BioWare's Mass Effect 2 Wins Game Of The Year At Interactive Achievement Awards

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences named BioWare’s blockbuster role-playing game Mass Effect 2 game of the year at the Interactive Achievement Awards in Las Vegas on Thursday night. Hosted once again by comedian Jay Mohr, who poked fun at his cancelled sitcom and said that “BlizzCon makes [the IAAs] look like The Kennedy Center Honors,” the IAAs recognized other games including Rovio’s mobile darling Angry Birds HD and Playdead’s indie hit Limbo. Rockstar San Diego’s Red Dead Redemption won five awards – the most of the night. BioWare heads Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk also accepted the first joint AIAS Hall of Fame Award at the event. The pair was introduced by John Riccitiello, CEO of BioWare parent Electronic Arts. “I’m not sure when I met Ray and Greg, but my lawyers insist it was not a secret meeting set up by their agents,” said Riccitiello – a joke in reference to accusations related to Activision’s suit against EA and former Infinity Ward studio heads. Zynga’s CityVille won the award in the social networking game category, beating out other games including Zynga’s own FrontierVille. “Zynga has two horses in that race so there’s a three out of five chance that an actual game might win,” comedian Mohr joked. Industry veteran Don Daglow introduced Pinball Construction Set and Raster Blaster creator Bill Budge with the Pioneer Award. Daglow said that as Budge’s games became successes, the video game industry was in the midst of a crash. But Budge, who now works for Google, went forward despite adversity. “It was a tough time, but Bill Budge … inspired a generation of game designers to not give up,” said Daglow. The most prepared acceptance speech came from AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award winner Bing Gordon. The longtime video game industry executive, who among other activities is currently a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, read a lengthy poem that touched on various aspects of the games industry. “Today our industry is experiencing a bit of refrain, but recognize this – we’re all in the golden age of gaming,” said Gordon, who donned a black velvet shirt at the awards. A reel of everyone from Will Wright and Sid Meier to comedian Robin Williams honored his career in games. AIAS president Martin Rae said in a statement, "This year's award-winning games demonstrate the depth of talent, passion and innovation that distinguishes this compelling medium." The full list of IAA winners is listed below: Game of the Year Mass Effect 2 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: BioWare Creative Director: Casey Hudson Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction Red Dead Redemption Publisher: Rockstar Games Developer: Rockstar San Diego Lead Designer: Christian Cantamessa Casual Game of the Year Angry Birds Publisher: Chillingo Developer: Rovio Executive Producers: Niklas Hed, Mikael Hed Producer: Harro Gronberg Lead Designers: Jaakko Iisalo, Markus Tuppurainen Portable Game of the Year God of War: Ghost of Sparta Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: Ready at Dawn/SCE Santa Monica Studio Producer: Marc Turndorf Creative Director: Ru Weerasuriya Game Director: Dana Jan Fighting Game of the Year Super Street Fighter IV Publisher: Capcom Developer: Capcom/Dimps Producer: Yoshinori Ono Creative Director: Daisuke Aoki Game Director: Takashi Tsukamoto Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year Mass Effect 2 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: BioWare Creative Director: Casey Hudson Sports Game of the Year FIFA Soccer 11 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: EA Canada Producer: David Rutter Creative Director: Gary Peterson Racing Game of the Year Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: Criterion Executive Producer: Fiona Sperry Creative Director: Craig Sullivan Adventure Game of the Year LIMBO Publisher: Playdead Developer: Playdead Producers: Dino Patti, Mads Wibroe Creative Director: Arnt Jensen Game Director: Arnt Jensen Social Networking Game of the Year CityVille Publisher: Zynga Developer: Zynga Producers: David Gray, Alex Le Creative Director: Sean Kelly Game Director: Mark Skaggs Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Production Director: Chris Sigaty Senior Art Director: Sam Didier Game Director: Dustin Browder Action Game of the Year Red Dead Redemption Publisher: Rockstar Games Developer: Rockstar San Diego Producers: Steve Martin, David Kunkler Lead Designer: Christian Cantamessa Family Game of the Year Dance Central Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games Developer: Harmonix Music Systems Producer: Naoko Takamoto Game Director: Kasson Crooker Outstanding Innovation in Gaming Heavy Rain Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: Quantic Dream Producer: Guillaume de Fondaumiere Creative Director: David Cage Game Director: David Cage Outstanding Achievement in Animation God of War III Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: SCE Santa Monica Studio Lead Animator: Bruno Velazquez Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering Heavy Rain Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: Quantic Dream Technology Director: Damien Castelltort Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Red Dead Redemption Publisher: Rockstar Games Developer: Rockstar San Diego Art Director: Daren Bader Outstanding Achievement in Story Mass Effect 2 Publisher: Electronic Arts Developer: BioWare Writers: Mac Walters, Drew Karpyshyn Outstanding Character Performance Red Dead Redemption – John Marston Publisher: Rockstar Games Developer: Rockstar San Diego Writers: Christian Cantamessa, Dan Houser, Michael Unsworth Voice Actor: Rob Wiethoff Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack Rock Band 3 Publisher: MTV Games Developer: Harmonix Music Systems Music Supervisor: Eric Brosius Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design LIMBO Publisher: Playdead Developer: Playdead Sound Design/Audio Lead: Martin Stig Andersen Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment Developer: Blizzard Entertainment Executive VP Game Design: Rob Pardo Project Director Battle.net: Greg Canessa Battle.net Designer: Alex Sun Technical Director Battle.net: Matthew Versluys Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition Heavy Rain Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America Developer: Quantic Dream Composer: Norman Corbeil Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering Red Dead Redemption Publisher: Rockstar Games Developer: Rockstar San Diego Lead Designer: Christian Cantamessa