Best of E3 nomination list announced, 'Rage' is top contender

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From USA Today and Entertainment Weekly to Destructoid and Giant Bomb, from Game Informer and Shacknews to IGN and MTV, judges from 31 top North American video game publications are preparing to determine the best new games seen at June's recent Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

The Game Critics Awards Best of E3 winners will be chosen from a total of 50 titles that were presented in some sort of playable form at the Expo, spread across 16 categories and 75 nominations.

The shooting / racing hybrid Rage got the most nominations with five, closely followed by the Dance Central dancing game, Disney's adventure Epic Mickey, and the first-person puzzler Portal 2 with four each.

Upcoming PC game Star Wars: The Old Republic and Rock Band 3's musical marriage of entertainment and education were not far behind with three apiece.

As well as the overall Best of Show and Best Original Game awards, there are also categories for favorite genres such as sports, social, action and racing games, and a new one - 'motion simulation' games.

Inspired by Nintendo's success with the Wii, Microsoft and Sony are bringing out new motion-sensitive controllers which are due to make video games even more accessible than before.

Even the wide appeal of the family-friendly Kinect Adventures intrigued enough industry insiders to earn it a nomination in the Social or Casual category, and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved has a critical headstart in the home fitness genre.

The award winners will be announced on Tuesday July 6. Before then, the full list of nominees can be seen at GameCriticsAwards.com.