The Academy Awards Honors Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and The Orange Box

News

February 8, 2008

The Academy Awards Honors Call of Duty 4, Bioshock, and The Orange Box

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Inducts Mike Morhaime Into Hall of Fame and Bestows Lifetime Achievement Award on Ken Kutaragi

And the winner is… Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision), BioShock (2K Games) and The Orange Box (Electronic Arts and Valve Software); each picked up four statues at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards last night. The award ceremony was hosted by comedian and avid video game player Jay Mohr at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences also honored two industry icons for their tremendous contributions. Mike Morhaime, president, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment®, was inducted as the eleventh member of the prestigious AIAS Hall of Fame and Ken Kutaragi, former president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., received the highly coveted Lifetime Achievement Award.

“The Interactive Achievement Awards is the forum for the industry’s best game makers to evaluate the merits of more than 160 titles submitted for consideration and honor the best in technical innovation and gameplay experience,” said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. “This year’s winners truly represent the best cross section of interactive entertainment demonstrating the power of next-generation platforms that have come of age.”

These peer-based awards recognize the outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry.

The winners in each category are as follows:

Overall Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Producer: Mark Rubin
Game Director: Jason West
Creative Director: Vince Zampella

Console Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Producer: Mark Rubin
Game Director: Jason West
Creative Director: Vince Zampella

Computer Game of the Year: The Orange Box

Publisher: Electronic Arts, Valve Software
Developer: Valve Software
Producer: Gabe Newell

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Rock Band

Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Producer: Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom
Game Director: Greg LoPiccolo
Creative Director: Josh Randall

Handheld Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Publisher: Nintendo of America
Developer: Nintendo
Producer: Shigeru Miyamoto
Director: Eiji Aonuma

Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

Publisher: Vivendi Games
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Producer: Frank Pearce
Game Director: Rob Pardo
Creative Director: Chris Metzen

Cellular Game of the Year: skate.

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Mobile
Producer: David Manriquez
Game Director: David Manriquez
Creative Director: Derek Zakaib

Role-Playing Game of the Year: Mass Effect

Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: BioWare
Producer: Casey Hudson
Lead Designer: Preston Watamaniuk
Art Director: Derek Watts

Racing Game of the Year: Motorstorm

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
Developer: Evolution Studios
Producer: Simon Benson
Creative Director: Paul Hollywood

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: The Orange Box: Portal

Publisher: Electronic Arts, Valve Software
Developer: Valve Software
Lead Game Designer: Robin Walker
Game Director: Kim Swift
Creative Director: David Speyrer

Adventure Game of the Year: Super Mario Galaxy

Publisher: Nintendo of America
Developer: Nintendo
Producer: Takao Shimizu
Game Director: Yoshiaki Koizumi
Creative Director: Shigeru Miyamoto

Sports Game of the Year: skate.

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Black Box
Executive Producer: Scott Blackwood

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Los Angeles
Producer: Mike Verdu
Creative Director: Matt Britton

Action Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Publisher: Activision
Developer: Infinity Ward
Producer: Mark Rubin
Game Director: Jason West
Creative Director: Vince Zampella

Family Game of the Year: Rock Band

Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Producer: Tracy Rosenthal-Newson
Game Director: Greg LoPiccolo
Creative Director: Josh Randall

Outstanding Achievement in Animation: Assassin’s Creed

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Animation Director: Alex Drouin
Lead Animators: Elspeth Tory, Sylvain Bernard

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: BioShock

Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: 2K Boston, 2K Australia
Visual Art Director: Scott Sinclair
Technical Art Directors: Hogarth De La Plante, Andrew James, Jay Kyburz, Nate Wells

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: Crysis