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NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: WindyMan on February 13, 2004, 08:57:15 AM

Title: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: WindyMan on February 13, 2004, 08:57:15 AM
Nintendo has fifteen nominations, eight for Wind Waker, all five in handhelds, and one up for Game of the Year.

ACADEMY OF INTERACTIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES (AIAS) ANNOUNCES FINALISTS FOR THE 7th ANNUAL INTERACTIVE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS


Videogame Industry's Most Prestigious Award Show to Take Place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas on March 4


CULVER CITY, CA – (February 13, 2004) – The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), the professional organization of the interactive entertainment industry, today announced the finalists for the 7th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, which will be held at Rain in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, March 4, 2004.


The Academy will present awards in 36 craft, console, computer, and online categories. Award highlights include an overall "Game of the Year" and Game of the Year in different genres, as well as the prestigious Hall of Fame Award. Electronic Arts led the finalist count with 29, followed closely by Ubisoft and Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA) with 23 and 21 finalists respectively.


"We are looking forward to recognizing truly outstanding achievement in videogames at our 7th Annual Awards event," said Gordon Bellamy, Executive Director of the AIAS. "The developers and publishers who will be honored at this event have helped to establish the videogame industry as the fastest growing form of entertainment throughout the world."


 Including the five nominations for handheld game of the year, Nintendo has fifteen in total, eight of which are for Zelda: The Wind Waker.  This pales in comparison to Prince of Persia's thirteen, which bagged the most nominations, by far.


Here is an abbreviated list of the categories in which a Nintendo-developed game is nominated for.  For the full list of all the catagories and nominees, visit the AIAS awards page.


 Overall Game of the Year


Console Game of the Year

  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • Ratchet & ClankTM: Going Commando, published by SCEA, developed by Insomniac Games
  • SSX 3, published by Electronic Arts, developed by EA Canada
  • Star Wars®: Knights of the Old RepublicTM, published by LucasArts, developed by Bioware Corp.
  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo


Outstanding Innovation in Console Gaming

  • Eye ToyTM, published by SCEA, developed by SCEA
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • SSX 3, published by Electronic Arts, developed by EA Canada
  • Star Wars®: Knights of the Old RepublicTM, published by LucasArts, developed by Bioware Corp.
  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo


Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Jak IITM , published by SCEA, developed by Naughty Dog
  • Ratchet & ClankTM: Going Commando, published by SCEA, developed by Insomniac Games
  • Final Fantasy® X-2, published by Square Enix, developed by Square Enix


Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering

  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Jak IITM, published by SCEA, developed by Naughty Dog
  • SSX 3, published by Electronic Arts, developed by EA Canada
  • Ratchet & ClankTM: Going Commando, published by SCEA, developed by Insomniac Games


Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering

  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Star Wars®: Knights of the Old RepublicTM, published by LucasArts, developed by Bioware Corp.
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • Jak IITM, published by SCEA, developed by Naughty Dog


Outstanding Achievement in Character and Story Development

  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Star Wars®: Knights of the Old RepublicTM, published by LucasArts, developed by Bioware Corp.
  • Ratchet & ClankTM: Going Commando, published by SCEA, developed by Insomniac Games
  • Beyond Good & EvilTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft


Console Platform Action Adventure Game of the Year

  • Jak IITM, published by SCEA, developed by Naughty Dog
  • Prince of Persia: The Sands of TimeTM, published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft Montreal
  • Ratchet & ClankTM: Going Commando, published by SCEA, developed by Insomniac Games
  • The Legend of Zelda®: The Wind Waker, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Viewtiful JoeTM, published by Capcom, developed by Capcom Production Studio 4


Console Children's Title of the Year

  • Mario Party® 5, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • SpongeBob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom, published by THQ, developed by Heavy Iron
  • Backyard Basketball, published by Atari, developed by Humongous
  • Tak and the Power of Juju, published by THQ, developed by Avalanche


Console Racing Game of the Year

  • Burnout 2: Point of Impact, published by Acclaim, developed by Criterion Games
  • F-Zero® GX, published by Nintendo, developed by Amusement Vision
  • Mario Kart®: Double Dash!!TM, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Need for Speed Underground, published by Electronic Arts, developed by EA Canada
  • Project Gotham Racing® 2, published by Microsoft, developed by Bizarre Creations


Handheld Game of the Year

  • Mario & LuigiTM Superstar Saga, published by Nintendo, developed by Alpha Dreams
  • Advance Wars 2, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Fire EmblemTM, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo
  • Final Fantasy® Tactics Advance, published by Nintendo, developed by Square Enix
  • Pokémon Ruby, published by Nintendo, developed by Nintendo

Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Ian Sane on February 13, 2004, 11:56:17 AM
I'm betting on Knights of the Old Rebublic taking home the console crown.  Why?  Because two years in a row the big hyped Xbox game of the year has won that prize over arguably better deserving games (Halo over GTA3; Splinter Cell over Metroid Prime).

I have to question the nominees for the innovative category.  Aside from the Eye Toy how are ANY of those other titles that innovative?  They're good games but they fail to really break any new ground.  I mean SSX3?!  How different is this from SSX Tricky?  And as much as I love Wind Waker from a gameplay perspective it's Ocarina of Time with cartoon graphics.  Where the hell is Warioware which is virtually entirely unique?

I got to say that either this was the year of generic "me too" game design or these awards are total horsesh!t.

