If you're a gamer and a follower of industry news, you need to check out the Inside Gaming Awards, a huge new gaming awards show from Machinima.com.  If you watch trailers and previews online, then you've no doubt come across Machinima's widely popular YouTube channel for which we've used ourselves here at Game Rant to share trailers with you.

Up until December 7th, voting will open for everyone for the Gamers' Choice awards.  It's a very unique and cool (if not first of its kind) voting mechanic: there is one video for each nominee, and each video view counts as a vote.  Each video contains clickable links to easily navigate around all the categories and nominees.

The awards will take place on December 11th 2009, the night before the Spike TV Video Game Awards, and offer another way for gamers to participate and celebrate a great year in gaming. Machinima's new awards program is the first of its kind and we have the nominees for the awards listed below.

Game of the Year

  1. Batman Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros, Rocksteady Studios)
  2. Borderlands (2K Games, Gearbox Software)
  3. Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)
  4. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Trailer

  1. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Konami)
  2. Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)
  3. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  4. Star Wars: The Old Republic (LucasArts/BioWare)
  5. Resident Evil: The Dark Side Chronicles (Capcom)

Best Multiplayer

  1. Borderlands (2K Games, Gearbox Software)
  2. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve, distributed by EA)
  3. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  4. Street Fighter IV (Capcom)
  5. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Narrative

  1. Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  2. Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)
  3. Halo 3 ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)
  4. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Uncharted 2 (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Art Direction

  1. Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  2. Batman Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros, Rocksteady Studios)
  3. Borderlands (2K Games, Gearbox Software)
  4. Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Ignition Entertainment, VanillaWare)
  5. The Saboteur (EA, Pandemic)

Best Animation

  1. Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  2. Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros, Rocksteady Studios)
  3. Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)
  4. Street Fighter IV Capcom)
  5. Uncharted 2 (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Game Cinematography

  1. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  2. Batman Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros, Rocksteady Studios)
  3. Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)
  4. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Replayability

  1. Borderlands (2K Games, Gearbox Software)
  2. Fat Princess (Sony, Titan Studios)
  3. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve, distributed by EA)
  4. Modern Warefare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Street Fighter IV (Capcom)

Best Indie Game

  1. Auditorium (Cipher Prime)
  2. Groov (Funkmasonry Industries)
  3. I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N IT!!!1 (Ska Studios)
  4. Osmos (Hemisphere Games)
  5. Zeno Clash (ACE Team)

Most Compelling Character

  1. Eddie Riggs - Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)
  2. The Joker — Batman Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros, Rocksteady Studios)
  3. Nathan Drake — Uncharted 2 (Sony, Naughty Dog)
  4. Ezio — Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  5. “Gay Tony” Prince — GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (Rockstar, Take Two Interactive)

Best DLC (best content pack/expansion content)

  1. Burnout Paradise — Big Surf Island (EA, Criterion)
  2. Call of Duty: World at War — Map Packs (Activision, Treyarch)
  3. Fallout 3 — Expansions (Bethesda)
  4. Gears of War 2 — All Fronts Collection (Microsoft, Epic Games)
  5. Grand Theft Auto IV — Expansions (Rockstar Games, Rockstar North)

Best Downloadable Game (games only available digitally for purchase or free download)

  1. Battlefield 1943 (EA, DICE)
  2. Fat Princess (Sony, Titan Studios)
  3. Flower (Sony, thatgamecompany)
  4. Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap)
  5. Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment, Microsoft)

Best Control

  1. Halo 3 ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)
  2. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve, distributed by EA)
  3. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  4. Red Faction: Guerrilla (THQ, Volition)
  5. Street Fighter IV (Capcom)

Most Original Game

  1. 1 vs. 100 (Microsoft)
  2. Borderlands(2K Games, Gearbox Software)
  3. Demon's Souls (Atlus)
  4. Plants vs. Zombies(PopCap)
  5. Scribblenauts (Warner Bros, 5th Cell)

Best Game Innovation

  1. 1 vs. 100 - Massively Multiplayer Online game show with real prizes (Microsoft)
  2. Demon's Souls - Multiplayer integration (Atlus)
  3. DJ Hero - Turntable controller (Activision, FreeStyleGames)
  4. Red Faction: Guerrilla - Environmental destruction system (THQ, Volition)
  5. Tony Hawk Ride — Experimentation with motion control (Activision, Robomodo)

Best Original Score

  1. Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  2. Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)
  3. Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)
  4. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Weapon

  1. Nano Rifle - Red Faction: Guerrilla (THQ, Volition)
  2. Silenced pistol - Halo: ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)
  3. Hidden gun - Assassin's Creed 2 (Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montreal)
  4. AC - 130 - Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Clementine — Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)

Best Sound Design

  1. Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)
  2. Borderlands (2K Games, Gearbox Software)
  3. Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve, distributed by EA)
  4. Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)
  5. Uncharted 2 (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Here's a part of the official press release:

All of the “Inside Gaming Awards” special shows will be launched  as a part of the normal “Inside Gaming” series schedule and be available on Machinima.com’s YouTube channel. The Machinima channel on YouTube (YouTube.com/machinima) is the #1 most popular entertainment channel of all time on YouTube with more than 700 million video views, it is by far the largest audience of video game fans in the world and the new “Inside Gaming Awards” was created specifically for this dedicated global community.

That's it for the nominees, don't forget to cast your vote and share your thoughts here on the nominees!

Be sure to check out Game Rant's look at the top games of 2009.