God of Awards

David Jaffe's mythological hero slays the competition at the AIAS award at the DICE Summit.

Sony's recent PlayStation 2 action hit God of War has been getting gamers excited since its launch last year, and now it's gone a step further, pulling in seven awards at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' annual awards show, held this week at the DICE Summit outside Las Vegas.

Other big winners at the Interactive Achievement Awards, now in its ninth year, included guitar-god rhythm game Guitar Heroes, Battlefield 2 and Nintendogs, while games such as Resident Evil 4, which wasn't submitted for voting by Capcom, are notable in their absence.

Below is a rundown of all the winners:

• Game of the Year: God of War
• PC Game of the Year: Battlefield 2
• Console Game of the Year: God of War
• Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Guitar Hero
• Outstanding Achievement: Animation: God of War
• Outstanding Achievement: Art Direction: Shadow of the Colossus
• Outstanding Achievement: Soundtrack: Guitar Hero
• Outstanding Achievement: Original Music Composition: God of War
• Outstanding Achievement: Sound Design: God of War
• Outstanding Achievement: Story and Character Development: Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
• Outstanding Achievement: Gameplay Engineering [Tie]: Nintendogs; Guitar Hero
• Outstanding Achievement: Online Gameplay: Battlefield 2
• Outstanding Achievement: Visual Engineering: Shadow of the Colossus
• Outstanding Achievement: Game Design: Guitar Hero
• Outstanding Character Performance: Male: God of War
• Outstanding Character Performance: Female: Jade Empire
• Sports Game of the Year: SSX On Tour
• First-Person Action Game of the Year: Battlefield 2
• RPG of the Year: Jade Empire
• Fighting Game of the Year: Soul Calibur III
• Action-Adventure Game of the Year: God of War
• Racing Game of the Year: Need for Speed: Most Wanted
• Children's Game of the Year: We Love Katamari
• Downloadable Game of the Year: Wik: Fable of Souls
• Family Game of the Year: Guitar Hero
• Simulation Game of the Year: The Movies
• Strategy Game of the Year: Civilization IV
• Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year [Tie]: City of Villains; Guild Wars
• Handheld Game of the Year: Nintendogs
• Cellular Game of the Year: Ancient Empires II

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games