IGDA members, ensuring that the nominees reflect the international development community's opinions. The IGDA membership voted on the finalists. The recipients for the 7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

Best Game:

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

Audio:

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

Character Design:

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

Game Design:

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

Technology:

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

Visual Arts:

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

Writing:

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

New Studio:

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

Innovation:

Line Rider - Bostjan Cadez

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

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

Recipients for the evening's special awards were:

Lifetime Achievement:

Shigeru Miyamoto

First Penguin:

Alexey Pajitnov

Maverick:

Greg Costikyan

Community Contribution:

George "The Fat Man" Sanger

For more information about the awards and all the recipients, visit www.gamechoiceawards.com .