Battersea Evolution in London’s Battersea Park played host to the British Academy Video Games Awards in association with PC World. Hosted by comedian Vic Reeves with live music from Athlete and Remi Nicole, these awards are emblematic of a modern Academy, embracing and recognising all art forms of the moving image.

Chairman of the Academy, Hilary Bevan Jones said “The Academy believes video games have limitless potential to enlighten as well as entertain and our role is to encourage creative excellence in the field, for the benefit of a rapidly growing audience”.

Wii Sports dominated the evening, winning six out of the thirteen categories – Gameplay, Casual, Innovation, Multiplayer, Sports, and Strategy & Simulation. In this game of universal appeal, players use the remote as a tennis raquet, golf club, boxing glove, baseball bat and bowling ball to emulate the actions in real life sports.

Three other titles claimed two categories each; Crackdown, in which players enforce justice in a crime-ridden metropolis, was victorious in Use of Audio and Action & Adventure, Okami, which centres around a celestial brush enabling players to literally paint things into their world, took the coveted mask in the categories of Artistic Achievement and Original Score, while the mythological, high-octane, God of War 2, sequel to the 2005 title, won for Story & Character and Technical Achievement. The Best Game award went to Bioshock which enables players to explore a ruined seascape, and using myriad tools and weapons, to battle mysterious creatures.

There were two rounds of voting for the awards; in the first round, BAFTA games members and industry experts cast their votes on line for the 1000+ entries received. The top-voted titles were then sent out to jurors, while those pre-release titles which were ready in time for the judging process, were played on test units in a secure room at BAFTA by every juror, over a period of some five weeks. Once every juror had played every game, each jury convened to create the 6 nominations in each category. Other late releases not ready for this year’s Awards will be eligible for next year’s.

The one publicly-voted award of the night – The PC World Gamers’ Award – went to Football Manager 2007, fighting off competition from Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training, FIFA 07, Gears of War, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, Resistance: Fall of Man and Wii Play. The shortlist of titles in this category was taken from the top-selling games on each console in the UK between 1 September 2006 and 31 August 2007.

The Academy is keen to nurture the up-and-coming stars in games, as well as recognising those at the peak of their talent. This year’s ceremony also included a brand new award – The BAFTA Ones To Watch Award. Working with the University of Abertay and its Dare To be Digital competition, this new award was contended by three groups of university graduates who had each designed a new game prototype. The winning game was Ragnarawk designed by a team calling themselves Voodoo Boogy. In addition to collecting their award, they were also each gifted a state of the art gaming PC from Packard Bell.

The climax of the evening saw gaming legend Will Wright receive the highest accolade the Academy can bestow – The Fellowship. Wright, who is widely accepted as one of the world’s leading visionaries in the field of video game design, has been passionately creating games for more than twenty years. Although he has worked on a number of hugely successful games, among them Raid On Bungling Bay (1984), SimCity (1989), SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCity 4 (2003) and SimCity DS (2007), he is best known for one of the best-loved games franchises in history, The Sims – a game whose inspiration sprang from a combination of the aforementioned titles.

Wright will also present the Academy’s first Annual Lecture in this sector on October 24 at BAFTA’s headquarters at 195 Piccadilly from 6pm. All enquiries to Jo Stein on 0207 292 5818.

The show will be broadcast on E4 on November 4 at 11pm and repeated the following weekend on Channel 4.

The Awards ceremony takes place during London Games Festival.

Action and Adventure

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Rod Fergusson, Michael Capps, Cliff Bleszinski
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

God of War 2 (PS2)
Cory Barlog, Michael Cheng, Eric Williams
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The Orange Box (PS3)
Development Team
Valve/Electronic Arts

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
Development Team
SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo


Artistic Achievement
Bioshock (Xbox 360)
Development Team
2K Boston/2K Australia/2K Games

Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Development Team
Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover(Capcom)/Capcom

Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (PS3)
Development Team
SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Skate (PS3)
Development Team
EA Black Box/Electronic Arts

Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)
Ryan Stevenson, Ed Bryan
Rare/Microsoft Game Studios


Best Game

Bioshock (Xbox 360)
Development Team
2K Boston/2K Australia/2K Games

Crysis (PC)
Development Team
Crytek/Electronic Arts

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Rod Fergusson, Michael Capps, Cliff Bleszinski
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Xbox 360)
Development Team
IO Interactive/Eidos

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo


Casual

Big Brain Academy for Wii (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Cake Mania (DS)
Development Team
Digital Embryo/Sandlot Games/Majesco

Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane
More Brain Training (DS)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

SingStar (PS3)
Development Team
SCE London Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo


Gameplay

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Cliff Bleszinski, Ray Davis, Lee Perry
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

