With World of Warcraft as a trophy, it wouldn't have been long before recognitions soon followed Vivendi's online multiplayer division, Blizzard Entertainment. And now that the MMORPG is the hottest game over PC, kudos goes to the man who pioneered it: Blizzard's head honcho, Mike Morhaime. In that respect, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) hopes to honor this achievement with a special treat.

The highly successful action shooter grabbed the most awards at the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held in Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas last February 8. The ceremony is hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS).

It is a peer-driven and peer-based awards honoring outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have made a contribution to the advancement of the game industry.

Trailing just behind the Epic Game's Gears of War is Nintendo's Wii Sports, which managed to grab three awards. Minoru Arakawa, former president of Nintendo of America, was also honored for the first time with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Honored with him were Howard Lincoln, chairman emeritus of Nintendo of America, and Danielle Bunten Berry, game pioneer. The former received a Lifetime Achievement Award and the latter was inducted to the AIAS Hall of Fame.

Joseph Olin, president of AIAS, said, "Last night, we recognized the brightest and most innovative in video games in what can be considered as one of the best years the video game industry has seen."

Click on Full Article to view the list of winners and their respective categories.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) has recently announced its finalists for the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Their awards are considered to be one of the most prestigious and important game-related award and being a finalist is already an honor.

Anyhow, there are a lot of awards to dish out but we'll give you the more interesting and more popular categories. The Overall Game of the Year finalists are Gears of War, Wii Sports, Zelda: Twilight Princess, Guitar Hero 2, and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The console game of the year almost has the same finalists as the Overall Game of the Year award, but instead of Elder Scrolls, Virtua Fighter 4 was the other finalists.

For the Outstanding Innovation in Gaming award the finalists are Wii Sports, Nintendo Brain Age, GoW, Viva Pinata, and Loco Roco. Loco Roco was also a finalist in the handheld game of the year with Elite Beat Agents, New Super Mario Bros., Brain Age, and Lego Star Wars II completing the list. Tekken: Dark Resurrection also picked up a nomination for Fighting Game of the Year.

As for the MMO category, Eve Online: Revelations, Guild Wars: Nightfall, DDO: Stormreach, and Auto Assault were deemed finalists. Surprisingly absent is Blizzard's World of Warcraft. And lastly, PC Game of the Year finalists are Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Company of Heroes, Battlefield 2142, Prey, and Age of Empires II: The Warchiefs.

Good luck to all the nominees. To check out the complete list of finalists and categories, click on our read link below.