Red Dead tops AIAS award nominations

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has unveiled the list of nominees for the 14th Annual Interactive Awards, the ceremony for which will take place at DICE next month in Las Vegas.

Topping the list by some distance was Red Dead Redemption, with the name of Rockstar's Western cropping up in no fewer than nine categories.

With six mentions apiece were Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and God of War III, while Call of Duty: Black Ops, Heavy Rain, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Mass Effect II picked up five each.

Other notables with four nominations included Dance Central, Limbo and Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty.

Comedian Jay Mohr was once again confirmed as host for the event - the sixth time he will have taken the role - taking place at the Red Rock Resort.

"2010 saw many great achievements in interactive entertainment," said Martin Rae, president of the AIAS. "The Academy is continually impressed by the quality of games and creativity that are put forth each year from the men and women of this medium.

"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."

The nominations for selected key categories follow:

Game of the Year

• Angry Birds HD (Publisher: Chillingo; Developer: Rovio)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops (Publisher: Activision; Developer: Treyarch)
• God of War III (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: SCE Santa Monica Studio)
• Mass Effect 2 (Publisher: Electronic Arts; Developer: Bioware)
• Red Dead Redemption (Publisher: Rockstar Games; Developer: Rockstar San Diego)

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

 
• Angry Birds HD (Publisher: Chillingo; Developer: Rovio)
• Dance Central (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios/MTV Games; Developer: Harmonix Music Systems)
• Heavy Rain (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: Quantic Dream)
• Limbo (Publisher: Playdead; Developer: Playdead)
• Red Dead Redemption (Publisher: Rockstar Games; Developer: Rockstar San Diego)

Action Game of the Year

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

Adventure Game of the Year

• Alan Wake (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios; Developer: Remedy Entertainment)
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood: (Publisher: Ubisoft; Developer: Ubisoft Montreal)
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (Publisher: Namco Bandai; Developer: Ninja Theory)
• Heavy Rain (Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America; Developer: Quantic Dream)
• Limbo (Publisher: Playdead; Developer: Playdead)

Casual Game of the Year

• Angry Birds HD (Publisher: Chillingo; Developer: Rovio)
• Bejeweled 3 (Publisher: PopCap Games; Developer: PopCap Games)
• Kinect Sports (Publisher: Microsoft Game Studio; Developer: Rare)
• Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (Publisher: Namco Bandai; Developer: Namco Bandai)
• Plants vs. Zombies (Publisher: PopCap Games; Developer: PopCap Games)

Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year

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

Social Networking Game of the Year

• Cityville (Publisher: Zynga; Developer: Zynga)
• Family Feud (Publisher: iWin/Backstage Technologies; Developer: iWin/Backstage Technologies)
• FrontierVille (Publisher: Zynga; Developer: Zynga)
• Nightclub City (Publisher: Booyah; Developer: Booyah)
• Ravenwood Fair (Publisher; Lolapps; Developer: Lolapps)