Joystiq

Valve's Gabe Newell inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame

Jessica Conditt — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST

Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve, is the 17th inductee into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame, earning the title for 2013. Newell joins Shigeru Miyamoto, Sid Meier, John Carmack, Michael Morhaime, Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuck, and Tim Sweeney, among others, in the AIAS Hall of Fame.

Newell will also be a keynote speaker for Thursday's conference at the 2013 DICE Summit. Epic Games President Mike Capps will present Newell with the Hall of Fame Award at the 2013 DICE Awards.

"Gabe is a living legend of the video games industry, and his relentless focus on customer experience has made our whole industry a better place," Capps says. "Valve's unconventional success is an inspiration for us all, and I couldn't be more pleased to present Gabe's Hall of Fame award."

Continue reading Valve's Gabe Newell inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame

Valve's Gabe Newell inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

DICE Award nominations for 2013 open

Alexander Sliwinski — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:30:00 EST

Pssst, academy members, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences currently has submissions open for the DICE awards. So, go ahead and start submitting titles for the annual awards show. You've got until 5PM Pacific on Monday, December 3. Nominees will be announced the week of January 21, 2013. The actual awards show is February 7 at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas.

Pssst, non academy members, here's your chance to tell voting members the games you think should be nominated. The DICE awards, previously known as the Interactive Achievement Awards, is the most legit awards show this industry has all year. So, go ahead and drop some ideas in the comments below. We're pretty sure some members will use it as a crib sheet.

Continue reading DICE Award nominations for 2013 open

DICE Award nominations for 2013 open originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Uncharted 3 leads AIAS 2011 award nominations

David Hinkle — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST

We've already told you what our favorite games of 2011 are, but the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences apparently needed a bit more time to ruminate on the matter. The final awards will be given at the annual DICE summit in Las Vegas on February 9, giving us all tons of time to pressure the AIAS into giving Rayman Origins the awards for Outstanding Animation and Outstanding Art Direction.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is the belle of the ball this year, with a total of 12 nominations across several categories. Other notable titles include Portal 2 (10 nominations) L.A. Noire (9 nominations), Bastion (3 nominations), and Battlefield 3 (6 nominations). 2010's top game from the AIAS was Mass Effect 2, which walked away with awards in the RPG and storytelling categories.

Jay Mohr will be hosting again -- here's his monologue from last year -- and the entire show will be streamed online through GameSpot, starting at 7:30pm PT/10:30pm ET. Or you could buy a plane ticket and fly to Vegas, hoping to somehow sneak in. We wouldn't suggest that, though, as your time and money can be better spent petitioning for Rayman Origins.

Hit the jump for the full list of this year's nominees.

Continue reading Uncharted 3 leads AIAS 2011 award nominations

Uncharted 3 leads AIAS 2011 award nominations originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Joseph Olin steps down as AIAS president, replaced by Martin Rae

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Weird But True, Opinions, New In Pop Culture

Joseph Olin (pictured), president of the The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, has announced he's stepping down to "pursue new opportunities." Part of his AIAS duties included hosting DICE and the Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the 13th installment of which took place back in February and was streamed through IFC.com.

Taking over the role as AIAS president will be Martin Rae, who will work with Olin throughout the remainder of the year to ensure the 10th annual DICE Summit and subsequent 14th installment in the Annual Interactive Achievement Awards both go off without a hitch. Rae's track record consists of time spent as CEO of Sunleaf Studios, a "virtual world/Internet game company" and time spent at Boss Entertainment, working with both Boss Game Studios and The Electric Playground.

For the full press release, head past the break.

Continue reading Joseph Olin steps down as AIAS president, replaced by Martin Rae

Joseph Olin steps down as AIAS president, replaced by Martin Rae originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Video: Borderlands' ClapTrap at the AIAS Awards

David Hinkle — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:55:00 EST

One could argue that ClapTrap is the most charismatic entity in Borderlands ... and that person would be correct. The penchant for dancing and demeanor of the robotic denizens of Pandora are a highlight of the title, without a doubt. And like all talent, ClapTrap can get a bit temperamental -- especially when said talent didn't win in its respective category of the Interactive Achievement Awards.

The Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance ended up going to Mark Hamill for his portrayal of The Joker in Batman: Arkham Aslyum, and ClapTrap has been simmering for the past month. If you ever doubted a robot's capacity to feel, you need only watch the video above.

Video: Borderlands' ClapTrap at the AIAS Awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Interview: Joseph Olin discusses DICE awards

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:12:00 EST

Joseph Olin, president of the The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, is a busy, busy man this week. Hosting DICE and getting ready for the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards tonight, which will be streamed on IFC.com (and shown on IFC's cable TV network the following week). We were curious to know a little more about what the academy has planned for its public image and who Olin is rooting for tonight.

