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ESA to honor Miyamoto
The Entertainment Software Association has announced that they will award Shigeru Miyamoto with the 2009 ESA Champion Award -- because if Miyamoto needs anything, it's some more awards for his lifetime of achievements. The award will be conferred at the organization's "Nite to Unite for Kids" event on October 22, a fundraising gala for various children's charities. In the press release announcing the award, Michael Gallagher, CEO of the ESA, said that Miyamoto "truly has defined video games as we know them today."The ESA Champion award has been given in previous years to various well-known rich people, including Sega's Isao Okawa, GameStop's Dan DeMatteo, and George Lucas.
Miyamoto wins special CEDEC award
Yesterday, along with companies including Sega, Square Enix, Capcom, and Game Freak, Nintendo earned awards at the CESA Development Conference in game design (for the Super Mario series) and sound (for the the Zelda series). Shigeru Miyamoto was awarded his own CEDEC Special Prize. Miyamoto was in attendance to give a keynote anyway, and so he happened to be on hand to give an impromptu acceptance speech."Well... Tomorrow I'm going to talk for about an hour," Miyamoto said, "so today I didn't think I'd have a speech." In his brief speech, Miyamoto described his hope for the game industry to continue to grow so that "the number of the children who want to enter the industry multiplies." Presumably children with well-trained brains.[Story and translation via Kotaku]
WAR wins the Best Online Game award at Leipzig
The record-setting Games Convention in Leipzig just ended and over 200,000 people are beginning the recovery process as we speak. Not only was this convention a roaring success, it has already been announced for a return to Leipzig next year as well. In addition to this, the awards have been given out for the best games of the show, and Warhammer Online nabbed the Best Online Game award.According to their press release: "The creators of the online RPG legend Dark Age of Camelot, still so successful today, are back with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. GOA squares up to the alpha male World of Warcraft with spectacular visuals, innovative play modi, neat control and an enormous, appealing fantasy world." Our congratulations goes out to the folks at EA Mythic as we (im)patiently wait for September 18th to arrive!
Panasonic gloats about Emmy for H.264 / MPEG 4-AVC work
You just have to love it, don't you? In a situation that reminds us all too much of Sony's SIXAXIS Emmy fiasco (minus the fiasco), Panasonic has taken it upon itself to boast (quite heavily) about an Emmy that it's merely connected to. You see, an Emmy Engineering Award will soon be given to the Joint Video Team Standards Committee, of which Panasonic is indeed a member. But still, it's the JVT getting the Emmy here, though Panny's doing an excellent job of taking credit. It's release on the matter proclaims that it had a whole lot to do with the creation and implementation of High Profile for H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC, a technology that enables HD images in the H.264 video coding system. What's next -- Panasonic accepting the award on JVT's behalf?
AT&T gives Motorola an award, Motorola proceeds to gloat
Look, everyone knows things aren't exactly gangbusters over at Motorola right now, but it's downright depressing when you've got to pat your own self on the back for an award given to you by AT&T. Even worse, the Outstanding Supplier recognition "in the area of teamwork" seems like something that should be expected as one mega-corp works with another, but we digress. Moto was apparently one of 27 that received similar awards, though we haven't tallied up precisely how many others felt the need to publicly gloat. Said Dan Moloney, president of Motorola's Home and Networks Mobility business, "we are delighted to be named amongst AT&T's best of the best in teamwork." And we're delighted for you, Mr. Moloney.
BAFTAs postponed, no chance for Nintendo love in 2008
No BAFTA game awards this fall? How can this be? The last two years, Nintendo has picked up a few awards and a little bit of sweet, sweet recognition, and we're not sure we want to face a 2008 without the same treatment. The British awards, which lauded Wii Sports in 2007 and Electroplankton and Brain Age in 2006, suffered some problems last year and will be postponed until 2009. Due to the awards' schedule, games that weren't yet released or finished were being considered, and one of the games up for an award last year ultimately wasn't released in 2007. Sounds like the changes are necessary, but an award-free year is a sad proposition indeed. Maybe they'll make it up to us next year.
