As the saying goes, “It’s an honor just to be nominated.” If that’s the case, then we here at PlayStation are pretty well honored; The 2009 Video Game Awards nominees have just been announced, and Sony Computer Entertainment is up for 17 awards, more than any other publisher! UNCHARTED 2 leads all games with a record eight nominations, including GAME OF THE YEAR. See below for the full list of SCE titles and what award they’re up for.

But going back to that saying – being honored is nice, but winning is better. Fortunately, the decision isn’t left up to a shadowy cabal of Illuminati; for the first time ever, gamers from around the world get to vote for the victors between now and Saturday, December 12th. Hat in hand, we kindly ask you to vote for your favorite PlayStation games on Spike’s VGAs site.

In honor of our record number of VGA nominations, we’re currently planning a viewing party near the LA studios where the VGAs will be broadcast live to the world. We might even be able to get some of you fine readers into the event itself… So vote now, and stay tuned for more details here on the PlayStation.Blog!

PlayStation’s 2009 Video Game Award Nominees

UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (8)

• Game of the Year
• Studio of the Year (Naughty Dog)
• Best Graphics
• Best Action Adventure Game
• Best PS3 Game
• Best Original Score
• Best Voice (Claudia Black as Chloe Frazer)
• Best Voice (Nolan North as Nathan Drake)

Killzone 2 (3)

• Best Shooter
• Best Graphics
• Best PS3 Game

Gran Turismo (PSP) (1)

• Best Driving Game

inFAMOUS (1)

• Best PS3 Game

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (1)

• Best PS3 Game

Fat Princess (1)

• Best Downloadable Game

Flower (1)

• Best Independent Game Fueled by Dew

God of War III (1)

• Most Anticipated Game

Also, don’t forget to vote for PS3-exclusive Demon’s Souls as Best RPG.

For those of you who are saving the single-player campaign for a later time and instead opting to spend D-Day knee-deep in some of the most ridiculously addictive multiplayer modes you’ll find in any FPS around, there’s no better place to find a battle than in PlayStation Home. Why? First and foremost, PlayStation Home allows you to easily find other CoD:MW2 fans and seamlessly launch into the various multiplayer match types including Free-For-All, Search & Destroy, Domination, Team Deathmatch and the new Demolition and Capture The Flag modes. But to top it off we’re also offering participants in our launch day event a unique opportunity to score some free prizes just for coming out and playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – namely, the Modern Warfare 2 Veteran ARTFX statue (pictured below).

This 1/6-scale (12” tall) statue depicts Cpt. “Soap” MacTavish of Task Force 141, equipped with custom snow camouflage and weaponry, as seen in the “Cliffhanger” mission from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. 10 of these special prizes will be awarded at random to users that attend the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “Featured Game” event tonight, Tuesday, November 10 between the hours of 6:00pm and 10:00pm PT (9:00pm and 1:00am EST). If you’re a die-hard Call of Duty fan this is THE launch day event to attend. More info on how to participate is below.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 event marks the beginning of a new type of regularly occurring event in PlayStation Home – the “Featured Game” party. Every day one of the latest and greatest PlayStation 3 games (that have an online multiplayer component, of course) will be showcased in PlayStation Home. Official host accounts (manned by the Home Community Management team, the Home Community Volunteer team, and – when available – game developers and other celebrity players) will gather in Central Plaza between the hours of 6:00pm and 10:00pm PT (9:00pm and 1:00am EST). A list of host accounts will be placed on the screens at the Listen@Home kiosk in Central Plaza as well as on the official PlayStation Home Clubs and Events forum.

If you have the Featured Game and want to join in on the fun, just add one of these accounts and then use the “Go To” feature to travel to official “instances” of Central Plaza where the event is taking place (you can find the “Go To” option in your Menu Pad by going to your Friends List and then selecting the name of the host account). Once at the event, insert the Featured Game into your PlayStation 3 and either set up your own game launching session or join someone else’s (just look for the game title being broadcast above another player’s avatar).

Not only are the Featured Game parties fun events that anyone can join, they also offer opportunities to win awesome prizes and, most importantly, meet new people to game with. We couldn’t be more stoked to kick off this new community program with a title like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Expect to see all of us in Central Plaza right at 6:00pm PT on Tuesday, November 10th. And we’ll expect to see you there as well.