Joystiq: Do we call it the Interactive Achievement Awards ... or do we say I.A. awards?

Joseph Olin: Interactive Achievement Awards. I think most people just give them the moniker "The DICE Awards." Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain certainly sums up why people make games. I'm comfortable with that.

Is this the first year the show will be streamed live?

Actually, this will be the third year it'll be streamed live. But, last year our good friends at IGN had a problem with their uplink relay on their end. So we were streaming and nothing went. So they captured and were about 30 minutes behind. As we all know, the internet is a flawless piece of technology and as reliable as the mail. So, yes, we're excited about IFC streaming it this year because they have a much better track record of streaming their content.

So, we should say this is the first year IFC is streaming it?

This is the first year IFC is streaming it live. Then the highlights show will be on the following Friday, the 26th.

Continue reading Interview: Joseph Olin discusses DICE awards

Interview: Joseph Olin discusses DICE awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Into the Pixel goes into the auction on eBay

Ben Gilbert — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST

Hey, you remember the Into the Pixel exhibit at last year's E3, right? Oh, no, that's right, they don't allow the plebes in. Had you been lucky enough to grace it with your stares, you'd have found a "jury-curated exhibition of video game art created by published video and computer game artists." And now that very same art can be found gracing the pages of eBay, as the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has opened up bidding on a smattering of pieces (starting yesterday and running through February 20).

Featuring art from games like Flower and Fable 2, the proceeds will help to fund the AIAS' scholarship programs. The bidding has most certainly begun, though most pieces remain at their initial $100 opening bid as of publishing. If you're looking to snap up one of these snappy pieces, we'd suggest you get bidding sooner rather than later!

Into the Pixel goes into the auction on eBay originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nathan Drake hoping to take home more shiny trinkets at AIAS awards

Mike Schramm — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:20:00 EST

We're in the thick of awards season, and video games are no exception. The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced its finalists for the 13th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards ("The 'Racties" -- we're kidding but that's what they should be called), and, as you might have guessed, award hog Uncharted 2: Among Thieves leads the pack with 15 nominations. The rest of the nominees include more of the usual suspects from 2009: Assassin's Creed II with 10 noms, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 with nine and Batman: Arkham Asylum with eight. This year's awards also features three new categories, including Outstanding Achievement in Game Design and Portable and Social Networking Games of the Year.

You can find a list of selected categories and their nominees after the break, or check out the Academy's full list in PDF form. The awards will be given out at the DICE Summit on February 18 in Las Vegas, where Activision's Bobby Kotick is scheduled to keynote. We can only guess that he'll go all Kanye on the podium if Modern Warfare 2 doesn't win.

Continue reading Nathan Drake hoping to take home more shiny trinkets at AIAS awards

Nathan Drake hoping to take home more shiny trinkets at AIAS awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Marble Madness creator Mark Cerny to be inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:44:00 EST

It may have been a quarter century since Mark Cerny's groundbreaking arcade game Marble Madness was first developed, but this year the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences will give the influential developer an induction into its Hall of Fame. On February 18 in Las Vegas, Cerny will become the 13th member of the AIAS' small club -- a club that includes development bigwigs like Will Wright and Shigeru Miyamoto, among others.

For those of you who don't know, Cerny's been hard at work behind the scenes of some of our favorite games throughout the years. The developer's had a hand in everything from Sonic 2 through God of War 3, with his influential "Cerny Method" of tenacious development being passed down to modern day big boys like Insomniac's Ted Price and Naughty Dog's Evan Wells. "Mark has left an indelible mark on all of the games he's been a part of, the developers that he's collaborated with, and most importantly the individuals that he's worked along-side of," Wells said in the press release (warning: PDF link). For Cerny's part, he said he's "thrilled to accept this award" and humbly offloaded some respect to past colleagues that he's "had the pleasure to work with over the years." We're looking forward to witnessing the "Cerny Method" in action during his acceptance speech, wherein he only allows himself 30 seconds to catch our interest before reevaluating the entire thing.

Marble Madness creator Mark Cerny to be inducted into AIAS Hall of Fame originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

D.I.C.E. summit rolling to Singapore in September

Majed Athab — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:30:00 EST

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced today that its annual D.I.C.E. Summit will be going global. For the first time, the summit with be held in Asia, at Singapore's Suntec Center -- the same venue for Games Convention Asia. D.I.C.E. and GC Asia will open together on September 17.

Among those in the industry planning to head out to the Lion City for D.I.C.E. are Masaya Matsuura of PaRappa the Rapper fame and Chris Taylor, founder and creative director of Gas Powered Games. With both events running at the same time, it would seem like a rather good idea for regional game designers to stop by the Suntec Center this year.

D.I.C.E. summit rolling to Singapore in September originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments