At this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards, not only will a batch of games and development studios receive awards to recognise their contributions to the medium of videogames and interactive entertainment, but an absolute veteran and luminary of the craft will receive the highest honour his peers could attempt to bestow upon him.

During the 11th annual Game Developers Choice Award, none other than Peter Molyneux will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, following in the footsteps of similarly legendary recipients including John Carmack, Sid Meier, Hideo Kojima, Richard Garriott and Shigeru Miyamoto.

The co-founder of celebrated Bullfrog Productions (Magic Carpet, Theme Park, Dungeon Keeper, Syndicate), Molyneux has been involved in the videogame industry for over 25 years, and with his continued involvement at Lionhead Studios (Black and White, Fable), there are many more years of game development left in him.

The Lifetime Achievement Award recognises “the career and achievements of a developer who has made an indelible impact on the craft of game development and games as a whole,” and these words perfectly describe Molyneux’s career.

Event director of the Game Developers Conference, Meggan Scavio, said of Molyneux:

“Peter is a remarkable asset to the games industry, and truly embodies everything that the Lifetime Achievement Award represents. We’re proud to honor someone who has had such a profound impact on the industry, through his boundless enthusiasm and profound talent in creating games about choice and interactivity that the entire world loves to play.”

Event organisers have also announced that the ever-awesome Tim Schafer (Double Fine Productions) will return as host of this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards following stints as event MC in previous years.

Video game collective Mega64 will be providing additional humour with new and exclusive video segments to be aired during the award ceremony.

The Game Developers Choice Awards will take place at 6:30pm on Wednesday, March 2nd 2011, at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Directly prior to this show, the Independent Games Festival Awards will take place – we’ll be holding thumbs for South African studio QCF Design, which has been nominated in two categories, including the ultra-prestigious Seumas McNally Grand Prize!