awards
Latest
LocoRoco earns more nominations, from NAViGaTR
There are way too many awards ceremonies for the video game industry. Thankfully, PSP's darling platformer LocoRoco is always there to represent the system. This year, LocoRoco has earned a Game of the Year nomination from NAViGaTR (National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers). With 1,150 videogame critics, analysts, and journalists on the voting board, it's clear that LocoRoco's quality has impacted quite a lot of people.Feel free to watch the hilarious embedded video, which shows off an empty audience as the award nominations are announced. Something tells me they should've simply stuck to a press release instead of a video.[Via IGN]
Apple Design Awards 2007 now accepting entries
It's that time of year again kids - the time when Mac OS X developers can submit their application to Apple for a chance to win a coveted Apple Design Award. The categories up for judging this year have actually lowered from eight to seven since 2006, shaving off Best Automator Workflow to leave us with: Best Mac OS X Leopard Application Best Mac OS X User Experience Best Mac OS X Developer Tool Best Mac OS X Game Best Mac OS X Scientific Computing Solution Best Mac OS X Dashboard Widget Best Student Application We know what you're saying: "Best Leopard app? But it isn't even out yet!" Don't worry, we're scratching our heads too. Even though more and more developers are already announcing Leopard-only apps, we're itching just as bad as you are to see all the wiz-bang new stuff developers' apps can do with the fancy new technologies - some of them still a secret - of Mac OS X Leopard. Fortunately, since the awards are announced at WWDC, which is where everyone thinks Leopard is going to debut anyway, we'll already have a list of rockin' apps that were chosen by the dev community themselves to hit the ground running with.
GDC 07: Twilight Princess, Wii Sports take awards
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/GDC_07_Twilight_Princess_Wii_Sports_take_awards'; The awards continue to pile up for Nintendo. Both Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Wii Sports have taken awards at the GDC Choice Awards. Twilight Princess nabbed an award for Best Writing, beating out top contenders like Sam & Max, Oblivion, Dreamfall and Bully.Wii Sports picked up the award for Best Game Design, beating other hopefuls, such as Okami and Viva Pinata. The Best Game award, however, went to Microsoft Game Studios' Gears of War, proving that sometimes, graphics do make a game better.
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!
Oblivion, Okami top GDC Awards Nominations
The 7th annual Game Developers Choice Awards nominations were announced today, with Okami and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion taking the most number of nods at four each. Wii Sports and Gears of War also earned high honors with three nominations apiece. With Capcom's recent bitterness over the AIAS "snubbing," four Okami nominations and a Technology nod for Dead Rising should satiate their ego. We're also glad that Rayman Raving Rabbids, Dreamfall, and Sam & Max: Episode One are getting some much-deserved kudos.The awards ceremony will occur Wednesday, March 7 at 6:30 p.m. and is being hosted by Tim "Psychonauts owns your soul" Schafer (also known for Monkey Island and Grim Fandango). The nominations are listed after the break.
Wii & "Wario Wear" win International Toy Fair award
Nintendo has been bestowed the proud honor of a Spielwarenmesse award, selected as the 'Trend + Lifestyle' winner of this year's annual Nuremberg International Toy Fair. Judges chose the Wii console along with "Wario Wear" for the duo's ability to "encourage playing PC games in groups instead of alone." Judges also found that "the product not only appeals to player types with an affinity to PCs, but also to new age groups." Hmmm, we weren't aware that Wii had become popular in the yoga scene... Maybe Nintendo should start bundling the system with a set of crystals. Winners of a 'ToyAward' are permitted to print the 'ToyInnovation quality label' on retail boxes of winning products. Something tells us Nintendo's gonna pass. [Via Nintendo-Revolution]
Japan crowns top robots in lavish Tokyo ceremony
