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)
