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Super Mario Galaxy receives Interactive Achievement Award
Nintendo's Italian plumber Mario caught the eye of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences at this year's Interactive Achievement Awards, nabbing an award for Adventure Game of the Year. If there was one game that could be classified as an "adventure" back in 2007, we would definitely have to say Super Mario Galaxy.Also, Nintendo ended up walking away with another award. The winner of Handheld Game of the Year was none other than The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. As for the other awards, none were for Nintendo or games on Nintendo platforms. So, you could probably care less.%Gallery-4735%
Call of Duty 4, Motorstorm walk away with AIAS awards
Critics really love Call of Duty 4. PS3 Fanboy's choice for GOTY took home the gold as the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awarded Infinity Ward's shooter its most coveted award. PS3 fans that don't believe in multiplatform titles may be disappointed to hear that PS3 exclusives did not fare so well with the industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. Motorstorm is the only game to take home an award, for Best Racing Game.See a list of PS3-relevant winners, after the cut.[Via Joystiq]
Call of Duty 4 dubbed game of the year at Interactive Achievement Awards
Despite nabbing 12 nominations for the (deep breath) Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, BioShock was bested in the Overall Game of the Year category by cinematic tour de force, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Both games were awarded four, err, awards at this year's event, held alongside D.I.C.E. at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Orange Box's Portal made off with some shiny statuettes, as did fake instrument extravaganza, Rock Band. Super Mario Galaxy was deemed the best "adventure" game in absence of a "platformer" category (a sad commentary in itself), while Assassin's Creed got a hearty stab pat on the back for its fancy animation. The complete list of winners can be found after the break -- a list of whiners is sure to follow shortly.Read [PDF link]
AIAS nominations for MMO of the year announced
You may have heard that the Academy of Motion Pictures announced their Oscar nominations (how about that Ellen Page? And I definitely need to see There Will Be Blood, as soon as my wacky work schedule allows me the free time) this morning, but the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences also announced their Academy Award nominations for videogames earlier this week, and they picked five nominees for MMO game of the year.And the nominations are: EVE Online: Trinity, Guild Wars: Eye of the North, Richard Garriot's Tabula Rasa, Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar, and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. I don't want to be a spoilsport, but I'm thinking that any of those others are going to have a tough time beating Burning Crusade-- Blizzard is still pretty far ahead of the game at this point. But it is interesting to note that three of the five nominees are expansions-- Tabula Rasa and LotRO are the two original games on the list.Hopefully this time next year we'll see some more new names in the mix. The AIAS awards winners will be announced on February 7, 2007 in Las Vegas.[Via Curse]
PS3 exclusives not nominated for IAA GOTY awards
The closest thing the games industry has to the film industry's Academy Awards is the IAA: the Interactive Achievement Awards. This year, PS3 has three games fighting for the honor of Overall Game of the Year -- all of them multi-platform titles. They include: PS3 Fanboy's Game of the Year, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band and The Orange Box. These are three great titles that are all available on your favorite platform. Bioshock and Super Mario Galaxy were both nominated as well.Fans of Uncharted need not worry, though. Although the game hasn't been nominated for any GOTY nods from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, it did get nominations in very deserving categories. The game got nods for Best Adventure, Original Music Composition, Story Development, Character Performance, Visual Engineering and Animation. Not a bad list of nominations, no? Best of luck to all the PS3 games on the list.[Via Gamespot]
Jeanne d'Arc and Ratchet fight for IAA awards
The closest thing the games industry has to the film industry's Academy Awards is the IAA: the Interactive Achievement Awards. This year, PSP has two games fighting for the honor of Handheld Game of the Year. They include: Jeanne d'Arc, Level-5's brilliant (and accessible) SRPG, and Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters. They will have to compete against Drawn to Life, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Good luck to our PSP nominees. [Via Gamespot]
BioShock scores 12 AIAS award nominations
With BioShock nothing but a sweet, sweet memory to most gamers, it's easy to forget that the industry is still piling awards on top of it. Well, nominations in this case. Nominations from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences to be specific. The AIAS has nominated BioShock for twelve Interactive Achievement Awards this year, more than any other game this year or apparently any other year. So, if you haven't played it, you really should, lest your friends start calling you out for the philistine you are. As for other 360 exclusives, Mass Effect garnered 4 nods, including console game of the year and role playing game of the year. Halo 3 nabbed two nominations, one for outstanding achievement in online play and one for action game of the year.The IAA's will be broadcast by both GameSpot and ComCast on their video-on-demand services and will again be hosted by Jay Mohr.[Via Joystiq]
BioShock nabs 'record-breaking' 12 nominations from AIAS awards
Not content with manhandling the Spike VGAs, the BAFTA awards, the AP game of the year (and we're sure other acronym-determined awards), BioShock has dominated the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' list of nominees for the Interactive Achievement Awards, to be held at next month's D.I.C.E. Summit. The underwater corridor crawler racked up a reportedly "record-breaking" 12 nominations, with Call of Duty 4 bringing up a close second place.Though we doubt the winners will be announced to the world via a lineup of bare-chested women (ahem), the IAAs will be hosted by Jay Mohr for the third year running and broadcast by both GameSpot and Comcast (through their video-on-demand service). Previous Game of the Year winners have included the GoWs, God of War and Gears of War. [Via Gamasutra]
Morhaime headed to the AIAS Hall of Fame
Blizzard's Mike Morhaime is headed for the Hall of Fame-- the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, that is. The AIAS is going to honor him for contributing to "a significant advancement within the industry, while demonstrating proven success and leadership," and he's certainly done that, presiding not only over this, the most popular MMO of all time, but over years of amazing Blizzard success.Morhaime will get the award as part of the D.I.C.E. Summit in February, and he'll join such videogame luminaries as Peter Molyneux (of Populous and Fable fame), Quake's John Carmack, and Shigeru Miyamoto, an old graphic designer that made some game about a plumber.Congrats to Morhaime on the award-- definitely well-deserved. Now all we need to do is petition the Grammys for his contributions to the musical world.