Two days ago, PlayStation hosted the 7th annual Gran Turismo (GT) Awards in Las Vegas, taking place in conjunction with the 2009 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show. We had some impressive entries and a fantastic turnout at the ceremony, headlined by a live performance from the The Offspring at Rain nightclub inside the Palms hotel. Kazunori Yamauchi – creator of the Gran Turismo franchise – chose a 1970 Ford Mustang from our Hot Rod category as our overall “Best in Show” vehicle, so a big congratulations to owners Todd Gartshore and Phil Koenan – get ready to see you car cruising around the virtual tracks of Gran Turismo 5!

Speaking of GT Awards winners, we got a chance to catch up with two of our past champs at the event and got their thoughts on winning “Best in Show”, but also how it feels to see (and play) your very own car in Gran Turismo, which they were able to play last night for the first time. Here’s what they had to say:

Brian Filoteo of High End Performance, Inc., 2008 winner with his 2007 Infinity G37

“Being a part of the winning team at the GT Awards was a surreal experience. We all feel very grateful and humbled by winning the most prestigious award in the automotive aftermarket industry. It’s every enthusiast’s dream to be immortalized in Gran Turismo and we are extremely honored by being one of the select few to win – can’t wait to win again! Watch out for us next year when we release our next big project. Everything we do here is for our brother JR. May he rest in peace.

Seeing the car in the game is a hair-raising experience. Immediately after walking in the award ceremony last night, we were graced with videos of our car in the game. I got goose bumps just from seeing the car driving around the beautiful virtual world of Gran Turismo. The look and feel is identical to real life and the detail captured in the game is incredible. The drive feel is also scary similar, especially the sensation of speed. Real life physics and textures are presented perfectly and really the only thing that can compare to it is actually hoping in a real car and taking a drive. On behalf of high end performance and JR Rocha I would like to thank SCEA and Polyphony Digital for the opportunity and the fulfillment of a dream. JR Rocha, this is all for you and we miss you with all our heart. Thank you again for the honor and the privilege to be a Gran Turismo Awards winner.”

Marcel Horn, President of HPA Motorsports Inc., 2007 winner with his 2007 Audi TT

“Being a GT Awards finalist is an honor in itself; to be linked with the elite of the industry and have our team’s work acknowledged by our peers amidst the vast range of impressive vehicles at the SEMA Show makes me extremely proud. The night we took home the Best in Show award, our entire team was on cloud nine. The energy level in the room was amazing as all egos seemed to be checked at the door while everyone shared in this common passion.

Having our 2004 Golf R32 appear in Gran Turismo 4 had been a highlight for our team and forever changed my view of gaming simulators. What SCEA and Polyphony have achieved with this latest rendition of the game had me questioning virtual vs reality. The incredible detail they captured brought the car to life. Driving our Audi TT at the awards party last night was one of the most liberating experiences, and I marveled at the sensation of speed and uninhibited interface with the car. I have quickly discovered a new addiction with this game—one that won’t require donations to the state patrol!”

Go here for additional information about the event and to see pictures and all of the category winners.

The Gran Turismo Awards at SEMA recognizes the best vehicles in five different categories: Best Hot Rod, Best Asian Import, Best European Import, Best Domestic Automobile, and Best Truck/SUV. After the five category winners are judged and selected on performance and style by leading automotive media, it then falls to Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi to select the overall GT Awards “Best in Show.” Walking the show floor, Kazunori-san views all category winners and selects the vehicle that best represents the Gran Turismo brand, and one that will be immortalized as a fully playable part of the Gran Turismo franchise for millions of fans around the world.

In addition to the music acts following the awards ceremony, guests will have a chance to check out the latest gameplay of Gran Turismo 5. Winners from the past two GT Awards events, the 2007 HPA Audi TT from the 2007 awards, and the 2007 high performance Infiniti G37 from the 2008 awards, will be playable in the latest version of Gran Turismo 5 at the event.

Also to help celebrate the awards and the upcoming SEMA week, we have teamed with the automotive enthusiast site Autoblog to have them give away a GT PSP entertainment pack each day the entire week (five in all) starting Monday, November 2nd. We encourage you to jump on over to Autoblog to check out the contest and try your hand at getting one of these prized possessions. Good luck!

For those of you who read my last post and were lucky enough to attend our Full Moon Festival this past Friday, I hope it’s now safe to say that the Smurfs are no longer the only good thing to come out of October 23 milestones.

