2008 Global Online Game Awards Topped By WoW, Kartrider

The Korea Game Industry Agency, which organized the Seoul, South Korea-based first Global Online Game Awards, announced its award winners for 2008. The inaugural version of the show saw Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft voted the best role-playing game, and Nexon's Kartrider chosen as the best racing/casual game. Other award winning online games include Valve's Counterstrike Source for best first-person shooting game, NCsoft's City of Heroes/Villains for best adventure/action game, EA Sports' FIFA 09 for best top sports game, and CCP Games' Eve Online for best strategic simulation game. The contending games for each genre were selected according to scenario/planning, game graphics/character, game music/sound, game technology, and game creativity. Five games for each genre were presented to the event's judges, which included several figures from international game media publications such as Mo In, chief editor of Korea's The Games; Wang Wei Wen, chief reporter for Chinese game portal 17173; Michael Trier, chief editor for German PC magazine Game Star, and Simon Carless, publisher of Gamasutra.com and U.S. trade magazine Game Developer. "This event will serve as an important opportunity for Korea to contribute to the revitalization of the global online game industry," says Korea Game Industry Agency's president Choi Kyu-nam. "I sincerely congratulate excellent games from every nation including Korea, North America, and Europe, they truly deserve the recognition."