Famitsu piles on the Phantom Hourglass love
Lists: they're freaking well everywhere. Lists of the best games, of the worst games, of the worst boxart, of games to watch, of the best NES games, of the most kid-friendly games, lists of the greatest lists.But what's that? You want more lists? You're insane! But Famitsu hears you! The venerable Japanese publication just published its top games of 2007, based on the magazine's review scores, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (the game that collects gongs and awards like they're going clean out of fashion) romped to top spot, thanks to its near-perfect 39/40 score.The DS had other representatives in Famitsu's top 25, with Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero (12th), Itadaki Street (21st), Gyakuten Saiban 4 (24th) and Final Fantasy IV (25th) all making their presence felt. Go past the break for the entire top 25, and join us in marveling at the Xbox 360 doing something right in Japan.%Gallery-4748%
Vizio becomes Wal-Mart's Electronics Supplier of the Year
Merely three quarters after Vizio sets began showing up on Wal-Mart floors, the perennial low-cost HDTV leader has taken home Wally World's Electronics Supplier of the Year award. The self-proclaimed "fastest growing brand of flat panel HDTVs in North America" has a half dozen models on Wal-Mart shelves right now, and aside from continually delivering as promised, it probably didn't hurt to have its products "among the top selling flat-panels" at the retailer. Kudos Vizio -- just keep watchin' your back, okay?
GDC08: Another gong for Phantom Hourglass
It only seems like a fortnight ago that we partied long into the night over quietly celebrated The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass scooping an award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Wait -- it was only a fortnight ago! And it already has another award to its name!This time it's a Game Developers Choice Award for Best Handheld Game of the Year, which Zelda clinched over Puzzle Quest: Challenge of The Warlords, Phase, Contra 4, and the iPod version of Peggle. Time to expand that trophy cabinet again, Nintendo!%Gallery-4748%[Via press release]
Blizzard wins the Oscars of online games
As Oscar time gets closer, some of us gamers may start wishing for awards of our own. Mass Effect was at least as good as There Will Be Blood, right? Luckily, on February 7th, we gamers got our own red carpet show, as The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences hosted the 11th annual Interactive Achievement Awards in conjunction with the DICE Summit at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. Blizzard, of course, managed to snag a few rewards of their own. Not only did the Burning Crusade pick up Massively Multi-player Game of the Year, but Blizzard President Mike Morhaime was inducted into the Academy's Hall of Fame.Gamespot had video coverage of the event, which you can check out here, or if you'd rather just cut to the meaty stuff, the Academy's website has a PDF with a list of the winners here. You can also check out some wider commentary on all the awards from our friends at Joystiq here. We'll expect trophies for Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft II next year!
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%
Phantom Hourglass wins Interactive Achievement Award
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has bestowed the award of "Best Handheld Game" upon our favorite adventure game of 2007 starring a kid in a green tunic with a fairy flying around him, Deal or No Deal The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Congratulations to Nintendo!The DS adventure joins Super Mario Galaxy as the entire Nintendo contingent of this year's Interactive Achievement Award winners, with the rest of the awards, going to, you know, Rock Band and Portal and the other Xbox stuff that got all the other awards last year. We're just glad to see a familiar name or two on the list. As it turns out, good games did come out on the DS in 2007!%Gallery-4748%[Via press release]
Video game giants awarded at CES 2008
Several video games and their respective creators were honored at the fifty-ninth Annual Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards at CES 2008 in Las Vegas. The awards spotlighted some of the most groundbreaking titles in development of massively multiplayer online graphical role playing games as well as user generated content or game mods. The winners of the first category for development of MMORPGs were Sony Online Entertainment for Everquest (Laura Naviaux), Blizzard for World of Warcraft (Mike Morhaime) and AOL/Time Warner for Neverwinter Nights (Don Daglow).And the winners of the second category for user generated content/game modification were EA for Pinball Construction (Bill Budge), Id Software for Quake (John Carmack) and Linden Lab for Second Life (Philip Rosedale).Pictured from left to right: Daglow, Budge, Carmack, Naviaux, Rosedale, MorhaimeWe really only have just one thing to mention. If you're the representative of a multi-billion-dollar international corporation like Activision Blizzard, shouldn't you consider something other than raiding your dad's closet for a 1970's brown polyester suit? Although, only really rich people can afford to look broke, because they buy good stuff and wear it forever. So when Mike got it, it was probably very chic... in the 70's.
