The panel of top game creators has finally determined the nominees for the Game Developers Choice Awards. "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor" bagged the most nominations. Monolith Productions, the team behind the successful open world action video game set in a universe dreamed up by acclaimed author J.R.R. Tolkien is up for five huge awards from the esteemed award-giving body. 

"Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor" is up for winning the Innovation Award, Best Design, Best Narrative and Best Technology. But at the end of the prestigious awards ceremonies, the title may be hailed as the Game of the Year. 

However, "Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor" will have to tackle Bungie's first person shooter title "Destiny" for the biggest award of the night. It will also have to win over Platinum Games' masterpiece "Bayonetta 2" to capture the crown. Creative Assembly's horror survival game called "Alien: Isolation" is also competing to snag the coveted Game of the Year title as it contends with Bungie and Platinum Games for the Best Audio and Best Visual Art awards. 

Blizzard Entertainment is nominated for three awards. Apart from the possibility of going home as the Game of the Year with "Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft," the game studio is vying for the Best Design award and the Best Handheld/Mobile Game award. Nintendo, however, will be there to try to snatch away the latter with "Super Smash Bros." for 3Ds. It will not make things easy for Blizzard for the Design category as "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker" for the Wii U is also up there to try to win it. 

But as Tech Times noted, it is not only the biggest studios that are enjoying the recognition. "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter," an open-world adventure game crafted by Polish studio The Astronauts, is fighting for the Innovation Award, Best Debut, Best Narrative and Best Audio. For the foremost award, the 2014 release will have to take on another indie game called "This War of Mine" as well as "80 Days," which was built by Ink Studios. Respawn Entertainment will also try to win the Best Debut award with "Titanfall."

The 15th annual Game Developers Award will determine all the winners from the pool of stellar finalists on March 4. For more information about the nominees and everything about the celebration, visit here.