The Sony Playstation 3 title “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves” has topped the nominations for this year’s video games BAFTA awards.
“Uncharted 2” is up for nine awards including Best Game, Story, and Original Score. The game sees treasure hunter Nathan Drake investigating a forgotten Marco Polo expedition through combat, puzzle solving and platforming.
The best-selling shooter “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2”, which exceeded $1 billion (£615m) in sales revenue worldwide, is up for the second biggest number of awards. The eight nominations include those for Multiplayer, Use of Audio and Use of Online.
The other games nominated for the most awards are “Batman: Arkham Asylum” in seven categories, “Assassin’s Creed II” in six, and “Left 4 Dead 2” is up for four awards.
A total of 40 titles have been shortlisted for this year’s game BAFTA awards. This includes several smaller titles such as the abstract Playstation 3 title “Flower”, nominated for Artistic Achievement, which involves controlling the wind to blow feathers around the level. The Nintendo DS and Wii remake of the cult 1996 PC game “Broken Sword” has been included in the Best Story category.
BAFTA, the British Academy for Film and Television Arts, started recognising games in 1998 as part of the Interactive Entertainment Awards. It was not until 2003 until they were awarded in a separate ceremony.
The 2010 British Academy Video Game Awards will be held on Friday, March 19th at the London Hilton.