Music4Games.net reports:

“The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), the non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of game audio, has announced the finalists for the 6th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards to honor outstanding creative, technical and artistic audio achievement in the world of interactive entertainment.”
Finalists for the 6th annual G.A.N.G. Awards are listed below by category.

MUSIC OF THE YEAR

Assassin’s Creed

BioShock

God of War II

Halo 3

The Golden Compass

AUDIO OF THE YEAR

BioShock

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

God of War II

Halo 3

Mass Effect

SOUND DESIGN OF THE YEAR

BioShock

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Crysis

The Orange Box

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

BEST INTERACTIVE SCORE

BioShock

Flow

God of War II

LOTR Online: Shadows of Angmar

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

BEST HANDHELD AUDIO

Dead Head Fred

MLB 07: The Show

Shrek The Third: Shrek’s Way

Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow

Transformers

BEST AUDIO OTHER

Grim’s Downfall (online game)

Jewel Quest II

Nine Billion Miles From Earth (online game)

Treasure Tunes (online game)

Website for Halo 3 Soundtrack

BEST CINEMATIC/CUT-SCENE AUDIO

BioShock

Halo 3

Heavenly Sword

Hellgate: London

Mass Effect

BEST DIALOGUE

BioShock

God of War II

Halo 3

The Orange Box

The Simpsons Game

BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL

“Welcome To Rapture”, BioShock

“Infiltrating The Eagle’s Nest”, Blazing Angels 2

“Main Menu” The Golden Compass

“Epilogue”, Lair

“The Citadel”, Mass Effect

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL ‚ CHORAL

“City of Jeruslaem” ‚ Assassin’s Creed

“Joan of Arc”, Bladestorm

“Luck”, Halo 3

“Main Titles”, God of War II

“Divine Intervention”, Universe At War: Earth Assault

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL ‚ POP

“Jerusalem Horse Ride” ‚ Assassin’s Creed

“Beowulf’s Army”, Beowulf

“M4 Part II”, Mass Effect

“Still Alive”, Portal

“Lament of the Highborne”, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

Dead Head Fred

God of War II

Halo 3

Mass Effect

Red Steel

BEST USE OF LICENSED MUSIC

BioShock

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80’s

Rock Band

Skate

BEST ARRANGEMENT OF A NON-ORIGINAL SCORE

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Purr Pals

The Simpsons Game

BEST GAME AUDIO ARTICLE, PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST

- The Golden Compass Composer Diary, GameSpy

- “The World of Game Composing”, Film Music Magazine

- “What’s The Score?”, British Academy Magazine

- “Video Games Live” ‚ Eurogamer TV Show

- “Does it Sound Next-Gen?”, Game Developer Magazine

It look like there is confirmation over on the Crymod forums from Crytek Audio Programmer Thomas Nuemann that the FMOD EX Audio API will be used for development and implementation in the new Crysis engine. The new architecture of DirectX 10 prevents direct access to hardware acceleration through DirectSound3d, and in turn prevents any existing use of EAX enabled sound cards to access DSP processing like reverbs and ambiences. Gaming soundcard manufacturers, the largest of course being Creative Labs will have to shy away from native DirectX mode if it is not going to support all the highly advertised hardware features. Independent audio API’s like OpenAL and FMOD are still supported in Vista and may seem more attractive to game designers if they want to implement EAX processing.

FMOD EX is a sound system for games that includes the programming API and FMOD Designer. It is the audio engine that allows for 3d positioning, mixing, DSP processing, streaming from cd, playing wav, mid, mp3, mod file formats, and is cross-compatible with all gaming platforms. Click here to find out more information about FMOD EX.

For more information about issues with DirectX 10 and Creative Labs cards check out here . This page discusses the bright future of using OpenAL for gaming in Windows Vista.