The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has held its 10th annual awards ceremony in Las Vegas for outstanding achievements in the video game industry–and if you were a member of the Gears of War production team, the night was an amazing one. The lauded shooter walked away with no less than eight awards, including Overall Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, and Action/Adventure Game of the Year.
The heavily favored Gears of War simply dominated the competition; the game which won the next most awards was Wii Sports, taking home three honors in the categories of Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering, and Outstanding Innovation in Gaming. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which scored highly in polls and reviews during 2006, garnered two awards for Computer Game of the Year and Role Playing Game of the Year.
Michael Capps, CEO of Epic Games, expressed his joy at having won the Overall Game of the Year Award by saying, "Getting sales is great, making the game we wanted and having people buy it and enjoy it is fantastic. But having our peers say it’s the best game of the year? That’s insane. We beat the Wii!"
The AIAS awards have recently fallen under the scrutiny and criticism of the press and some game publishers for not encompassing and representing everyone in the industry, consequently casting doubt upon the fairness and objectivity of the honors. Despite the criticisms leveled against the AIAS, the game awards are a major event in the industry, and those who receive the coveted trophies can walk away satisfied with the knowledge that they have been recognized for their achievements in game production.
The following is a list of the winners and nominees in each of the AIAS awards categories. The winners are designated with an asterisk (*)
Overall Game of the Year
*Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)
Console Game of the Year
*Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)
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