UK's Golden Joystick Awards Favor GTA

Rockstar North's controversial Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has won the Game Of The Year award, plus four other major awards, as part of the consumer-voted Golden Joystick Awards held in London by dominant UK print magazine firm Future Publishing. The awards, held at the Hilton hotel in Park Lane, London, and hosted by UK comedian Jimmy Carr, attracted around 600 guests, and saw a few unexpected victories (Super Mario 64 DS for handheld game of the year) and a particular highlight on Atari's Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, voted 'Unsung Hero Of The Year'. The best PS2 game award also went to GTA: SA, with the critically beloved Resident Evil 4 grabbing best GameCube title, and the perennial Halo 2 picking up the best Xbox nod. Most-awaited game titles went to The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which was optimistically depicted as coming out the holiday season, and the merely hinted-at Resident Evil 5, which gamers are obviously eagerly awaiting in 2006. The full set of award winners is as follows: - PlayStation 2 Game of the Year – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - GameCube Game of the Year – Resident Evil 4 - Xbox Game of the Year – Halo 2 - PC Game of the Year – Half-Life 2 - Handheld Game of the Year – Super Mario 64 DS - Best Game Soundtrack of 2005 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Online Game of the Year – World of Warcraft - Publisher of the Year - Nintendo - Retailer of the Year – Play.com - Gaming Innovation of the Year - PSP - The One to Watch for Xmas – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - The One to Watch for 2006 – Resident Evil 5 - Hero of 2005 – CJ from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - Villain of 2005 – Officer Tenpenny from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas - The Girl’s Choice for 2005 – The Sims 2 - Editors’ Game of the Year – Resident Evil 4 - Unsung Hero of the Year - Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy - Ultimate Game of 2005 - Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Future Publishing's James Ashton-Tyler commented of the awards: "With over 200,000 votes cast in this year's Golden Joysticks, it's clear how central gaming has become to the world of home entertainment. These awards celebrate innovation and achievement as well as popular success."