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10th Annual AIAS Award Nominees Announced

by Steven Rodriguez - January 22, 2007, 5:25 pm EST
Total comments: 11 Source: AIAS Website

Twilight Princess earns nominations in six categories; Wii Sports and Brain Age also show up a few times.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences released the nominations for the 10th Annual AIAS Awards, to be awarded in Las Vegas at the DICE Summit early next month.

Among the list of nominees, Nintendo again has a strong presence this year, with 17 chances to win in 11 categories. Leading the charge is Zelda: Twilight Princess with six nominations, including console and overall game of the year honors. Wii Sports is up for the same two awards, as well as three others, making it Nintendo's second-best contender. Brain Age also has multiple considerations, with four.

Microsoft leads the way with 18 total nominations, with the bulk of them for Epic's Gears of War, which has a pack-leading 10 nods.

Other Wii games to receive nominations are Ubisoft's Rayman: Raving Rabbids with two, and Excite Truck with just one. A partial list showing the categories with Nintendo games nominated can be seen below. For the full list of categories and nominees, go to the AIAS website.

Overall Game of the Year

Gears of War - Epic Games/Microsoft

Wii Sports - Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - 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

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo

Wii Sports - Nintendo

Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Viva Piñata - Microsoft/Rare

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Wii Sports - Nintendo

Nintendo Brain Age - Nintendo

Gears of War - Epic Games/Microsoft

Viva Piñata - Rare/Microsoft

LocoRoco - Sony Computer Entertainment

Outstanding Achievement in Story and Character Development

Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock - GameTap/Telltale Games

Saints Row - Volition/THQ

24: The Game - Sony Online Entertainment/2k Games

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey - Funcom/Aspyr

Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering

Wii Sports - Nintendo

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks/2k Games

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo

Gears of War - Epic Games/Microsoft

Company of Heroes - Relic/THQ

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

Wii Sports - Nintendo

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks/2k Games

Company of Heroes - Relic/THQ

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo

Nintendo Brain Age - Nintendo

Racing Game of the Year

Test Drive Unlimited - Eden Studios/Atari

Burnout Revenge - Criterion Games/Electronic Arts

Excite Truck - Nintendo

Full Auto 2: Battlelines - Pseudo Interactive/Sega

Need for Speed: Carbon - EA Black Box/Electronic Arts

Children's Game of the Year

LocoRoco - Sony Computer Entertainment

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team - The Pokemon Co./CHUNSOFT Co./Nintendo

Disney's Kim Possible: What's the Switch - A2M/Buena Vista Games

Over the Hedge - Edge of Reality/Activision

Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning - Krome Studios/Sierra Entertainment

Action/Adventure Game of the Year

Gears of War - Epic Games/Microsoft

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Nintendo

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent - Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft

Saints Row - Volition/THQ

Daxter - ReadyatDawn/Sony Computer Entertainment

Handheld Game of the Year

LocoRoco - Sony Computer Entertainment

Elite Beat Agents - iNiS/Nintendo

New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo

Nintendo Brain Age - Nintendo

Lego Star Wars II - TT Games/Lucas Arts

Family Game of the Year

Rayman Raving Rabidds - Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft

Viva Piñata - Rare/Microsoft

Guitar Hero 2 - Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Lego Star Wars II - TT Games/Lucas Arts

Nintendo Brain Age - Nintendo

Talkback

ArtimusJanuary 22, 2007

I have to say that I am, personally, still reeling from how innovative Gears of War is.

AcefonduJanuary 22, 2007

Gears is finally a game that is over-hyped and meets its hype, unlike Halo 2 which was just outright over-hyped.

Okami got completely snubbed from categories it should have been in like Best Art! Give me a break.

Zelda deserves every accolade it gets, I don't care about how it doesn't really differentiate from other Zelda's.

Did anyone else die of laughter when they saw Wii Sports with a Game of the Year nod?
And, does anyone else think Nintendo is kicking their own ass for giving us Wii Sports for free now?

NinGurl69 *hugglesJanuary 22, 2007

Wii Sports attracted public attention like no other game did. It's justified.

Okami is a Capcom title, and we know Capcom doesn't participate in AIAS cuz they don't pay up to be a member. AIAS is an industry club.

Again, it's another popularity contest among insiders that will fail.

AcefonduJanuary 22, 2007

Attracting public attention doesn't warrent a game of the year nod. It's hardly a game. I'm not trying to take away from the absurd awesomeness that is Wii Sports, but come on, there are other games to fit that slot.

And I had no clue Capcom doesn't participate in the awards.

What failure? Nintendo, and Konami are failures? From that statement I conclude you mean anyone who participates in these awards will fail.

ArtimusJanuary 22, 2007

Quote

Originally posted by: Acefondu
Attracting public attention doesn't warrent a game of the year nod. It's hardly a game. I'm not trying to take away from the absurd awesomeness that is Wii Sports, but come on, there are other games to fit that slot.

And I had no clue Capcom doesn't participate in the awards.

What failure? Nintendo, and Konami are failures? From that statement I conclude you mean anyone who participates in these awards will fail.


How isn't it a game? I think it defines "game of the year" in a LOT of ways. Remember that unlike the Oscar the word "best" isn't in the category name.

IceColdJanuary 22, 2007

Quote

Did anyone else die of laughter when they saw Wii Sports with a Game of the Year nod?
Not really.. it's my pick.

KDR_11kJanuary 23, 2007

Glad to see Company of Heroes getting some nominations. Seriously people, just because it's a WW2 game doesn't mean it's bad.

oohhboyHong Hang Ho, Staff AlumnusJanuary 23, 2007

I can't believe that Saints Row got nominated for anything. Sam must have f'ed someone up to get that happening.

Ian SaneJanuary 23, 2007

"And, does anyone else think Nintendo is kicking their own ass for giving us Wii Sports for free now?"

I doubt WiiSports would have been as popular if they didn't make it a pack-in. A lot of people were almost surprised by how much they enjoyed it. Those same people would probably have never tried it otherwise, particularly since Nintendo has that strange policy where they don't demo GOOD games in the Wii kiosks.

Let's go Zelda. It's been far too long since a game that won Game of the Year actually deserved it. It seems since SSX for the PS2 won it the category should be called "Most Hyped Game of the Year".

DjunknownJanuary 23, 2007

Quote

Those same people would probably have never tried it otherwise, particularly since Nintendo has that strange policy where they don't demo GOOD games in the Wii kiosks.


I don't know about the rest of North America, but the EB/GS's in my area are putting other games in the kiosks. I sampled Wario Ware Smooth Moves last week to my delight. Before that, I tried Wii Sports sans Nunchuck which basically sold me on the system. So far, so good...

Its a good list this year. The complete has a nice mix of the usual suspects and some unexpected titles. Check out the Web site which has the winners from past years. It was a nice stroll down memory lane for me at least...

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