The Spike Video Game Awards 2010 Website has the nominees for this year's awards. Though they maintain their futuristic approach ("Games released between November 25, 2009 and November 23, 2010 were eligible for nomination"), it seems this year has fewer nominees that haven't been out long enough to warrant the honor (though the week-old Call of Duty: Black Ops earned seven nominations). Word is: "Leading the way with ten nominations is BioWare's epic sci-fi RPG "Mass Effect 2," including nods for Game of the Year, Best Xbox 360 Game, Best PC Game and Best RPG. Rockstar Games' Wild West action-adventure title "Red Dead Redemption" racked up nine nominations, including Game of the Year, Best Action Adventure Game, Best Graphics and Best Original Score. Both Bungie Studios' smash hit first-person shooter "Halo: Reach" and Activision's blockbuster "Call of Duty: Black Ops" received seven nominations each, including Game of the Year, Best Shooter and Best Multi-Player." The two-hour show will air live on Saturday, December 11 at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST, and will also include looks at Batman: Arkham City, BioWare's "Next Blockbuster Title," and director Guillermo del Toro's THQ gaming franchise. Here's the list of game of the year candidates:

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" (Activision/Treyarch)
"God of War III" (Sony Computer Entertainment/SCE Studios Santa Monica)
"Halo: Reach" (Microsoft/Bungie Studios)
"Mass Effect 2" (Electronic Arts/BioWare)
"Red Dead Redemption" (Rockstar Games/Rockstar San Diego)