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ESA Founder Honoured With Lifetime Achievement Award
7:20AM Mike Fahey | Today the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced that Entertainment Software Association founder Doug Lowenstein will be the third recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. More »
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GameStop, SMU, AIAS Announce Indie Game Challenge
10:40AM AJ Glasser | GameStop is teaming up with The Guildhall game development graduate program at Southern Methodist University and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences to create the Indie Game Challenge. More »
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The 12th Annual AIAS Awards Will Be Televised, Eventually
3:20AM Mike Fahey | The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences and the Independent Film Channel today announce a partnership to bring the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards to a television screen near you.
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Bruce Shelley To Enter AIAS Hall Of Fame
10:40AM Stuart Houghton | Bruce Shelley – the nice man who helped bring you Civilisation, Railway Tycoon, Age of Empires and other classics – is to be inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall Of Fame. Shelly got his big break working with Sid Meier at Microprose – culminating in the production of Civilisation, which has eaten up so much of my time that I should probably go along to the ceremony at the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit (February 18th in Las Vegas) and either thank him personally or serve him with a writ. Does anyone know if there is an actual Hall of Fame – as in an actual building? Do inductees get to hang out there and sip cocktails? All this and less is revealed in the full press release, after the jump. More »
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Video Game Reviewers ‘Lazy’ Says AIAS President
10:40AM Michael McWhertor | Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, thinks game reviewers are lazy. The head of the AIAS — the body that organises both the D.I.C.E. Summit and Interactive Achievement Awards annually — points to a glut of critics, but little in the way of critical analysis according to a Shacknews report. “How can you review a game, how can you give a comment about a game like Grand Theft Auto IV, that has 40-plus hours or more of gameplay, if you’ve only spent 2 1/2 to 3 hours playing it”, Olin asks, saying that a reliance on game scores and deadline focused reviews do readers a disservice. Olin excludes some game reviewers, whom we’ll assume to include us, as we’ve shunned review scores and aim to “finish” a game before reviewing it, even if it means running a later review. Just sayin’. AIAS President: ‘Game Reviewers Are Lazy’ [Shacknews] More »
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Interview: AIAS President Joseph Olin On The Art Of Games
9:20AM Leigh Alexander | There are really two faces to E3. One of them is that of a business summit, intended to connect the video game industry with the press as a way of showing their wares to the public. The other looks at game developers as artists, presenting the fruit of their ideas and labors often for the first time. Interactive entertainment is both business and art, and the Academy of Interactive Arts And Sciences recognises both of these faces with their annual DICE Summit and Interactive Achievement Awards. They also host the Into the Pixel game art exhibition, which we saw this year at E3, award scholarships to game design students, and more activities designed to support the industry’s creative talent. We sat down with Academy president Joseph Olin to talk about the state of the industry, this year’s E3, and more. “As much as I think most people reflect upon 2007 as a watershed year for games ad interactive entertainment, I think everything I’ve seen so far at this E3 shows… that 2008 to 2009 will be bigger, better and brighter than last year”, said Olin.
10:40AM Michael McWhertor | AIAS Award Winners To Get Recognition At GameStops. Last night’s winners at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards will not only get a sales boost from those who caught the awards online, they’ll also get a kick in the sales pants from shoppers at GameStop. AIAS president Joseph Olin told DICE attendees today that the academy has partnered with the retailer to add special mention to games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Rock Band, Assassin’s Creed and others with a sticker calling out each game’s win. That means you’ll see yet another sticker on display cases at GameStop and EBgames across the country, promoting each title’s “Game of the Year” status. More »
