We may well be six weeks into 2008, but award ceremonies are still popping up to honour the achievements of 2007. This time it’s the turn of the second annual Elan Awards , which exists as Canada’s industry event to bestow gongs galore on those achieving in the fields of videogames, animation, and digital arts.
Mass Effect scoops five gongs at the second Elan Awards in Canada. Credit: Elan Awards.
Held at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts and hosted by Family Guy creator and videogame fan Seth McFarlane, the awards ceremony saw sci-fi RPG epic Mass Effect secure the Autodesk Game of the Year.
And, BioWare’s (already) award-winning game wasn’t finished there, scooping Videogame Category awards for Best Art Direction, Best Game Design, Best Writing, and Best Character -- for Commander Shepard.
Other winners of note included Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed , which nabbed the award for Best Console Game and Best Original Musical Score, while Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes was honoured as Best PC Games, and Crytek’s ambitious shooter Crysis took the award for International Videogame of the Year.
Alongside the wealth of game awards handed out during the glittering event, Microsoft’s Don Mattrick was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The full list of winners is as follows:
THE AUTODESK GAME OF THE YEAR
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games)
BEST CONSOLE GAME
Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Development Team)
BEST PC GAME
Company of Heroes (Relic Entertainment/Ian Thomson)
BEST NEW VIDEO GAME COMPANY (Shared)
Blue Castle Games (Rob Barrett for The Bigs) and
Slant Six Games (Brian Thalken for SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals: Tactical Strike)
BEST SOUND DESIGN IN VIDEOGAMING
skate (Electronic Arts: Audio Director: Lance Brown Sound Designers: Francois Lafleur, Bryan Rennie, Sean Webster, Terry Fairfield)
BEST ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE IN VIDEOGAMING
Assasin’s Creed (Ubisoft/Jesper Kyd)
BEST CHARACTER IN VIDEOGAMING
Commander Shepard (Mass Effect -- BioWare/Microsoft Games/Drew Karpyshyn)
BEST ART DIRECTION IN VIDEOGAMING
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games/Derek Watts)
BEST HANDHELD GAME OF THE YEAR
SOCOM U.S. Navy Seals: Tactical Strike (Slant Six Games/Brian Thalken)
BEST GAME DESIGN OF THE YEAR
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games/Preston Watamaniuk)
BEST MOBILE/CASUAL/ARCADE GAME OF THE YEAR
skate (Electronic Arts/David Manriquez)
BEST WRITING FOR A GAME PRODUCTION
Mass Effect (BioWare/Microsoft Games/Drew Karpyshyn)
THE NOKIA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING INNOVATION IN GAMING
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (Relic Entertainment/Josh Mosqueira)
THE ERNST & YOUNG AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL VIDEOGAME OF THE YEAR
Crysis (Crytek/Electronic Arts USA/Cevat Yerli CEO, Crytek)
VIDEO GAME HALL OF FAME
Don Mattrick
USA
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