And why do people always lump Zelda with platformers?  There's NO JUMP BUTTON!  It's NOT a platformer.
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Bill Aurion on February 13, 2004, 12:45:17 PM
Wind Waker wasn't that innovative in terms of gameplay, but the design is fully deserving of the award...
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Ian Sane on February 13, 2004, 01:51:45 PM
True but it is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering which is what I would put the toon shading under.  And even if you consider that innovative enough why is SSX3 in that group?  I'm not trying to bash that game or anything I seriously don't know what innovation that title has.
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on February 13, 2004, 02:09:06 PM
AIAS have become as screwey as the Oscars.  They don't make sense anymore.

I prefer the GDC, where they gave Metroid Prime and Retro lots of due recognition.
Title: RE:AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Evil_Leprican on February 13, 2004, 02:33:00 PM
I cant believe poeple liked Prince of Persia so much. Sure it was fun, but 9 hours long?!? The original hardly added any gamplay to it.  Wind Waker desrvese to win this so much, it is a game that anyone can pick up and play. If they look past the wierd graphics and realize gameply makes a game good or bad any age of person will love it.  

Lately only games with lots of violence and sex related themes seem to be selling well. I would really like to see a change in this because I grew up on games that any one would like but now kids are forced to play games like Grand Theft auto :Vice City.  Yeah its a fun game but developers shouldnt have to make games based on themes like this just to sell there game.

Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker    ROCkS!  
Title: RE:AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Bill Aurion on February 13, 2004, 03:13:42 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
True but it is nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering which is what I would put the toon shading under.  And even if you consider that innovative enough why is SSX3 in that group?  I'm not trying to bash that game or anything I seriously don't know what innovation that title has.

Yeah, they were really stooping... :\

(Oh, and Evil, your avatar is way too big...64x64 is the max here)
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Djunknown on February 13, 2004, 03:40:58 PM
One could say that Halo and Splinter Cell were a bit over-hyped, but if you have people saying KOTOR is the best thing since the original trilogy, c'mon, you have to give it some credit. Besides its on PC anyway.

Just as I predicted last year, this Zelda will take home some hardware despite its 'negative' image, leaving rival fanboys dumbfounded. And it will win at least 1 category.

Viewtiful Joe and F-Zero made on the list too,  so the Academy isn't completely off its rocker. If an N-Gage game made it on that list, yeah, then its time to completely discredit the Academy.

Title: RE:AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: nolimit19 on February 13, 2004, 03:41:05 PM
i like how mario party 5 got a childrens game of hte year nomination. lol why didnt they give it to windwaker and mario kart?
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Bill Aurion on February 13, 2004, 08:15:07 PM
Hurhurhur, Wind Woker is t3h kidie cause it hass c3l-shad!ng!
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: WesDawg on February 14, 2004, 04:30:33 PM
Why didn't FZero of Viewtiful Joe get highlighted in the article? Are you picking winners?

These do seem screwy though. Not that KOTOR and Max Payne 2 aren't great, but including them and GOTY ignoring things like FZero or snubbing or any GBA game, or Viewtiful Joe for craps sake, seems wierd. More hype driven than really meaningful. Having finally played Splinter Cell I feel confident that last year was a pretty big rip off too. AIAS is loosing credibility quickly. Then again, I really hate PoP too (it's just to damn repetitive), so maybe my tastes are just to old for these new fangled games that are coming out.
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Tuxedo.Bond on February 15, 2004, 08:08:35 PM
I think they only highlighted games that were developed by Nintendo.
Title: RE:AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: Deguello on February 15, 2004, 08:43:52 PM
"I have to question the nominees for the innovative category. Aside from the Eye Toy how are ANY of those other titles that innovative?"

I'd even contest the EyeToy.  The Gameboy Camera has existed for years.... Oh Wait CONSOLE Gaming.  Right.  The Innovations of both handhelds and consoles are considered totally separate from each other.  Seems a rather convenient classification, no?  And if the Eyetoy is considered innovative, Where's Pacman Vs.?  You may not care for connectivity, but it certianly is more innovative than Star Wars: Knights of the Old Re-used BioWare Engine.

But, my opinions aside, Go Zelda, Go Viewtiful Joe and more importanly, go F-Zero!
Title: RE:AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: mouse_clicker on February 15, 2004, 08:52:14 PM
But wait, Deguello! Bioware zoomed in on Knights of the Old Republic! =O You're telling me that's not innovative?!?!

If you ask me it seems like the AIAS just picked a few big name games, like KOTOR, Wind Waker, and Prince of Persia, and nominated them for just about everything, regardless of whether or not they deserved it.  
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: thecubedcanuck on February 16, 2004, 01:43:06 AM
"and even if you consider that innovative enough why is SSX3 in that group?"

I am guessing for the way it streams image from the disk. Playing the whole mountain in one shot, it takes almost an hour. I am guessing some innovation was in use here. Then again I dont know and dont really care, as video game awards mean zippo to me.
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: KDR_11k on February 16, 2004, 08:03:33 AM
Isn't that more a "technical archievement", though?
Title: RE:AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: mouse_clicker on February 16, 2004, 08:59:14 AM
Quote
I am guessing for the way it streams image from the disk. Playing the whole mountain in one shot, it takes almost an hour. I am guessing some innovation was in use here.


Metroid Prime used the same technique 2 years ago, and True Crime used it better than SSX 3 last year, yet neither of those were nominated for innovation (at least not True Crime).  
Title: RE: AIAS Award Finalists Revealed
Post by: thecubedcanuck on February 16, 2004, 11:43:12 AM
"Metroid Prime used the same technique 2 years ago, and True Crime used it better than SSX 3 last year, yet neither of those were nominated for innovation (at least not True Crime)."

This is why I said I didnt really know, or care.