Last night, the winners of the Tenth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (AIAS) were revealed at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Gears of War turned out to be the big winner of the night, running away with 8 of the IAA awards, including Console, Action/Adventure and Overall Game of the Year. Nintendo also did quite well for itself, with three awards for Wii Sports (including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming) and one apiece for Brain Age and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
"Last night, we recognized the brightest and most innovative in video games in what can be considered one of the best years the video game industry has seen," said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS.
Among the personal honors were Lifetime Achievement Awards give out to former president of Nintendo of America, Minoru Arakawa, and chairman emeritus of Nintendo of America, Howard Lincoln. This marks the first year the AIAS has given out the Lifetime Achievement Awards. Dan Bunten (known later in life as Danielle Bunten Berry) became the tenth member of its Hall of Fame, joining previous honorees Trip Hawkins, Peter Molyneux, Yu Suzuki, Will Wright, John Carmack, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto and Richard Garriott. His award was accepted posthumously by his two sons.
Here are some of the winners last night:
Game of the Year, Overall: Gears of War (Microsoft Game Studios/Epic Games)
Game of the Year, Computer: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games/Bethesda Softworks)
Game of the Year, Console: Gears of War (Microsoft Game Studios/Epic Games)
Game of the Year, Handheld: Brain Age (Nintendo)
Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Wii Sports (Nintendo)