Well... I was hoping for more award selections for Sins from the AIAS but Sins was nominated for only one award. The nomination for Sins was of course for the Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year award.
Given the competition and the track record for Sins this year with awards, I'll risk going on record and proclaim Sins as the winner now.
The AIAS awards are pretty much the most coveted awards for the industry from a professional standpoint.
The official write up is as follows:
CALABASAS, CA – January 23, 2009 – The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences® (AIAS) today announced the nominees for the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards®. The nominations for the peer-based awards have been dominated by blockbuster game, LittleBigPlanet (Sony Computer Entertainment America) with an astounding 10 nominations from industry leaders and members of the interactive entertainment software business. In addition, finalists with multiple nominations include: Gears of War 2 (Microsoft Game Studios), Left 4 Dead (Valve Software), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.), Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks), and Fable II (Microsoft Game Studios).
The awards ceremony will take place during the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit® 2009, on February 19th at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, with comedian, actor and proud game enthusiast, Jay Mohr, returning for his fourth year to host the award ceremony.
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.
'This was an exciting year for games,' said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. "The depth of talent and creativity in this industry continues to amaze me and we are honored to highlight some of the most impressive games of the year at the Interactive Achievement Awards. The 2009 nominees indeed reflect a stronghold of talent embodying the best and brightest in this field."
On a side note, I'm not happy about the category changes that seem to take place every year but I guess they are trying to find their place so to speak. For what it is worth this is the first time a SD published game has been nominated. I also think that someone at SD should contact them about the "Best Downloadable Game" award which is noticeably missing this year and ask to have it changed to the "Best Download Service Award".
I also think they should have a "Best Customer Support" Award but sadly I can't make any suggestions. One has to be a member of the industry to do such things - hint, hint...