With all these award ceremonies going down to close out the year, it's only appropriate to crown a few winners in the robotic realm as well -- you know, since they'll be law-abiding citizens someday. The Robot Awards were set up earlier this year by the Japanese government to "promote research and development in the robotics industry," and just ten creations took home prizes out of the 152 entries. The cream of the crop started with the currently-available My Spoon feeding contraption, which helps the elderly and disabled to eat with a "joystick-controlled swiveling arm." Not far behind was the Paro seal, who rocks a furry, huggable outfit with sensors beneath its whiskers that allows it to "open and close its eyes and move its flippers" when petted and held by folks in hospitals. In another instance of "robots replacing human jobs," a "mammoth, automated vacuum cleaner that uses elevators to travel between floors" was highly praised for its sucky actions. So if you're interested in seeing what other bots are taking home the jewelry (as well as the how to enter yourself in the future), be sure to hit the read link and bust out your broken translator, um, translator.[Via Yahoo]
Switched On: The 2006 Switchies -- Home Products
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment: Last year marked the first annual Saluting Wares Improving Technology's Contribution to Humanity awards, also known by its laboriously contrived simpler name, the Switchies. The Switchies honor some of the year's best products by coming up with a category to fit them into, since great products often break out of the accepted boundaries. This year saw so many product introductions that I'll be covering the awards in two columns, focusing on home and portable products. With that said, let's roll out the red carpet for the former: The "Setting Things in Motion" award (and Device of the Year) goes to the Nintendo Wii. Navigating between the Scylla of Sony and the Charybdis of Microsoft and accused of relying too heavily on its stable of retro-friendly character franchises, Nintendo built upon its maverick strategy success with the Nintendo DS to buck the trend of the graphics wars. It also followed my advice to bundle in Wii Sports with the console. Company insiders admit that they wish they could have accommodated high-definition graphics with the Wii, and it remains to be seen whether gamers will tire (perhaps physically) of the novelty offered by the Wiimote control scheme. For now, though, Nintendo has not only recaptured the respect of its rivals, but is offering innovation at a price that resonates with the sweet spot of where the console market has long been. The Wii's channels and WiiConnect24 features could achieve everything from an affordable way to get photos to grandma to the functionality of WebTV without the monthly fee.
1UP Awards: PSP earns more nominations than DS
The PSP took a whopping 31 nominations this year in 1UP's annual "1UP Awards." The DS, on the other hand, only received 22. If you're a member of 1UP, now's the chance to rock the vote and show everyone that the PSP really does have an excellent library of games, no matter what Nintendo fanboys may say. Here are some of the categories the PSP is competing in:StrategyMetal Gear Acid 2Field CommanderShootingSyphon Filter: Dark MirrorSOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 2Sports NFL Street 3 NCAA Football 07 Racing ATV Offroad Fury Pro ActionLEGO Star Wars IIMega Man: Powered UpMetal Gear Solid: Portable OpsKillzone: LiberationAdventureDaxterGrand theft Auto: Vice City StoriesFightingPower Stone CollectionWWE Smackdown vs. RawGuilty Gear JudgmentTekken: Dark ResurrectionStreet Fighter Alpha 3 MAXOnlineSOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 2Puzzle (the PSP nearly swept this category!)Lumines IIEvery Extend ExtraMercury MeltdownExitGunpeyWTFLemmingsSimulationAce Combat X: Skies of DeceptionMost InnovativeLoco RocoMetal Gear Solid: Portable OpsGame of the YearGrand Theft Auto: Vice City StoriesMetal Gear Solid: Portable Ops
Oblivion wins big at Spike's Video Game Awards
Spike TV's Video Game Awards just wrapped up in Los Angles with the big winners already announced. Reuters is reporting that Bethesda's Elder Scrolls: Oblivion won big, taking home five awards including Most Addictive and Game of the Year. Not to be left out, Gears of War took home the Studio of the Year award and Best Graphics honors. Below is a list of some of the winners, but be sure to tune into Spike TV's Video Game Awards when it airs December 13th.Game of the Year: "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion"Studio of the Year: "Gears of War"Best Performance by a Human - Male: Patrick Stewart in "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" Best Performance by a Human - Female: Vida Guerra in "Scarface: The World is Yours" Most Addictive: "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" Critics' Choice: "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess"Cyber Vixen of the Year: Alyx Vance in "Half-Life 2: Episode 1"Best Original Score: "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" Best Graphics: "Gears of War"Breakthrough Technology: Nintendo Wii
The Golden Brain Award for best zombie goes to ...
