Digital Entertainment Conference Announces Game Award Winners

The organizers of the Billboard 2004 Digital Entertainment Awards have announced the winners of the multi-discipline awards, held at a Gala Dinner in Los Angeles on Friday, November 5th. This year's event saw winners chosen by a panel of judges across 30 categories, including honoring innovation, digital entertainment, brand development and so forth. Broken up into areas including music, games, and film, television & video, the games category saw notable game-related award-winners including NCSoft's City Of Heroes for both best PC/Console and best Multiplayer Game, BioWare Corp for Game Developer of the Year, and Dr. Richard Marks and Sony Computer Entertainment America being honored for Best Game Innovation of the Year for the EyeToy USB camera and software. The full results for the game-related components of the Digital Entertainment Awards are as follows: 2004 Awards Finalists:

Best Of Show

Visionary Of The Year
Winner: Steve Jobs – (CEO, Apple/CEO, Pixar)
Runner-Ups: Mark Cuban - Chairman (Chairman, HDNet), Rob Glaser - (Chairman & CEO, Real Networks), Will Wright - (Game Designer, SimCity and The Sims)

Innovator Of The Year
Winner: Hugh Panero and XM Satellite Radio, Inc., XM Radio
Runner-Ups: Apple (iTunes), Bram Cohen (Creator of BitTorrent), Dr. Richard Marks (Sony Computer Entertainment America, Eyetoy)

Brand Of The Year
Winner: Apple
Runner-Ups: EA SPORTS, Virgin Mobile, XM Satellite Radio

Games

Game Innovation Of The Year
Winner: Eyetoy, (Dr. Richard Marks and Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Runner-Ups: Doom 3 (Activision), Nintendo DS (Nintendo), Qualcomm's Brew (Qualcomm)

PC or Console Game of the Year
Winner: City Of Heroes (NCSoft)
Runner-Ups: Prince Of Persia (Ubisoft), Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic (LucasArts, BioWare), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (Ubisoft)

Handheld Game of the Year
Winner: Mario & Luigi: Star Wars Saga (Nintendo, GBA)
Runner-Ups: Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Sega, GBA), Jamdat Bowling 2, (Jamdat Mobile), Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time (Gameloft)

Web/Downloadable Game of the Year
Winner: Shroomz: Quest for Puppy, (Game Trust, Inc.)
Runner-Ups: Chappelle's Show Skate Bored Game (Comedy Central), Feeding Frenzy (Sprout Games, LLC), Jewel Quest (iWin, Inc.)

Multiplayer Game of the Year
Winner: City Of Heroes (NCSoft)
Runner-Up: Socom II: U.S. Navy Seals (Sony Computer Entertainment America), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (Ubisoft), Unreal Tournament 2004 (Atari) Advergame of the Year
Winner: The Subservient Chicken, Crispin Porter & Bogusky for Burger King
Runner-Ups: BMW X3 Adventure (Skyworks Technologies Inc), Radio Shack ZipZaps Special Edition, Online Racing Game, Shockwave.com, SAAB Rev. Racing (Fuel Industries)

Game Developer of the Year
Winner: BioWare Corp
Runner-Ups: Maxis, Electronic Arts, Pandemic Studios, Ubisoft Montreal

Best Character in a Game
Winner: Link from Legend of Zelda (Nintendo)
Runner-Ups: The Chronicle of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (Vivendi Universal Games), Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow (Ubisoft), True Crime: Streets Of L.A. (Activision)

Best Use of Sound in a Game
Winner: True Crime: Streets Of L.A. (Activision)
Runner-Up: DOOM 3 (Activision), Freedom Fighters (Electronic Arts, Music by Jesper Kyd Productions), Tony Hawk's Underground (Activision)