About 150 Ratchet & Clank and Insomniac fans joined us from as far away as Michigan (thanks Adam!), Texas (thanks Mitch!) and all over California – some waiting in line starting at 5am — to celebrate today’s North American launch of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. Even Clank himself managed to make an appearance, albeit in the form of talented voice actor David Kaye (who also voices Nathan Hale in the Resistance games). General Alister Azimuth, aka Joey D’Auria, paid a visit along with G4TV’s very own Adam Sessler as part of a “making of A Crack in Time” panel moderated by yours truly. Insomniac founder and CEO Ted Price, gameplay lead Andrew Yount and lead designer Mike Ellis shared their production memories as part of the standing-room only discussion.

During the panel, we showed off some exclusive videos, including the official debut of our Kevin Butler TV spot and a nifty piece highlighting a somewhat overlooked aspect of RCF: A Crack in Time: “My Blaster Runs Hot.” If you like 8-bit games, this mini-game is a must-play. And if you like Captain Qwark, I guarantee you’ll love “MBRH”, as we call it internally.

We also unveiled the official RCF: A Crack in Time launch trailer, which features the whole cast of characters and really captures the heroic, epic tone we were shooting for in the game. (Watch for yourself and let us know what ya think!)

After the panel, we stuffed everyone’s faces with pizza before whisking them upstairs for an autographs session with the entire Insomniac crew. To ward off the threatening post-lunch food comas, we reinvigorated every fan in attendance by giving away a free copy of RCF: A Crack in Time, their choice of exclusive Insomniac-created posters, a Captain Qwark logo T-shirt and…wait for it…an inflatable wrench!

But that wasn’t all! Full Moon Fest concluded with complimentary cocktails and a raffle for PS3 Slims, PSPgos, DualShock controllers, rare Insomniac memorabilia and much, much more. We even auctioned off one set of our exceedingly rare Ratchet, Clank and Qwark vinyls, which generated $400 for the Starlight Foundation.

In the end, our amazing fans were treated to a day they deserve. And everyone at Insomniac was treated to meeting some of the people who inspire us all to make games for a living. A memorable day indeed.

And don’t forget, the second RCF: A Crack in Time demo — the Ratchet demo — hits PSN this Thursday…make sure to check it out!

Throughout history, October 23 has been a pretty dreary day. Aside from the creation of the Smurfs (yes, it’s true) and for some, the Universe itself, October 23 has generally been a good day to crawl under a rock and hide. Seriously, look for yourself.

But all that is about to change on October 23, 2009…because Insomniac’s 2nd Community Day Full Moon Festival (I just made this name up) is going to rock. We will celebrate the North American launch of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time with YOU, our faithful and fearless fans. And we can’t wait, because we’ve got a solid helping of awesome in store for you. Best of all, it’s free!

Exclusive video reveals? CHECK. Exclusive merchandise? CHECK. Special (non-Insomniac) guest appearances? CHECK, CHECK, and CHECK. Awesome raffle prizes? You know it! Pizza? Tons!

Speaking of raffle prizes, by now you’re probably wondering A) “OMG! Are those Ratchet & Clank vinyls I see?!” and B) “OMG, I can has?!” Yes, and Yes (sort of). If you are fortunate enough to participate in the Full Moon Festival, you can bid to win ONE extremely limited edition set of Ratchet & Clank (and Captain Qwark) vinyls, with all proceeds going to the Starlight Foundation. The vinyls were designed and created by Insomniacs for Insomniacs, so only employees and a very select few others will ever own these beautiful babies. Maybe you’ll be among the lucky ones.

If you already RSVP’d on the Facebook events page and you live 50 or more miles from our Burbank studio, you are guaranteed entry. We’ve got folks flying and driving from all over the country and we definitely don’t want to leave them hanging. If you live within 50 miles of Insomniac, please arrive early to ensure you get in.

Registration will take place beginning at 10 a.m. in the lobby of the Burbank Marriott hotel, which is just a few steps from Insomniac HQ. Don’t worry, we’ll be heading there for lunch and an autographs session after a “Making of A Crack in Time” panel discussion with some familiar faces (and voices). (Speaking of, if you’d like us to ask one of YOUR questions in the panel, ping me @insomniacgames on Twitter. I’ll be moderating the panel.) Then, we’ll be heading back to the hotel for gameplay and a very cool raffle contest with some great prizes. We’ll wrap up the best October 23 ever with cocktails around 3 p.m.

I hope to meet many of you on Community Day. Come by and say hi, and bring your Ratchet & Clank, Resistance and Insomniac merchandise to get signed by the dev team!

See you on October 23!

