cyrenepenya: Interactive Achievement Awards list dominated by Red Dead Redemption, Bing Gordon to receive Lifetime Achievement Award

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) has announced an extensive list of nominees for this year?s Interactive Achievement Awards - an extremely prestigious awards event that will take place during the DICE summit on February 10th - to recognise outstanding achievements in the realm of videogame development.

Naturally, Red Dead Redemption dominates the nominees list in the 24 announced categories, while games like Mass Effect 2, God of War III, Enslaved, Alan Wake and Angry Birds all get nods, too.

AIAS president Martin Rae said of the event this year:

“2010 saw many great achievements in interactive entertainment. Great games are found everywhere - this year?s nominations illustrate the depth and breadth of our game experience for titles from core consoles, browsers and personal entertainment devices like the iPhone.?

Additionally, videogame industry legend Bing Gordon will receive an AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award ? only the fifth person to do so, following names such as Doug Lowenstein , Howard Lincoln, Minoru Arakawa and Ken Kutaragi.

From a press release heralding Gordon?s achievements:

?Gordon began his career as an account executive at Ogilvy & Mather. But his passion for gaming drove him to make a dramatic career change, which began at Electronic Arts in the marketing department in 1982.

?Gordon worked his way up to Chief Creative Officer where he was instrumental in building business analysis processes and product marketing that are still widely used throughout the industry today. At EA he made key contributions to the development of the EA SPORTS brand and developing the marketing campaigns in creating the new sports games genre.

?Gordon foresaw that gaming trends were shifting, with major growth on the casual and social fronts so he joined Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. There he leads investments on the ?videogamification of everything? and he has led investments in Zynga and ng:moco, among others. In addition, Gordon serves as a director at Amazon and holds the game industry?s first endowed chair in game design at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. He is also a trustee of the Urban School of San Francisco.

?Bing?s favorite games of all time are World of Warcraft, the Sims, Diablo, Pogo, Civilization, Columns, Freecell, Farmville and Mafia Wars.?

Gordon will be presented with his AIAS Lifetime Achievement Award during the Interactive Achievement Awards event by President of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, Don Mattrick.

Here are the videogames, however, that also hope to be showered with awards and recognition on February 10th:

Family Game of the Year

Dance Central | Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games | Harmonix Music Systems
Kirby’s Epic Yarn | Nintendo | Good-Feel/HAL Laboratory
LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | Traveller’s Tales
Rock Band 3 | MTV Games | Harmonix Music Systems
SingStar Dance | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE London Studio

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising | THQ | Relic Entertainment
Sid Meier’s Civilization | V 2K Games | Firaxis
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment
Supreme Commander 2 | Square Enix Gas | Powered Games
Toy Soldiers | Microsoft Game Studios | Signal Studios

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

Call of Duty: Black Ops | Activision | Treyarch
ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West | Namco Bandai | Ninja Theory
God of War III | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE Santa Monica Studio
Red Dead Redemption | Rockstar Games | Rockstar San Diego
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction | Ubisoft | Ubisoft Montreal

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

Alan Wake | Microsoft Game Studios | Remedy Entertainment
ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West | Namco Bandai | Ninja Theory
God of War III | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE Santa Monica Studio
Kirby’s Epic Yarn | Nintendo | Good-Feel/HAL Laboratory
Red Dead Redemption | Rockstar Games Rockstar San Diego

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering

Call of Duty: Black Ops | Activision | Treyarch
God of War III | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE Santa Monica Studio
Heavy Rain | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Quantic Dream
Medal of Honor | Electronic Arts | Danger Close/Digital Illusions CE
Metro 2033 | THQ | 4A Games

Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering

Dance Central | Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games | Harmonix Music Systems
Kirby’s Epic Yarn | Nintendo | Good-Feel/HAL Laboratory
Red Dead Redemption | Rockstar Games | Rockstar San Diego
Super Mario Galaxy 2 | Nintendo | Nintendo
Super Scribblenauts | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | 5th Cell

