And the Winner Is…21st D.I.C.E. Awards Celebrates the Best in Video Games

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Takes Top Honor as Game of
the Year

LAS VEGAS–#DICEAwards–The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), the non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of the
interactive arts representing its 33,000+ membership base, today held
the 21st D.I.C.E. Awards, its annual ceremony that brings
together the interactive entertainment industry to honor the year’s
biggest achievements in video games. This year’s Game of the Year was
awarded to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild by Nintendo,
which takes players on a world of adventure as they travel across vast
fields, through forests and over mountain peaks as they discover what
has become of the kingdom of Hyrule.

The Academy membership honored games in 24 award categories, with The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
receiving four awards, making it
the night’s most awarded game. Cuphead earned a total of three
awards. Games honored with two awards each included Horizon Zero Dawn,
Lone Echo/Echo Arena, PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS and Snipperclips.
Other top honorees were Fire Emblem Heroes for Mobile Game of the
Year, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Racing Game of the Year, Injustice
2
for Fighting Game of the Year, FIFA 18 for Sports Game of
the Year, Snipperclips for the Sprite Award, and PLAYERUNKNOWN’S
BATTLEGROUNDS
for Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay.

“Every year, the D.I.C.E. Awards brings the global interactive
entertainment industry under one roof to recognize and honor the very
best in video games – the games that captivated and inspired us, and
kept us entertained for hours on end,” said Meggan Scavio, president,
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “On behalf of the Academy, I am
thrilled to congratulate this year’s winners of the 21st
D.I.C.E. Awards.”

In addition to the awards for the industry’s best games and creators
from the previous year, the D.I.C.E. Awards also celebrated Genyo
Takeda, Special Corporate Advisor at Nintendo, with a Lifetime
Achievement Award, the seventh recipient to receive the honor from the
Academy. Takeda was recognized for having been at the forefront of
shaping the video games hardware industry in his career-long tenure at
Nintendo with the development of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube and
the Wii system.

The 21st annual D.I.C.E. Awards ceremony, which was co-hosted
for the second time by Greg Miller, co-founder of internet video show
and podcast Kinda Funny, and Jessica Chobot of Nerdist News,
included industry professionals who attended the event live and game
fans worldwide who tuned in for the live stream. The show was the
culmination of the annual three-day D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate,
Communicate, Entertain) Summit (#DICE18), which is known for drawing
many of the interactive entertainment industry’s most respected and
influential leaders, decision makers and visionaries.

The complete list of winners includes:

Game of the Year

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: Nintendo

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: Nintendo

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: Nintendo

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

Lone Echo/Echo Arena

  • Publisher: Oculus Studios
  • Developer: Ready At Dawn

Immersive Reality Game of the Year

Lone Echo/Echo Arena

  • Publisher: Oculus Studios
  • Developer: Ready At Dawn

Mobile Game of the Year

Fire Emblem Heroes

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS and Nintendo

Handheld Game of the Year

Metroid: Samus Returns

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: MercurySteam and Nintendo

D.I.C.E. Sprite Award

Snipperclips

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: SFB Games

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS

  • Publisher: Bluehole
  • Developer: PUBG Corporation

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

  • Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
  • Developer: Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris

Sports Game of the Year

FIFA 18

  • Publisher: Electronic Arts
  • Developer: Electronic Arts

Role-Playing Game of the Year

NierR: Automata

  • Publisher: Square Enix
  • Developer: PlatinumGames

Racing Game of the Year

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: Nintendo

Fighting Game of the Year

Injustice 2

  • Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
  • Developer: NetherRealm Studios

Family Game of the Year

Snipperclips

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: SFB Games

Adventure Game of the Year

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: Nintendo

Action Game of the Year

PLAYERUNKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS

  • Publisher: Bluehole
  • Developer: PUBG Corporation

Outstanding Technical Achievement

Horizon Zero Dawn

  • Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • Developer: Guerrilla Games

Outstanding Achievement in Story

Horizon Zero Dawn

  • Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
  • Developer: Guerrilla Games

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

Super Mario Odyssey

  • Publisher: Nintendo
  • Developer: Nintendo

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music
Composition

Cuphead

  • Publisher: StudioMDHR
  • Developer: StudioMDHR

Outstanding Achievement in Character

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – Senua

  • Publisher: Ninja Theory
  • Developer: Ninja Theory

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

Cuphead

  • Publisher: StudioMDHR
  • Developer: StudioMDHR

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

Cuphead

  • Publisher: StudioMDHR
  • Developer: StudioMDHR

Since 1996, the D.I.C.E. Awards have recognized outstanding games,
individuals and development teams that push the boundaries of
technology, creativity and artistic expression in the worldwide
interactive entertainment industry. Titles were played and evaluated by
members of the Academy’s Peer Panels. The panels are comprised of the
game industry’s most experienced and talented professionals. Each panel
is responsible for evaluating one award category. D.I.C.E. Awards
recipients are determined by a vote of qualified Academy members. Award
voting is confidential, conducted online and supervised and certified by
VoteNet Solutions, Inc. The integrity of the system, coupled with a
broad-based voting population of AIAS members, makes the D.I.C.E. Awards
the most credible, respected and recognized awards for interactive
entertainment software.

The 21st D.I.C.E. Awards was produced by the AIAS, and will
be available to watch in-full at https://www.youtube.com/user/AcademyIAS.


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