Ken Kutaragi to receive AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, has chosen Ken 'Krazy' Kutaragi as the recipient of the 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Interactive Achievement Awards. The man behind that PlayStation thing (which we hear was really popular with you kids some years ago) will be honored on February 7th during a ceremony held at the Red Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, in conjunction with next year's D.I.C.E. Summit.Though now retired (or "squeezed out" depending on who you ask), the former Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. president and CEO was instrumental in the creation and launch of the PlayStation brand, the importance of which cannot be overstated -- we'd be surprised (and disappointed) if you were reading this and haven't had some sort of PlayStation product pass through your hands. If we have to wonder what the gaming landscape would be like without Kutaragi's kontributions, we reckon he deserves a fancy trophy. At the very least, we'll get a great acceptance speech out of it.[Thanks, ShortFuse]
LocoRoco wins two AIAS awards
If LocoRoco's soundtrack doesn't get you smiling, then clearly you've been born without a heart. Sony's heavily promoted platformer got two wins at the AIAS awards, one for original soundtrack, and the other for "Best Children's Game." Congrats to Sony, and everyone at the LocoRoco team. [Via Joystiq] See also: LocoRoco wins two awards at BAFTA LocoRoco theme song karaoke!
Gears of War wins big at Interactive Achievement Awards
The 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards have at long last confirmed a growing, industry-wide suspicion: Gears of War is pretty good. In a ceremony held last night at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences bestowed eight shiny statuettes upon Epic Games' monsters vs. testosterone epic. In addition to winning overall Game of the Year, it picked up gongs for Console Game of the Year, Online Game Play, Animation, Art Design, Visual Engineering, Outstanding Character Performance and Action/Adventure Game of the Year.Wii Sports waggled three awards out of the academy, including ones for Outstanding Innovation, Gameplay Engineering and Game Design. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Guitar Hero II and Loco Roco all came away with double wins, whereas The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess made off with a single prize for Outstanding Story and Character Development (in your face, Saint's Row!). Inaugural Lifetime Achievement awards went to Minoru Arakawa and Howard Lincoln, for their involvement with the NES and the rebuilding of a shattered games industry during the 1980's.Check out the full list of winners after the break.Read -- AIAS press release [PDF]
GOW rakes in 8 AIAS awards
This year's AIAS (Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences) Awards have been given away, and Gears of War walks away as the winningest game with 8 awards. Gears snagged awards for animation, art direction, best male performance (go John Di Maggio!), visual engineering, and online gameplay. Gears of War also came away with three game of the year awards including action/adventure game of the year, console game of the year, and the coveted overall game of the year. It's not like Gears of War really needs any more accolades heaped onto it, but we're sure CliffyB and the gang are happy about the results. If they haven't already, Epic needs to start shopping for a bigger trophy case.Just remember Cliffy, friends don't let friends drive krunk.[Thanks, Arno]
Joystiq interviews Joseph Olin, president of the AIAS
When he isn't busy plotting the demise of numerous rival and lesser-known academies (like the Academy of Interactive Baguettes and Pumpernickels, of which BioWare is a member), the well-spoken Joseph Olin is orchestrating the annual Interactive Achievement awards. Each year, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences turns to its member panel of game developers and highlights what it believes to be the best games of the year. With the AIAS awards show taking place on 8 February at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, we decided it was about time to quiz Mr. Olin about all things award-winning. In the second part of the post, you'll find a lengthy interview touching on the recently announced award nominees, the selection process, non-human academy members, Capcom's objections and of course, the act of mowing Joseph Olin down with a machine gun.
Capcom snubbed by AIAS awards
Capcom was passed over for awards by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences again this year. Granted, they didn't have any stellar outings in 2006 like they did with 2005's Resident Evil 4, but that didn't stop Gamespot from poking Capcom and pouring lemon juice on their paper-cut. As Gamespot puts it, "This year, when the nominations for the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards were announced, two titles that gamers noticed were missing were a critically-lauded pair from Capcom -- Okami and Dead Rising." You know, Okami, the Zelda-like game about a wolf that Capcom supported so much they shut down the studio that created it. And the "criticially-lauded" Dead Rising? Gamers may have been critical of Dead Rising, but the lauded portion is a stretch. For every good thing (and the good was amazing!), Dead Rising compensated by giving us two bad.Anyway, when all is said and done, Capcom is not a member of the AIAS and needs to pay its dues to be nominated. AIAS confirmed to Gamespot that publishers Tecmo, Majesco and Eidos are also not members, accordingly they did not get nominations. This issue should be pretty cut and dry for Capcom, just pay the AIAS if you want a chance at a trophy to place on the mantel for polishing between Mega Man releases.
Interactive Achievement Awards nominees announced, Gears in the lead
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced the nominations for the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Though Gears of War has yet to make an acquaintance with that irrelevant temptress, Emmy, it stands a very good chance of winning a statuette that actually matters -- it's been nominated in ten different categories, including Console Game of the Year, Action / Adventure Game of the Year, and Overall Game of the Year. The AIAS (probably not pronounced "Ahyeehuss") also fancies The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, each garnering six nominations. These, along with Guitar Hero II and Wii Sports complete the list of classy nominees in the Overall Game of the Year category. The full list of nominees is available on the official Ahyeehuss website.[Via GameDaily BIZ]See also: Joystiq's Game of the Year
