Gears takes top honors at DICE

The Academy has spoken, the winners have been announced, and Gears of War smokes the rest of the competition with a total of eight awards.

By Eugene Huang

Last night's gala event at DICE Summit 2007 turned out to be a great one for Epic Games. The development studio's prized creation, Gears of War, was awarded distinctions in eight different categories at the 10th annual Interactive Achievement Awards (IAA) held in The Joint at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Included among these awards was the Academy of Interactive Arts and Science's most prized honor - Overall Game of the Year.

Analysts and observers forecasted a neck-and-neck battle between Gears of War and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which won "Game of the Year" at the Spike TV Video Game Awards last December. But Gears of War surprised everyone in attendance after grabbing more awards than Oblivion, Wii Sports, and Guitar Hero combined. Wii Sports came in a distant second, with three awards given for Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Design.

This year's awards were not without controversy, as Capcom recently made headlines over the IAA's exclusion of their prized games, Okami and Dead Rising. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (sponsors of the IAA awards), however, maintains their position that a publisher must be a paid member of the AIAS in order for their games to be considered for nomination. Okami and Oblivion are set to go head-to-head for honors at the all-inclusive GDC Awards this March.

Below is a full list of the nominees, with the winners printed in bold type:

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)
Viva Pi?ata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Computer Game of the Year:

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)
Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)
Battlefield 2142 (D.I.C.E./Electronic Arts)
Prey (Human Head Games/2K Games)
Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs (Ensemble Studios/Microsoft Game Studios)

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming:

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Viva Pi?ata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)
LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Handheld Game of the Year:

LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo/Nintendo)
New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Animation:

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Daxter (ReadyatDawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)
Rayman Raving Rabidds (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)
Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports/Electronic Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction:

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix/Square Enix)
Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)
Viva Pi?ata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack:

Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)
SingStar Rocks! (Sony Computer Entertainment London/Sony Computer Entertainment)
FIFA '07 (Electronic Arts Canada/Electronic Arts)
Marc Ecko's Getting Up (The Collective/Atari)
Scarface (Radical Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment)

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition:

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)
Black (Criterion Games/Electronic Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design:

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Redstorm Studios/Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)
Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

Outstanding Character Performance - Male:

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent(Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)
Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Games)
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)
Daxter (ReadyatDawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Female:

Saints Row (Volition/THQ)
Desperate Housewives (Liquid Entertainment/Buena Vista Games)
Viva Pi?ata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)
Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Games)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

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/Nintendo)
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Funcom/Aspyr)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering:

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play:

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Redstorm Studios/Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft)
Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)
Chromehounds (From Software/Sega of America)
Battlefield 2142 (D.I.C.E./Electronic Arts)

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