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AIAS Award Winners Announced

Posted by Zonk on from the last-awards-show-for-a-while,-I-hope dept.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has selected their 2004 award winners from the bounty of excellent titles released last year. From the site: "These peer-based awards are dedicated to recognizing the outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the $30 billion worldwide entertainment software industry."

36 comments

  1. Awards... by game+kid · · Score: 1
    from the last-awards-show-for-a-while,-I-hope dept.

    Guess the Oscars are not too soon then.

    Interesting that a certain Half-Life 2 has won 9 of the 39 AIAS awards (for those not reading TFA). I played it but I got tired when my save states there were not working too well.

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    1. Re:Awards... by SansTinfoilHat · · Score: 1

      Interesting that a certain Half-Life 2 has won 9 of the 39 AIAS awards

      Don't underscore it. Half-Life 2 wasn't eligible for all 39 awards. A good deal of those 39 were genre or console specific.

    2. Re:Awards... by Suddenly_Dead · · Score: 1

      I doubt he's underscoring it. At that, there were only 7 or so others HL2 could have been eligable for. Not a bad showing.

      Personally, Half-life 2, while quite fun, has a limited amount of playability until the good multiplayer mods start coming out. A good single player campaign is nice and all, but once that's done, you need something else, especially with the price of games.

      I just overused The Great Comma. Oh well.

  2. well... by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1, Troll

    At least Katamari Damacy got mentioned. The rest of the games were just the overhyped big budget games (not including Rome: Total War, which rocks).

    1. Re:well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I think "overhyped" is not the only thing that got HL2 up there ; In the end, in its genre, they delivered a great game, ifnot a great sandbox for some new mods.

    2. Re:well... by game+kid · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ...and HL2 has good graphics (though with buggy shadows), I think.

      I haven't played many of the games on the list though, so I don't know how stellar it compares...but I do think GTA: San Andreas comes awfully close at the very least, and I hear that Halo 2 has little or no "lag" from a trusted source (my brother) though I haven't touched that one.

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    3. Re:well... by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I think "overhyped" is not the only thing that got HL2 up there ; In the end, in its genre, they delivered a great game, ifnot a great sandbox for some new mods.

      Plus the amazing art direction as well - Valve well deserved the award for that.

      And I still really like the plot and the manner in which it was presented - what other games have the player (perhaps) freeing the world from alien domination but only show fleeting glimpses of the aliens in question?

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    4. Re:well... by h0mer · · Score: 1

      Thanks for ruining it, asshole.

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  3. FINALLY by bomjolo · · Score: 0

    Someone finally puts Half-Life 2 in its place at the top over halo2.

  4. WoW? by Gaijin_Judoka · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I don't see how WoW could win over CoH in the MMORPG slot with all the issues it has had. But I guess actually being able to play the game isn't taken into consideration.

    1. Re:WoW? by mZam · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Perhaps because there's something to still do once you get to the highest level, other then just roll a new character and be amazed at how cool you can make your super hero be?

      The content alone makes WoW the clear choice. Add the music, the sound, the immersion, the events (xmas in your favorite city?), and the amount of people to play with, and yea, its clear why WoW won.

    2. Re:WoW? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Because there were no server issues.

      OK, there were, but only for a select group of idiots that wouldn't move their characters two days after the launch when Blizzard doubled the number of servers.

      Basically, the only people having issues were warned in the first week that they were overloading the servers and that they should strongly consider playing on other servers instead of taking their level 10 character to level 60.

      They didn't, and caused all sort of server issues as the servers were vastly overloaded from what they were tested for.

      I've never not been able to play and have run into no problems since I've started a week after WoW launched. The server issues are vastly overreported.

