The National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers has nominated “Flower” for excellence in 3D Control Design, Control Precision, and overall best game in the “Special Class.”

Thank you to everyone that voted for us – we are honored to be nominated for two control design awards by people who definitely know their control schemes!

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced the finalists for their awards, which are held each year during the DICE Summit in Vegas.  And we a honored to announce that Flower is up for five awards! Here’s the list:

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

Casual Game of the Year

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

Thank you to all of the Academy members for supporting Flower. We hope to see you in Vegas!

Click here for the full list of nominees.

You voted, and the results are in!

Organizers have revealed the nominees for the tenth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game industry awards. Nominations this year are led by Naughty Dog’sUncharted 2: Among Thieves, with seven nominations.

The acclaimed title is closely followed by five nominations for Thatgamecompany’s evocative downloadable game Flower, and four nominations for Ubisoft Montreal’s well-received Renaissance action game sequel Assassin’s Creed II.

Flower is up for:

Best Game Design

Best Visual Art

Best Audio

Innovation

Best Downloadable Game

Click here for the full list of nominees!

Over the holidays my nieces and nephews finally got to check out “Flower,” and it was so fun! My niece Gabby drew this lovely impression of the pink flower in the apartments while her brothers soared through the air.

Did you get to share Flower with anyone over the holidays?

So, over the holidays the great news just kept pouring in. Not only was “Flower” noted as an exceptional downloadable game for the year, we made a few lists for just, in general, favorite game of the year. Which is amazing. With each of our games we try to prove that “downloadable” doesn’t mean “cheap” when it comes to quality of content, so it meant a lot to us that 10 months after its release, you guys still remember “Flower” fondly.

So here’s a roundup of what you might have missed:

Spike TV’s Best Independent Game (video of the acceptance speech can be seen here.)

G4′s Best of 2009: Best Soundtrack

Gamasutra’s 6th Best Game of the Year

Wall Street Journal’s Pick for the Gift Guide

AceGamez nominee for PS3 Game of the Year

Wired’s 10th Best Game of the Year

USA Today’s 4th Best Game of the Year

David Jaffe’s Best Game of the Year =)

…and last but not least….

Kellee Santiago was named  on the Ten Most Influential Women of the Decade by Kotaku!

Thanks to all of you for spreading the word on “Flower,” and making it such a hit in 2009!