Sega Rally (PS3)
Development Team
SEGA Racing Studio/SEGA

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Warhawk (PS3)
Dylan Jobe, Bruce Woodard, Brian Upton
Incognito/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo


Innovation

fl0w (PSN)
Jenova Chen, Nicholas Clark, Austin Wintory
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Thatgamecompany/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover(Capcom)/Capcom

Super Paper Mario (Wii)
Development Team
Intelligent Systems/Nintendo

The Eye of Judgment (PS3)
Kazuhito Miyaki, Yusuke Watanabe
SCE Japan Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Wii)
Development Team
Atlus USA/Nintendo

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Multiplayer

Battlefield 2142 (PC)
Development Team
EA Dice/Electronic Arts

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios

Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo
World in Conflict (PC)
Development Team
Massive Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment/Vivendi Games

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC)
Development Team
Blizzard Entertainment/Blizzard Entertainment


Original Score

Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Hitoshi Sakimoto, Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy XII Project Team/Square Enix

God of War 2 (PS2)
Clint Bajakian, Jonathan Mayer, Chuck Doud
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Lair (PS3)
John Debney, Ryan Hamlyn, Clint Bajakian
SCE Foster City Studio & Factor 5/Sony Computer Entertainment America

Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover (Capcom)/Capcom
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

Viva Piñata (Xbox 360)
Grant Kirkhope
Rare/Microsoft Game Studio


Sports
Colin McRae: DiRT (Xbox 360)
Gavin Raeburn, Matt Horsman, Alex Grimbley
Codemasters/Codemasters

FIFA 08 (PS3)
Development Team
EA Chicago/Electronic Arts

Football Manager 2008 (PC)
Development Team
Sports Interactive/SEGA

MotorStorm (PS3)
Mick Hocking, Martin Kenwright, Pete Smith
SCE External Development Studio & Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Virtua Tennis 3 (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Sumo Digital/SEGA

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo


Strategy and Simulation
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Electronic Arts LA/Electronic Arts

Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Turn 10/Microsoft Game Studios

Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (PC)
Development Team
The Creative Assembly/SEGA

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas (Xbox 360)
Chadi Lebbos, Alexandre Parizeau, Maxime Beland
Ubisoft Studios (Montreal)/Ubisoft Entertainment

Wii Sports (Wii)
Development Team
Nintendo/Nintendo

World in Conflict (PC)
Development Team
Massive Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment


Story and Character
Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
Development Team
Final Fantasy XII Project Team/Square Enix

God of War 2 (PS2)
Cory Barlog, David Jaffe, Marianne Krawczyk
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Development Team
Ninja Theory/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover (Capcom)/Capcom

The Darkness (Xbox 360)
Denby Grace, Lars Johansson, Jerk Gustafsson
Starbreeze Studios/2K

The Simpsons Game (Xbox 360)
Matt Selman, Scot Amos
EA/Gracie Films/Electronic Arts


Technical Achievement
Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/ Microsoft Game Studios

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Tim Sweeney, Ray Davis, Daniel Vogel
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studio

God of War 2 (PS2)
Tim Moss, Christer Ericson
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

MotorStorm (PS3)
Scott Kirkland, Martin Kenwright, Pete Smith
SCE External Development Studio/Evolution/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Okami (PS2)
Atsushi Inaba
Clover(Capcom)/Capcom

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (PS3)
Development Team
Naughty Dog/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe


Use of Audio

Crackdown (Xbox 360)
Development Team
Realtime Worlds/Microsoft Game Studios
Elite Beat Agents (DS)
Development Team
iNiS/Nintendo

Gears of War (Xbox 360)
Mike Larson, Lee Perry, Desmond Rogers
Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios

God of War 2 (PS2)
Dave Murrant, Philip Kovats, Chuck Russom
SCE Santa Monica Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Development Team
Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane

Skate (PS3)
Development Team
EA Black Box/Electronic Arts


BAFTA One’s To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital
Ragnarawk
Voodoo Boogy (Malcolm Brown, Robert Clarke, Peter Carr, Lynne Robertson, Finlay Sutton)

ClimbActic
Carebox (Jack Potter, Alan Campbell, Benjamin Rollinson, Zarek Cohen, Duncan Harrison)

Bear Go Home
Phoenix Seed (Fengming Bao, Xi Deng, Yi Li, Guangyao Wang, Christopher Isaacs)


The PC World Gamers’ Award
(The only award to be voted for by the public)
Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training (DS)
Nintendo/Nintendo
FIFA 07 (PS2)
EA Canada/Electronic Arts
Football Manager 2007 (PC)
Sports Interactive/SEGAGears of War (Xbox 360)
Epic Games/Microsoft
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PSP)
Rockstar Leeds/Take Two
Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)
Insomniac/Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Wii Play (Wii)
Nintendo/Nintendo