Gaming News - February 2007

Las Vegas, NV (February 9, 2007) - Gears of War won eight Interactive Achievement Award statues at the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards hosted by The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), including Game of the Year honors.  Wii Sports pulled in the second most awards with three wins at the event hosted by comedian Jay Mohr at The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV.

From AIAS:

For the first time, the AIAS honored former president of Nintendo of America, Minoru Arakawa, and chairman emeritus of Nintendo of America, Howard Lincoln with Lifetime Achievement Awards. The AIAS also inducted video game pioneer Dan Bunten (known later in life as Danielle Bunten Berry) as the tenth member of its Hall of Fame.

The Interactive Achievement Awards is a peer-based award that recognizes the outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry.

“Last night, we recognized the brightest and most innovative in video games in what can be considered one of the best years the video game industry has seen,” said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS.

The winners in each category are as follows:

I. Game of the Year:

a. Overall
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

b. Computer
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (P: 2K Games, D: Bethesda Softworks, Executive Producer: Todd Howard)

c. Console
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

d. Handheld Game of the Year
• Nintendo Brain Age (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo, Producer: Shinya Takahashi, Game Director: Kouichi Kawamoto, Creative Directors: Kouichi Kawamoto, Noriko Kitamura, Masamichi Sakaino, Shinji Kitahara, Yoshinori Katsuki, Tadashi Matsushita, Masura Nishida)

II. Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

• Wii Sports (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo, Executive Producer: Satoru Iwata, Producer: Katsuya Eguchi, Game Directors: Keiza Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita)

III. Outstanding Achievement:

a. Animation
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

b. Art Direction
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

c. Soundtrack
• Guitar Hero 2 (P: Activision/Red Octane, D: Harmonix, Producer: John Tam, Game Director: Daniel Sussman, Creative Director: Josh Randall)

d. Original Music Composition
• LocoRoco (P: Sony Computer Entertainment, D: Sony Computer Entertainment, Producer/Game Director/Creative Director: Tsutomo Kouno)

e. Sound Design
• Call of Duty 3 (P: Activision, D: Treyarch, Producer/Game Director/Creative Director: Treyarch)

f. Story and Character Development
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo, Producer: Shigeru Miyamoto, Game Director: Eiji Aonuma, Executive Producer: Satoru Iwata)

g. Game Play Engineering
• Wii Sports (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo, Executive Producer: Satoru Iwata, Producer: Katsuya Eguchi, Game Directors: Keiza Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita)

h. Online Game Play
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

i. Visual Engineering
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

j. Game Design
• Wii Sports (P: Nintendo, D: Nintendo, Executive Producer: Satoru Iwata, Producer: Katsuya Eguchi, Game Directors: Keiza Ohta, Takayuki Shimamura, Yoshikazu Yamashita)

IV. Outstanding Character Performance:

a. Male
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

b. Female
• Viva Piñata (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Rare, Producer/Game Director/Creative Director: Greg Mayles)

V. Genre Awards:

a. Sports Game of the Year
• Tony Hawk Project 8 (P: Activision, D: Neversoft Entertainment, Producer; Chris Parise, Game Director/Creative Director: Brian Bright)

b. First-Person Action Game of the Year
• Rainbow Six: Vegas (P: Ubisoft, D: Ubisoft Montreal, Producer: Chadi Lebbos, Alexandre Parizeau, Creative Director: Maxime Beland)

c. Role-Playing Game of the Year
• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (P: 2K Games, D: Bethesda Softworks, Executive Producer: Todd Howard)

d. Fighting Game of the Year
• Fight Night Round 3 (P/D: Electronic Arts, Producer: Kudo Tsunoda, Game Director: Keith Morton, Creative Director: Darren Bennett)

e. Action/ Adventure Game of the Year
• Gears of War (P: Microsoft Game Studios, D: Epic Games, Producer: Rod Ferguson, Game Director: Michael Capps, Creative Director: Cliff Bleszinski)

f. Racing Game of the Year
• Burnout Revenge (P: Electronic Arts, D: Criterion Games, Creative Director: Alex Ward, Criterion Games)

g. Children’s Game of the Year
• LocoRoco (P: Sony Computer Entertainment, D: Sony Computer Entertainment, Producer/Game Director/Creative Director: Tsutomo Kouno)

h. Downloadable Game of the Year
• Bookworm Adventures (P/D: PopCap, Producer/Game Director/Creative Director: Tysen Henderson)

i. Family Game of the Year
• Guitar Hero 2 (P: Activision/Red Octane, D: Harmonix, Producer: John Tam, Game Director: Daniel Sussman, Creative Director: Josh Randall)

j. Simulation Game of the Year
• Microsoft Flight Simulator X (P/D: Microsoft Game Studios, Producer: Shawn Firminger, Game Director: John Licata, Creative Director: Patt Cook, Jason Waskey)

k. Strategy Game of the Year
• Company of Heroes (P: THQ, D: Relic, Producer/Game Director: John Johnson, Creative Director: Sean Dunn)

l. Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year
• Guild Wars Nightfall (P: NCsoft, D: ArenaNet, Producer: Jay Adams, Game)

m. Mobile Game of the Year
• Orcs and Elves (P: Electronic Arts Mobile, D: Fountainhead Entertainment, Producer/ Game Director/ Creative Director: John Carmack, Katherine A. Kang)

A peer panel of eight to 12 AIAS members played and evaluated all nominated titles in their assigned category. Interactive Achievement Award recipients were determined by a vote of qualified Academy members. AIAS voting was secret, conducted online and supervised and certified by eBallot. The integrity of the system, coupled with a broad-based voting population of AIAS members, makes the Interactive Achievement Awards the most credible, respected and recognized awards for interactive entertainment software.

Nintendo of America’s Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln will be the first recipients of the newly-created Lifetime Achievement Award honoring those who have devoted their lives to the advancement of the interactive entertainment industry and have made significant contributions that have guided the business to the prominent position it is in today as a booming entertainment industry with global revenues topping $25 billion.

AIAS Hall of Fame Honoree Dan Bunten is the tenth member to be inducted and joins an already impressive collection of gaming icons, including Trip Hawkins, Peter Molyneux, Yu Suzuki, Will Wright, John Carmack, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto and Richard Garriott.