It's Halloween! You know what that means, right? It's time for our zombie-overlords at AOL to present their annual Golden Brain Awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in the field of zombiism. Movies are remembered for luminaries like that jelly-mouthed zombie guy from Night of the Living Dead while music videos will always be remembered for the zombie stylings of Michael Jackson (and K-Fed, oh snap!), but games aren't without their fair share of undead superstars hungry for your grey matter!There were ten prizes awarded in ten categories, like the "Mixing Bad Guys and Zombies to Make Zombified Bad Guys" award, which went to first-time winners the zombie Combine ... err, Zombine (thanks, Alyx). Of course, the creeps from the Resident Evil series showed up and made a, err ... killing (who invited them again?). Other less famous -- but equally undead -- winners included Ocarina of Time's ReDead (EEEEEEEE!), and the titular Stubbs from Stubbs the Zombie. Congrats, everyone ... except you, Larry King. Yeah, we've got the glasses ... we know.
Xbox 360 cleans up at Golden Joystick Awards
The Xbox 360 was well represented at 24th Annual Golden Joystick Awards held in London on Friday, taking home trophies in several categories:dT3 Innovation Award Xbox Live Marketplace (Microsoft)Xbox Game of the Year The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games)1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)Editors' Choice Award Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)PLAY.com Ultimate Game of the Year The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games)The Golden Joystick Awards are voted on by the gaming public, with the exception of the Editor's Choice, which, as you may have guessed, is decided by a panel of editors. Normally, we cynical bloggers don't put much stock in self-congratulatory awards shows, but this one feels less commercial than the wack fests sponsored by G4 and MTV.
Some BAFTA winners baffle; GRAW is game of the year
Last week the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (that's BAFTA) awarded the British Academy Video Games Awards in seventeen categories. While we're all about mainstream acknowledgment of our favorite entertainment medium, from a respectable organization like BAFTA no less, you know we're never ones to leave well enough alone. Reading through the list of winners is difficult to reconcile with the industry we read and write about everyday. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter was a pretty good game, but game of the year? At least it beat out game of the year competitor Black!While there are plenty of dubious winners, and even more dubious nominees, there are still plenty of welcome winners on the list, like Electroplankton, Guitar Hero, Shadow of the Colossus, and Psychonauts.While the US has separate academies for movies (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), television (The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences), and video games (The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences), BAFTA treats video games comparably with film and television. This is vastly different from many of the other video games awards ceremonies handed out by organizations tasked solely with judging the merits of interactive entertainment ... like, say, the Spike VGA awards. Sure, mainstream awards ceremonies may go a long way towards encouraging mainstream acceptance of video games, but we're pretty sure Joystiq readers aren't looking to awards shows to let them know what the best game of the year was. So 'stiq, was it GRAW?
Pioneer awarded Breakthrough Picture Quality
Popular Mechanics has awarded Pioneer the Breakthrough Picture Quality honors for their 60-inch Elite plasma PRO-1540HD. The Breakthrough Awards recognize ten individuals and teams, including one winner of the Breakthrough Leadership Award, who are helping to improve lives and expand possibilities in the realms of science, technology, and exploration. The magazine also highlights ten consumer products that represent milestones in design and engineering. The plasma design was given an award for its "brighter, sharper, richer picture quality, coupled with the introduction of an exclusive home networking feature," Pioneer's set includes a home networking feature called Home Media Gallery that allows users to connect the Elite plasma TV to an existing home network via Ethernet or USB. Users can access their favorite movies, music and photo images stored on their networked PC or any other DLNA 1.0 compliant device for immediate viewing in on the set. The sad part is, as much as we'd love to have this expensive, feature-filled set in the Engadget HD lounge, we still can't comprehend why this particular set got an award for its picture when it's not even 1080p. Of course, it accepts 1080p inputs, but its native resolution is only 720. I mean, heck, we're GIVING AWAY a set with higher resolution than this one! Ah well Pioneer, perhaps next year!
