Ninth Annual CESA Game Awards Announced

The winners of the 9th annual Game Awards from Japan's Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association, which honor excellence in games released from April 1, 2004, to March 31, 2005, have been announced. The Grand Prize went to Square Enix and Level 5's Dragon Quest VIII, the first entry in the series on PlayStation 2, which will be released in the U.S. this November. Elsewhere, awards for excellence were given to Polyphony Digital's Gran Turismo 4, Chunsoft's 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei, Koei's Shin Sangoku Musou 4 (Dynasty Warriors 5), Square Enix's Dragon Quest VIII, Koei's Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 3, Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Konami's World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 on PS2; the Nintendo-published Sawaru! Made in Wario, Daigassou! Band Brothers, and Meteos on Nintendo DS; Capcom's Biohazard 4 on GameCube; Sony's Minna no Golf Portable (Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee) on PSP; and Nintendo's Pokémon Emerald on Game Boy Advance. Other miscellaneous awards included Best Sales for Dragon Quest VIII, Global Awards for World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 and Halo 2, Game Awards Indie for AMIDA: The Soldier on the Bridge and Koi no Kaitsatsuguchi, and a Special Award for licensed pachinko title Jissen Pachislot Hisshouhou! Hokuto no Ken. Finally, the somewhat unconventional 'Future Awards' recognized promising games yet to be released, or released after the set window. Recipients, all of which have already debuted or are planned to debut in late 2005/early 2006, were Clover's Okami, Bandai's Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: Rengou vs. ZAFT, Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII, Capcom's Monster Hunter 2, Sega's Ryuu ga Gotoku, Sony's Rogue Galaxy and Wanda and the Colossus, and Namco's Tales of the Abyss for PS2; Microsoft's Ninety-Nine Nights for Xbox 360; and Sony's Loco Roco for PSP.