Witcher 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider Lead D.I.C.E. Awards With 8 Nominations Each

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences on Wednesday announced the full list of nominees for the upcoming 19th annual D.I.C.E. Awards. Leading the way were The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Rise of the Tomb Raider, each of which secured eight total nominations, including nods for overall Game of the Year.

The other games nominated for Game of the Year include Bloodborne, Fallout 4, and Ori and the Blind Forest.

Games that also received multiple nominations this year include Ori and the Blind Forest (six), Fallout 4 (five), as well as Her Story, The Order: 1886, and Star Wars Battlefront (four each).

Batman: Arkham Knight, Destiny: The Taken King, Rocket League, Lara Croft Go, Life is Strange, and Undertale received three nominations each.

Winners will be revealed during an awards ceremony on Thursday, February 18, in Las Vegas. Comedian Pete Holmes returns from last year as the show's host.

In addition, event organizers announced today that the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will be honored during the event with a Lifetime Achievement Award. He joins an ultra-exclusive club, as only five other people have been given that award, including Bing Gordon (EA founder), Doug Lowenstein (ESA founder), Ken Kutaragi (former PlayStation president), Minoru Arakawa (former Nintendo of America president), and Howard Lincoln (former Nintendo of America chairman).

Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima will also be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the awards show.

The full list of categories and nominees for the 19th annual D.I.C.E. Awards is below (click the images to make them bigger). The games were played by the Academy's "peer panels," made up of "the game industry's most experienced and talent men and women," to determine the nominees. Winners are chosen through a confidential voting process.