With more than 200 world, European and German premieres, gamescom 2010 offers almost twice as many innovations as last year. The best innovations will be honoured with the gamescom award this year as well. Awards will once again be presented for the best game innovations and, for the first time, hardware accessories in the six categories “PC Games”, “Console Games”, “Online Games”, “Mobile Games” and “Hardware Accessories”, as well as the “Best of gamescom” award, which covers all categories.
The independent expert jury from the publishing and media sector – Michael Trier (IDG Entertainment AG), Petra Fröhlich (Computec Media AG), Christian Bigge (Computerbild Online Dienstleistungs-GmbH), Harald Hesse (G+J Entertainment Media GmbH & Co.KG), Oliver Hartmann (Brot und Spiele GmbH), as well as Bernhard Schneider (Müller Ltd. & Co. KG) – has nominated its favourites from the list of all games submitted. The winners will now be determined from this list and will be honoured on Friday, 20 August from 10:30 a.m. on the stage in Hall 8.
Here are the nominees for the gamescom award 2010
| Game | Category | Company | Hall/Section |
| Gran Turismo 5 | Best of gamescom | Sony | 7 |
| Portal 2 | Best of gamescom | Valve | 7/ A41 |
| Crysis 2 | Best of gamescom | Crytek | 6/ A80 |
| Star Wars The Old Republic | Best of gamescom | LucasArts | 6/ B66 |
| Civilization 5 | Best of gamescom | 2K | 6/ B40 |
| Kinect | Hardware Acc | Microsoft | 8/ B11-C10 |
| PlayStation Move | Hardware Acc | Sony | 7 |
| Cyborg R.A.T 7 | Hardware Acc | Mad Catz | 9/ A61d |
| Instruments (Rock Band 3) | Hardware Acc | MTV | 6/ C60 |
| MAFIA II | Console | 2K | 6/ B40 |
| Assassin's Creed Brotherhood | Console | Ubisoft Montr. | 7/ A31 |
| Fallout: New Vegas | Console | Bethesda | 6/ B41 - C40 |
| FIFA 11 | Console | EA | 6/ A74 |
| Kirby's Epic Yarn | Console | Nintendo | 8/ B20-A21 |
| Gran Turismo 5 | Console | Sony | 7 |
| The Sims 3 | Mobile | EA | 6/ A74 |
| God of War: Ghost of Sparta | Mobile | Sony | 7 |
| Professor Layton and the Unwound Future | Mobile | Nintendo | 8/ B20-A21 |
| Super Scribblenauts | Mobile | Warner Bros. | 8/ A31 |
| Guild Wars 2 | Online | Ncsoft West | 9/ A11/B10 |
| Poisonville | Online | Bigpoint | 9/ A21 |
| Black Prophecy | Online | gamigo AG | 9/ C36 |
| Star Wars The Old Republic | Online | LucasArts | 6/ B66 |
| World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | Online | Blizzard | 6/ B21-31 |
| Civilization 5 | PC Game | 2K | 6/ B40 |
| Portal 2 | PC Game | Valve | 7/ A41 |
| Crysis 2 | PC Game | Crytek | 6/ A80 |