TGS 06: Best in Show, according to CESA
The mighty Computer Entertainment Software Association of Japan revealed the eleven titles they thought were the "best in show." Of those titles, two were exclusives for the PSP. Here are the winners, in no particular order: Elebits (Konami) for the Wii Gyakuten Saiban 4 [Phoenix Wright] (Capcom) for the DS Gran Turismo HD (Sony) for the PS3 The Eye of Judgment (Sony) for the PS3 Seiken Densetsu 4 [Dawn of Mana] (Square Enix) for the PS2 Tales of Destiny (Namco Bandai) for the PS2 Blue Dragon (Microsoft) for the Xbox 360 Heavenly Sword (Sony) for the PS3 Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (Konami) for the PSP Monster Hunter Portable 2nd (Capcom) for the PSP Lost Planet (Capcom) for the Xbox 360 This should come as no surprise. There are so many excellent games at TGS this year, that it must've been nigh impossible to even narrow the list down. But, for those of you that are battling a fanboy war, you might want to note that PSP got two titles, and the DS only got one.[Via Joystiq]
Loco Roco leads BAFTA nominations
BAFTA's British Academy Video Games Awards, to be held on October 5th, has announced their nominations. There were two games with the most nominations: Loco Roco for the PSP and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter for Xbox 360, both earning eight nominations each. The only other PSP-exclusive title to be nominated was Daxter. Read after the cut to see the categories these two games are competing in.
DS gets some love from BAFTA
It's the first time the U.K.'s gaming awards have been in their own spotlight (instead of relaxing in the shadow of the film and television awards), and the Nintendo DS has snared some of the attention. We would expect nothing less. Electroplankton and Brain Age both picked up nominations in multiple categories, and they'll be butting heads (brains?) when it comes to which game is Britain's choice for the most innovative of the year. Trauma Center got a nod as well in the simulation category. We're not sure the other nominees are even worth mentioning next to that one. Too bad there isn't a category for games that make you sweat, 'cause they're just that damned hard at times. Trauma Center has always made us idly wish for a third hand, but we love it like ice cream. Can't say we agree with everything they're doing across the pond, though -- they've got New Super Mario Bros. tagged as a children's game. Oh well. I guess we should all put it down and step away slowly. The winners will be announced on October 5. Check back for confetti and poppers when the DS snags some awards.
Video game BAFTA nominees announced
Part of the London Games Festival, the BAFTA awards for video games will help provide some recognition to gaming that's on a par with film and TV -- at least, in the UK. The nominees, announced today, cover a wide range of games -- from popular favourites such as Tomb Raider: Legend and Oblivion to the more off-beat in Guitar Hero and Katamari.Given the way the UK charts have been looking this summer, the mainstream games may well come out top in most categories, though we'd like to see more recognition for other titles. Fingers crossed; the awards are on October 5th.
Sony celebrates itself with the PlayStation Awards
Who doesn't like to give themselves a pat on the back sometimes? Sure, Sony's game division might lose up to $2 billion in the first year of the PS3, but that doesn't mean it can't partay~! The PlayStation Awards were revealed two days ago, and they celebrate the best-selling Sony games from May 2005 to May 2006. In fact, these awards are base solely on sales performance in Japan. Both PS2 and PSP games are eligible for the title, and here are the winners:Double Platinum AwardFinal Fantasy XII (PS2)Platinum AwardKingdom Hearts II (PS2)World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 (PS2)World Soccer Winning Eleven 10 (PS2)Gold AwardBiohazard 4 (PS2)Monster Hunter 2 (PS2)Monster Hunter Portable (PSP)Sengoku Musou 2 (PS2)Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (PS2)Dragon Ball Sparking! (PS2)Tales of the Abyss (PS2)Dai-3-Ji Super Robot Taisen Alpha: Shuuen no Ginga e (PS2)Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 12 (PS2)Only one PSP game garnered enough sales (500,000+) to get an award from Sony. Looking at this data, I think it's clear that one thing has to be done in order to get PSP sales higher in Japan: Bring World Soccer Winning Eleven 11 (that's what the next one would be called, right?) to the PSP. Ha![Via Gamasutra]
Captain Kirk to host CAEAA 2006 in September
If you Canadians are lucky, maybe he will croon for you, too ...The Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts has announced that famous canadian William Shatner will host the event. CAEAA Producer Holly Carinci expressed her elation, noting that they now "have a phenomenal host in Mr. Shatner that will guarantee a fun, exciting, and memorable evening for everyone." The CAEAA will take place on Thursday, September 14th at the River Rock Show Theatre in Vancouver. The nominees will be announced August 8th. The CAEAA has some interesting categories -- Best Writing, Best Innovation, Best Motion Graphics -- worth watching.
