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Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award finalists announced

N-Gage, iPhone and mobile games nominated

Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences award finalists announced
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It’s coming up to awards season in the games industry as well as the movies, and the latest association to release its list of finalists is the 12th Annual Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS).

Although the Cellular Game of the Year award only has three finalists (as opposed to all the other categories, which get five) we’re seeing a pretty decent cross section of the mobile industry.

Nominated are Reset Generation for the N-Gage, Spore Origins on mobile (and iPhone, iPod and N-Gage, strictly speaking) and Trism on the iPhone.

“This was an exciting year for games,” says Joseph Olin, president of the AIAS. "The depth of talent and creativity in this industry continues to amaze me and we are honoured to highlight some of the most impressive games of the year at the Interactive Achievement Awards. The 2009 nominees indeed reflect a stronghold of talent embodying the best and brightest in this field.”

The major difference with this award system is that it’s peer-based, rather than voted for by the public. The judges and voters are all from within the games industry itself, which makes winning it quite an accolade, as these guys presumably have a very keen eye for technical excellence and innovation.

The finalists will be announced at this year’s Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain (D.I.C.E.) summit in Las Vegas on February 19th.

Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.