Outstanding Character Performance

ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West - Monkey | Namco Bandai | Ninja Theory
God of War III - Kratos | Sony Computer Entertainment America SCE Santa Monica Studio
Mass Effect 2 - Male Shepard | Electronic Arts | Bioware
Red Dead Redemption - John Marston | Rockstar Games | Rockstar San Diego
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - Tychus Findlay | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment

Outstanding Achievement in Story

Alan Wake | Microsoft Game Studios | Remedy Entertainment
ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West | Namco Bandai | Ninja Theory
Heavy Rain | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Quantic Dream
Mass Effect 2 | Electronic Arts | Bioware
Metro 2033 | THQ | 4A Games

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | Nintendo | Square Enix
Fable III | Microsoft Game Studios | Lionhead Studios
Fallout: New Vegas | Bethesda Softworks | Obsidian Entertainment
Mass Effect 2 | Electronic Arts | Bioware
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Angry Birds HD | Chillingo | Rovio
Dance Central | Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games | Harmonix Music Systems
Heavy Rain | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Quantic Dream
LIMBO | Playdead | Playdead
Red Dead Redemption | Rockstar Games | Rockstar San Diego

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood | Ubisoft | Ubisoft Montreal
Fable III | Microsoft Game Studios | Lionhead Studios
Heavy Rain | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Quantic Dream
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment

Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack

Dance Central | Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games | Harmonix Music Systems
DJ Hero 2 | Activision | FreeStyleGames
Gran Turismo 5 | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Polyphony Digital
Rock Band 3 | MTV Games | Harmonix Music Systems

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood | Ubisoft | Ubisoft Montreal
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | Electronic Arts | Digital Illusions CE
LIMBO | Playdead | Playdead
Medal of Honor | Electronic Arts | Danger Close/Digital Illusions CE
Red Dead Redemption | Rockstar Games | Rockstar San Diego

Social Networking Game of the Year

CityVille | Zynga | Zynga
Family Feud | iWin/Backstage Technologies | iWin/Backstage Technologies
FrontierVille | Zynga | Zynga
Nightclub City | Booyah | Booyah
Ravenwood Fair | Lolapps | Lolapps

Adventure Game of the Year

Alan Wake | Microsoft Game Studios | Remedy Entertainment
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood | Ubisoft | Ubisoft Montreal
ENSLAVED: Odyssey to the West | Namco Bandai | Ninja Theory
Heavy Rain | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Quantic Dream
LIMBO | Playdead | Playdead

Sports Game of the Year

FIFA Soccer 11 | Electronic Arts | EA Canada
MLB 10: The Show | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE San Diego
NBA 2K11 | 2K Sports | Visual Concepts
NHL 11 | Electronic Arts | EA Canada

Racing Game of the Year

Gran Turismo 5 | Sony Computer Entertainment America | Polyphony Digital
ModNation Racers | Sony Computer Entertainment America | United Front Games/SCE San Diego
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit | Electronic Arts | Criterion
Split/Second | Disney Interactive Studios | Black Rock Studio

Fighting Game of the Year

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift | Aksys Games | Arc System Works
EA Sports MMA | Electronic Arts | EA Tiburon
Super Street Fighter IV | Capcom | Capcom/Dimps
UFC 2010 Undisputed | THQ | Yuke’s Co.

Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood | Ubisoft | Ubisoft Montreal
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | Electronic | Arts Digital Illusions CE
Call of Duty: Black Ops | Activision | Treyarch
Halo: Reach | Microsoft Game Studios | Bungie
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty | Blizzard Entertainment | Blizzard Entertainment

Action Game of the Year

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 | Electronic Arts | Digital Illusions CE
Call of Duty: Black Ops | Activision | Treyarch
God of War III | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE Santa Monica Studio
Halo: Reach | Microsoft Game Studios | Bungie
Red Dead Redemption | Rockstar Games | Rockstar San Diego

Portable Game of the Year

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | Nintendo | Square Enix
God of War: Ghost of Sparta | Sony Computer Entertainment America | SCE Santa Monica Studio/Ready at Dawn
Infinity Blade | Epic Games | Chair Entertainment
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future | Nintendo | Level-5
Valkyria Chronicles II | Sega | Sega

Casual Game of the Year