CESA Game Awards 2004 Announced

Representatives from CESA, the organizers of the Tokyo Game Show, have announced the winners of the organization’s annual awards, given to games published between April 1 2003 and March 31 2004 in Japan. The overall winner was Capcom’s unusual, not universally acclaimed online action adventure Monster Hunter – the joint winners last year were Final Fantasy XI: Online and Taiko Drum Master. Other 'Excellence Award' winners include Western title Grand Theft Auto III, as well as portable GBA lawyer simulator Gyakuten Saiban 3 and Namco's quirkily lovable 'object aggregation simulator' Katamari Damacy, which will be the subject of a forthcoming Game Developer magazine cover story. Elsewhere, the 'Special Award' for particularly innovative or different games went to titles including Sony's EyeToy: Play camera bundle and Square Enix's real sword-waving 'TV game', Dragon Quest: Return of the Legendary Sword. Also of note is the new 'Indie' category, not a phrase normally used in relation to Japanese games, which has been set up to reward self-published titles, which are by necessity usually restricted to the PC. The full CESA Awards results are as follows: Grand prize: Monster Hunter (PS2) – Capcom Award for excellence: Onimusha 3 (PS2) – Capcom Katamari Damacy (PS2) – Namco Gyakuten Saiban 3 (GBA) - Capcom Grand Theft Auto III (PS2) - Capcom Sengoku Musou (PS2/Xbox) - Koei Tales of Symphonia (GameCube) - Namco Dragon Quest V (PS2) – Square Enix Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen (GBA) - Nintendo Minna no Golf 4 (PS2) - SCEJ World Soccer Winning Eleven 7 (PS2) – Konami Award for best sales: Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen (GBA) – Nintendo Global awards: Exciting Pro Wrestling (PS2) – Yukes Need for Speed: Underground (Multi) – EA Special Award: EyeToy: Play (PS2) – SCEJ Dragon Quest: Return of the Legendary Sword – Square Enix Famicom Mini Series (GBA) - Nintendo Game awards – Future: Kingdom Hearts II (PS2) – Square Enix Gran Turismo 4 (PS2) - SCEJ Tales of Rebirth (PS2) - Namco Dragon Quest VIII (PS2) – Square Enix Burnout 3: Takedown (PS2) - EA Biohazard 4 (GameCube) - Capcom Halo 2 (Xbox) - Microsoft Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2) - Konami Radiata Stories (PS2) – Square Enix Rockman Exe 5 (GBA) - Capcom Wanda and the Colossus (PS2) – SCEJ Game awards – Indie: Main Prize: Burger Maker (PC) Runner-up: Mannekenpis (PC)