The annual SXSW festival is as diverse as they come. Not simply celebrating music, the nine day-long romp in Austin, Texas touches on virtually every microcosm of modern day society. Yes, even games, and this year's batch of nominees are as far ranging as the SXSW festival itself. Not only are there a vast number of nominees, the categories also spread wider than your normal run of the mill game awards show.

There is of course the usual Game of the Year category, which sees Fallout 4, Bloodborne, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Undertale go head to head. Also added to the mix are categories like Excellence in Narrative and Excellence in Convergence, as well as Most Valuable eSports Team and Most Entertaining Online Personality.

Each nominee has been selected by the SXSW Gaming advisory board, with the winners being chosen by visitors to the SXSW Gaming Expo, running from March 17-19. Each of the nominated games, totalling 40 this year, will be playable on the Gaming Expo showroom.  

The full list of nominees includes:

GAME OF THE YEAR

●       Bloodborne

●       Fallout 4

●       Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

●       Undertale

TABLETOP GAME OF THE YEAR

●       Above and Below

●       Blood Rage

●       Codenames

●       Lanterns: The Harvest Festival

●       Pandemic Legacy

MOBILE GAME OF THE YEAR

●       Downwell

●       Fallout Shelter

●       Her Story

●       Lara Croft GO

●       SteamWorld Heist

EXCELLENCE IN GAMEPLAY

●       Bloodborne

●       Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

●       Rocket League

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

●       Undertale

EXCELLENCE IN ART

●       Assassin's Creed Syndicate

●       Bloodborne

●       Ori & the Blind Forest

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

●       Yoshi's Woolly World

EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATION

●       Assassin's Creed Syndicate

●       Batman: Arkham Knight

●       Ori and the Blind Forest

●       Rise of the Tomb Raider

●       The Order: 1886

EXCELLENCE IN TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT

●       Fallout 4

●       Just Cause 3

●       Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

●       Until Dawn

EXCELLENCE IN VISUAL ACHIEVEMENT

●       Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

●       Rise of the Tomb Raider

●       Star Wars Battlefront

●       The Order: 1886

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

EXCELLENCE IN NARRATIVE

●       Her Story

●       Life is Strange

●       SOMA

●       Tales from the Borderlands

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN

●       Bloodborne

●       Fallout 4

●       Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

●       Rocket League

●       Super Mario Maker

EXCELLENCE IN SFX

●       Bloodborne

●       Rise of the Tomb Raider

●       STar Wars Battlefront

●       The Order 1886

●       Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

EXCELLENCE IN MUSICAL SCORE

●       Crypt of the Necrodancer

●       Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

●       Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

●       Ori and the Blind Forest

●       The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

EXCELLENCE IN MULTIPLAYER

●       Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

●       Halo 5: Guardians

●       Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime

●       Rocket League

●       Splatoon

EXCELLENCE IN CONVERGENCE

●       Batman: Arkham Knight

●       Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition

●       Guitar Hero Life

●       Rock Band 4

●       Star Wars Battlefront

MOST ENDURING CHARACTER

●       Geralt (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)

●       Hannah Smith (Her Story)

●       The Joker (Batman: Arkham Knight)

●       Lara Croft (Rise of the Tomb Raider)

●       Ori (Ori and the Blind Forest)

MOST VALUABLE ESPORTS TEAM

●       Cloud9

●       Counter Logic

●       Evil Geniuses

●       Team Archon

●       Team EnVyUs

MOST ENTERTAINING ONLINE PERSONALITY

●       Angry Joe

●       Greg Miller

●       Markiplier

●       PewDiePie

●       Tim Schafer

MOST FULFILLING CROWDFUNDED GAME

●       Broken Age

●       Kerbal Space Program

●       Kingdom Death: Monster

●       PIllars of Eternity

●       Undertale

MOST PROMISING NEW INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

●       Bloodborne

●       Life is Strange

●       Ori and the Blind Forest

●       Splatoon

●       Undertale

THE MATTHEW CRUMP CULTURAL INNOVATION AWARD

●       Emily is Away

●       Everybody's Gone to the Rapture

●       Her Story

●       Life is Strange

●       Undertale