    3. Re:WoW? by snuf23 · · Score: 1

      What? Nothing to do in once you get to level 50?
      Surely you jest!
      You can:

      1. Help power level everyone's alternate characters that they don't want to slog through the grind.
      2. Make a new alien archetype! Um I guess that's kind of in the roll up a new character thing.
      3. Ummm... I know! Give away bojillions of influence to low level newbies!
      4. Ummmm... run all those low level task force missions you never got around to?
      5. Ummmmm... collect all those badges you never got around to?
      6. Ummmmmmm.... Sit around a bitch about how there is nothing to do?
      7. Ummmmmmmm.... Smirk and laugh at how WoW players have to wait in queues?

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    4. Re:WoW? by slaker · · Score: 1

      Or you can play through all the tons and tons and tons of high-level missions that you didn't get to before you hit 50. I seem to have a never-ending stream of arch-villains waiting to be defeated. Plus the Clues from the high level missions are COOL.

      Personally I'm glad for a game with no bullshit camping, no bullshit crafting, no bitching about who gets the loot, and no stupid Blizzard "lets kill bnetd" management.

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  5. List of Nominees? by crashnbur · · Score: 1

    Is there a list of nominees anywhere that show what the winners were up against?

    1. Re:List of Nominees? by shoptroll · · Score: 1

      They were listed on the same page prior to the awards. Now that the winners have been announced all the nominees have been removed from the page.

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  6. God...damn.... by Pinkoir · · Score: 1

    Big ups to Judy Dench for Outstanding Character Performance - Female in "Golden Eye: Rouge Agent".

    Is that the one where you get all pissed off and decide to apply makeup to world leaders?

    Why is it that nobody on the planet can spell the word "rogue"?

    -Pinkoir

    1. Re:God...damn.... by wilbz · · Score: 1
      Why is it that nobody on the planet can spell the word "rogue"?

      . . . it has me seeing red.

      Seriously, it's only a matter of time before some dumbass starts a Rogue-only guild that's something along the lines of "The Rouge Army". Then they'll have to play the spin game and say they meant it as a reference to The Red Army.

    2. Re:God...damn.... by Ford+Prefect · · Score: 1

      Irrelevant factoid - when I enter 'Soviet' into a text message on my mobile phone, the predictive text thingy suggests 'Rouge' just before I press the final button.

      It amuses me, anyway. ;-)

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    3. Re:God...damn.... by Alkaiser · · Score: 1

      Not only are you a "Rouge Agent" now...that stupid page is one big link.

      On top of that, it's JUDI Dench, not "Judy", and she's a Dame...you know...one of those official title thingys.

      Rouge Agent could be an interesting game though....

      Scene: Backstage at the Miss Universe Pageant.

      *Goldeneye sneaks into Miss France's room and chloroforms her.*

      Miss France, after coming to and seeing herself in the mirror:

      (Shriek of horror.)

      Security Guard 1: "Chief, another model has come down with whore-like facial patterns!"

      Security Chief: "3? In one day?! I think at this point we have to rule out coincidence, boys...I think we're looking at the work of a (dramatic pause with raised eyebrow) Rouge Agent."

      (cue Bond music.)

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    4. Re:God...damn.... by Atrax · · Score: 1

      "The Rouge Army"

      Khmer Rouge?

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  7. "Outstanding Character Performance" by fondue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is just jaw-droppingly idiotic.

    Games should be awarded as games, not for pretending to be films. See the Bafta games awards (www.bafta.com) for a more competent attempt at the idea.

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    1. Re:"Outstanding Character Performance" by PocketPick · · Score: 1

      I would certainly agree. Anyone can tell you that a single character's voice acting does not define the character itself, but only enhances it. Why? Because so many other factors (appearance, motion, etc) are integral in determining the quality of the character (most of which the voice actor is not involved in). This is a striking contrast to your average film with real individuals, in which the actor embodies more than just the voice. Film institutions realize this, and thus do not award individual voice acting for things like animated films.

      If your someone who still doesn't believe me, then just take a look at the awards. Best female voice acting to Julie Dench? Her acting wasn't bad, but it was a FAR CRY from award winning. It was just plausible (as one should expect).

      As such, I would think it would be more logical to provide a 'Excellence in Voice Acting' award to a game in general, instead of individual people. At least that award would take into account a combination of efforts.