You’ve heard from James Stevenson in this blog. You’ve heard from Bryan Intihar. You’ve even heard from Ted Price.

But you haven’t heard from me yet! I’m Ryan Schneider, Insomniac’s Community Director (jstevenson’s long lost “stunt double” for you NeoGaf veterans). I want to personally invite you to what I hope becomes a long-standing tradition – our Community Day event at Insomniac HQ in Burbank (Calif.).

Nothing makes us happier at Insomniac than celebrating our accomplishments with our fans. Last year, we hosted our first Community Day here to commemorate the launch of Resistance 2 (see images). We conducted a panel discussion with the dev team, served a gigantic lunch, fragged each other silly in MP/co-op matches and signed a ton of autographs. In short, it was a success.

We want to do it again, only bigger and better. So on Friday, October 23 from 10:30 AM to 4:00 PM, please join us to celebrate the upcoming October 27 North American launch of Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. There will be (rare) swag to give away. There will be autographs to collect – maybe even a couple from some famous non-Insomniacs. There will be food and drink to consume. And there will be many Insomniacs milling about to meet along with possibly another surprise or two.

We hope you can join us! We’ll take care of the event, so all you have to take care of is getting here. The first 120 people will get in, so make sure to arrive early (there’s only so many people we can fit inside the studio). Visit our Facebook event page for details and be kept apprised of event updates (under 18 must have a parent or guardian in attendance). Of course, I’ll be sending updates via our Twitter feed (@insomniacgames) so stay tuned there as well.

Looking forward to meeting you on October 23!

I’d like to thank everyone that came out to our NBA 10: THE INSIDE launch event this past Saturday with special guest and cover athlete, Brandon Roy. The Trail Blazers faithful certainly did not disappoint, showing up in full force with many arriving hours before to guarantee some face time with the All-Star guard. For more than an hour and a half, Brandon signed autographs, took pictures and chatted with the hundreds of fans that attended. But the highlight definitely came when he played a little one-on-one with a lucky fan, our raffle winner, 10-yr old Kyle Martini, who got to play a game of NBA 10: THE INSIDE with the NBA superstar…SCORE!

Thanks again for supporting NBA 10: THE INSIDE! Here a few pics from Saturday’s party:

Portland fans lined up at the Game Crazy store hours before the event!

Brandon doin’ his thing for the Blazers faithful.

Brandon dukes it out on NBA 10: THE INSIDE with a lucky fan.

So how does it work? Each Friday starting October 9th (that’s today!) at UCLA, gamers of all types, from hard-core to casual, will be invited to come down and test their NCAA Football 10 skills to compete for cool prizes and perhaps more importantly, bragging rights for their favorite schools. If your field skills outmatch and outscore the competition then you’ll receive a custom PSP and trip to the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2010 to compete in the finals!

As an added bonus, participants at each stop will also have a chance to check out the redesigned PlayStation Patrol Truck. The fully loaded semi will be exclusively featuring EA SPORTS NCAA Football 10 on state-of-the art PlayStation 3 systems, so bring your friends and prepare to channel your inner champion!

The competition starts today at UCLA before continuing on through 19-cities in a three-month tour of college towns across the nation. Check HERE for more information on when PlayStation and the EA SPORTS challenge will be in your neck of the woods.

See you on the field….

For starters, fans (100 of you, to be exact!) and media were greeted by UNCHARTED 2 on the big screen upon entering San Francisco’s Landmark theater. From there, a brand new section of the game’s single-player campaign (in the snowy Himalayas) was shown and introduced by Naughty Dog Creative Director Amy Hennig, who then shocked the crowd by announcing that everyone would be going home with a copy of the game…eight days early!!! Needless to say, the place erupted. Shortly after, we caught up with Amy about the whole experience.

From there, a multiplayer tournament kicked off on a never-been-played map, with a Fortune Hunter Edition up for grabs to the winner. Emotions ran high (take that, people trying to watch the French indie flick next door!) and we discovered that many of you have definitely been practicing MP in the recent demo. All the action could be seen on the movie theater screen, running through Sony Electronics‘ 4K digital cinema technology, with Senior Vice President Mike Fidler on hand to tell us how the 4K projector is the perfect fit for big-screen gaming.

For all that and more, take the video for a spin. And thanks to everyone who made it out to San Francisco, Bellevue, Thousand Oaks and Rosemont. We surely hope the night was worth your while!

And in case you’re wondering, tonight’s October 6 event is completely sold out in all four locations!