EA, Nintendo, Blizzard Earn Tech Excellence Emmys

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced that Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Sony Online Entertainment are among the winners of the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In addition to honoring gaming, the 2008 Emmy Awards honored science, engineering and technology achievements for broadcast, broadband and personal Television. Said NATAS in a statement, "The Technology & Engineering Awards honor excellence in advances in the use, creativity and adaptation of technology that enhances or improves the consumer experience with media across multiple platforms." Nintendo received an Emmy Award for Game Controller Innovation, awarded in recognition of the Wii's motion-sensing controls. The award also recognized the DS's touch screen control scheme. Nintendo's DS was also recognized in the Handheld Game Device Display Screen Innovation, alongside Atari's defunct Lynx and Mattel's Football and Auto Race portable game. It's the second year in a row Nintendo has received an Emmy; last year, it earned the Emmy Award for Peripheral Development and Technological Impact of Video Game Controllers, which it shared jointly with Sony, who received the same recognition for its PlayStation controls. The category of User Generated Content - Game Modification had three winners: Electronic Arts, for Pinball Construction; Id Software for 1996's Quake, and Linden Lab for Second Life. In the category of Development of Massively Multiplayer Online Graphical Role Playing Games, AOL-Time Warner, Stormfront and TSR-Wizards of the Coast earned an Emmy for the original AOL MMO Neverwinter Nights, Sony Online Entertainment was honored for Everquest, and Blizzard received an Emmy for World of Warcraft. Havok was the sole winner in the Physics Engines award category, and both Autodesk's Maya and 3ds Max were recognized in the Awards for Visual Digital Content Creation Tools and their Impact. Among the presenters at the evening ceremony were Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and Peter Price, president and CEO of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Said Peter Price, NATAS President and CEO, "For the first time in our 59 year history, not all winners will be presented with an Emmy statuette at this year’s ceremony due to litigation with the Hollywood-based Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. We are in court aggressively fighting for the right to recognize the talents and achievements of these companies and individuals without whom our industry would not be the world leader it is today. Once victorious, we plan to present each winner from tonight’s event with their own Emmy.”