    2. Re:"Outstanding Character Performance" by badasscat · · Score: 1

      This is just jaw-droppingly idiotic.

      Games should be awarded as games, not for pretending to be films. See the Bafta games awards (www.bafta.com) for a more competent attempt at the idea.

      Yeah, because it's not as if the British Academy of Film and Television see any parallels between games and films...

      You think the category of "Art Direction" was invented for video games?

      I think the fact is film and video games have more in common than you seem to recognize. Surely you realize that the "outstanding character performance" relates to voice acting, do you not? Is Judy Dench not still an actor if she's in a game? Does she suddenly have to turn in her SAG card? It's not as if they hired her to plow snow off the studio lot; she's acting in Goldeneye: Rogue Agent (or "Rouge Agent", as AIAS lists it).

      I understand your wanting games to be games, but I also think voice actors should get their just recognition, especially given the poor state of voice acting in most games. When it's done well, it should be rewarded. That can only encourage higher standards in the future.

      I actually have more of a problem with both BAFTA and AIAS listing video games under a generic "interactive" category - under the same main heading as "Children's Learning" for BAFTA, for example. AIAS actually only does games, which makes their moniker all the more puzzling. I'm sure eight years ago "interactive entertainment" sounded more respectable than "video games", but today it just sounds like a dumb marketing buzzword phrase.

      btw, I can tell you from firsthand past experience that the guys at Rockstar are about to bust some kneecaps right about now.

  8. Sould Calibur II?! by DreadPiratePizz · · Score: 1

    How Mortal Kombat Deception managed to get "Best fighting game", over Soul Calibur II is BEYOND ME.

    1. Re:Sould Calibur II?! by Chonguey · · Score: 1

      Maybe it's because Soul Caliber II is from 2003.

      See, they give these awards out on a yearly basis...

    2. Re:Sould Calibur II?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SCII won last year's award.

      This year was pretty slim pickings for fighting games... as evidenced by a MK game even being nominated.

  9. How is anyone... by mythosaz · · Score: 1

    How can anyone take these awards seriously? I mean, they weren't on The Network for Men(tm) hosted by a top-40 rapper!

    1. Re:How is anyone... by ilyagordon · · Score: 0

      The TV awards show you refer to was a viewer's choice show that is in no way related to the awards given by this organization. The AIAS is an industry-only organization whose awards are voted on by industry peers.

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  10. bad by pieisgood · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wow, these awards are horrible... all they mention are the games that were hyped. I doubt any body on that awards site has even played any of those games.

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    1. Re:bad by shoptroll · · Score: 1

      Last time I checked Katamari Damacy was as far away from hyped as you could get. I remember one of my friends going to GDC last year and coming back and talking about it, but we never thought it'd be released here.

      The fact that the game pretty much sold as a budget-title and word of mouth alone is pretty impressive.

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    2. Re:bad by pieisgood · · Score: 1

      well considering that Halo 2 won best console game, I am still very skeptical.

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  11. Right here... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.interactive.org/newsandevents8.asp

  12. Story and character developmet Awadrd goes to... by unclethursday · · Score: 1
    FABLE?!?!?!?!?

    Let's see, the story is as minimalistic as possible to even claim having one, and there is ZERO character development (beyond stats).

    Must be a lot of people out there who kiss up to Molyneaux, or they were on a lot of drugs when they voted on that category. I just praise the gods it didn't win RPG of the year.

  13. OK by The-Bus · · Score: 1
    Some very obvious points:
    • Why can't these people do an awards show instead of Spike TV?
    • The games are not all based on hype, Katamari Damacy won two awards.
    • EA's Madden series did not win! Sega won! Be joyful, EA haters.


    If "most hype" truly determined winners, we'd see a lot more of Doom 3, Driv3r, and Fable.
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  14. To clarify by Admiral+Ackbar+8 · · Score: 1

    Overhyped != Bad

    I was just lamenting that it was more of the same.