And the Emmy goes to ... well, Nintendo, of course
Cue the bright lights, red carpet, shrimp cocktail platters and Reggie in a little black dress. Okay, so maybe it didn't actually go down that way, but Nintendo still won an Emmy yesterday for "excellence in engineering creativity" at the Technological & Engineering Emmy Awards. The award was given to Nintendo because of the innovation seen in the company's latest systems, the DS and the Wii. In the case of the DS, it was the handheld's dual-screen display and touch-screen controls that won the hearts of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.While the Academy might have been a little late to recognize this innovation (the DS has been around for three years, after all), it's better late than never. We suppose it could have been worse, considering that Nintendo only won an award for creating the D-pad last year. At any rate, well done Nintendo, and keep that innovation coming.
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.
Promotional Consideration: Why we're not watching the Spike Video Game Awards tonight
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.American cable channel Spike premieres the 2007 edition of the Spike Video Game Awards tonight at 9:00 PM (likely re-airing it a dozen times over the course of the next couple of months). Despite the scorn it received from gamers in its previous years, the show lives on, now in its fourth year. There are many reasons one could give for refusing to watch the two-hour program tonight -- the event really is as ridiculous as you'd expect a video game award show to be -- but one specific flaw brought about our decision to avoid the production ...
First ever High-Def Disc Awards conclude
Earlier this summer, The Departed and 007: Casino Royale swept up the spotlight at the first Entertainment Merchants Association's Home Entertainment Awards to hand out honors for high-definition titles, and now the first ever High-Def Disc Awards have doled out their own laundry list of victors. Presented by Home Media Magazine in cooperation with The Hollywood Reporter and the EMA, the awards were decided upon by a panel of critics / bloggers, and 300 was the only film to take home more than one award. Notably, of the two it won, one (Title of the Year) was on Blu-ray and the other (Best Bonus Feature) was on HD DVD. Other winners included Ratatouille for Best Animated Film, Transformers for Best Audio Quality and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for Best Picture Quality. Hit the read link for the full rundown, and don't be shy in voicing your support / outrage at the selections.[Via FormatWarCentral]
The Daily Grind: MMO of the Year nominations
1UP wants to know your game of the year (Portal's got my vote still, but my dead Xbox has kept me from playing Mass Effect), but this is Massively, so let's get our own nominations rolling: what's the MMO of the year?Burning Crusade? Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar? Dungeon Runners? Tabula Rasa? Fury? (snicker) What's the best MMO you've played in 2007?Warhammer Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea aren't eligible, of course-- they both come out in 2008. And remember that this is just nominations for an award that we're not actually giving out (or should we? hmmmm), so you can name as many or as few games as you like. And who knows if patches should count, either-- should EVE: Trinity be on the list? But if you were voting for MMO of the Year in 2007 right now, what would be your pick?
Miyamoto wins award in London
Shigeru Miyamoto, one of the biggest names in the industry, recently received an award. The Economist's Innovation Award for Consumer Goods, to be exact, which was awarded to the gaming legend at the Science Museum in London.Using an independent judging panel of industry experts, the choice to award Miyamoto was an easy one as Tom Standage, business editor at The Economist, comments "No one is more identified with modern video games than Shigeru Miyamoto." He further added "His pioneering vision and creativity truly created a new category of entertainment."We agree, Tom.
Okami wins Edge award at Edinburgh festival
Okami won Edge magazine's "favourite" title of the last year during an awards ceremony closing the first day of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. The game beat out Generation GBA, Bully, Dead Rising, DEFCON, Final Fantasy XII, Test Drive Unlimited and Wii Sports. The winner was decided by the five staff members of UK magazine Edge. They say the game won because it "takes your breath away" and "it proves the PlayStation2 is still capable of giving us fun, innovative games."That may be true, but it doesn't look like Edge's winner is going to take a victory lap. Clover Studios, which created Okami and Viewtiful Joe, was a division of Capcom that was uncermoniously dissolved late last year. Members of the Clover team are now working on Resident Evil 5 and a Wii game the last we heard. Looks like Okami got a lot of attention, but not a lot of sales. Guess Capcom can take their award and pretend they got it for their latest Mega Man title.
