Creative/Technical Categories

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF VIDEO GAME TESTERS AND REVIEWERS CORP.™ ANNOUNCES 7th ANNUAL NAViGaTR AWARD WINNERS

BIOSHOCK WINS MOST NAViGaTR AWARDS IN ACADEMY HISTORY; SHIGERU MIYAMOTO LEAPFROGS DAN HOUSER FOR MOST AWARDS TO DATE; WILL WRIGHT WINS FOR SIMPSONS CAMEO

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: THOMAS J. ALLEN
PHONE: 410.721.8895
E-MAIL: INFO AT NAVGTR DOT ORG

March 27, 2008 --- The winners of the 2007 NAViGaTR Awards were announced today, revealing the winners in 45 categories.  Multiple awards went to Alyssa Finley, Mauricio Tejerina, Nate Wells, Rob Waters, Scott Sinclair, and Shigeru Miyamoto, twice the number of multiple winners last year.

The awards are presented by the National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers Corp.™, a non-profit media organization with over 1,100 voters honoring the best of the interactive entertainment industry in the fields of art, technology, and production for calendar year 2007.

Out of its ten nominations, Bioshock won eight (8) awards, more than any other game in NAViGaTR history.  The game, about an underwater utopia and the seedy underbelly of its protective forces, won awards for Art Direction in a Game Cinema, Art Direction in a Game Engine, Direction in a Game Cinema, Lighting & Texturing, Song Collection, Sound Effects, Outstanding Original Action Game, and Game of the Year.

The next highest winner was Mass Effect, with five (5) awards.  Mass Effect won in the categories of Original Musical Score, Writing in a Drama, Lead Performance in a Drama, Supporting Performance in a Drama, and Outstanding Original Role Playing Game.

Call of Duty 4 won three (3) awards, while Assassin’s Creed, Super Mario Galaxy, The Orange Box, The Simpsons Game, and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade each won two (2) awards, rounding out the multiple winners.  This year, no game achieved a trifecta with wins in all three disciplines of design, art, and sound.

PUBLISHER TALLIES

This year, 2K Games and Electronic Arts are tied for the most wins with eight (8) each.  Following
behind are Microsoft and Sony with six (6) each, Nintendo and Activision with three (3) each, and Blizzard Entertainment, Namco Bandai, THQ, and Ubisoft with two (2) each.

Two years ago, Sony set a publishers' record by winning 11 awards in a single year.  The record still stands.

DEVELOPER TALLIES

This year, 2K Games holds the highest developer awards tally with 8 wins.  Bioware took 5 awards, while various Electronic Arts studios took 4 awards.  Infinity Ward, Nintendo, and Valve each took three (3) awards.  Blizzard and Ubisoft Montreal took two (2) awards.

Since the inception of the NAViGaTR Awards, Nintendo has won 21 awards as a developer, more than any other developer to date.  Square Enix follows with 18 awards.  Sony and Rockstar are tied with 17 awards to date.  Konami has 15; Ubisoft has 14.  Namco Bandai and Electronic Arts are tied with 11; Valve and Harmonix are tied with 10.  Bioware has 9 awards to date as a developer.  Capcom and 2K Games are tied with 8.  Sucker Punch and Infinity Ward are tied with 6.  Epic, Bungie, and the defunct Clover Studios each have 5.  Team Ninja, id software, Double Fine, Blizzard, and Bethesda Game Studios each have 4 awards to date.

INDIVIDUAL TALLIES

This year, four people earned a second NAViGaTR award after winning in a previous year --- Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn, Shane Dabiri, and David Jaffe.  This year there were no additions to the list of 26 winners who have won three or more awards to date.

Shigeru Miyamoto has won ten (10) awards to date, more than any other individual.  With the exception of his win for Innovation in Game Play two years ago, Miyamoto has won only for roles as a producer in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Super Mario Sunshine, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Wii Sports, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, and Super Mario Galaxy.

Dan Houser has won nine (9) awards for his widespread work in the Grand Theft Auto® series, as well as "Bully."

Fumito Ueda and Takashi Tezuka have won five (5) awards to date.  Ueda has won 2 awards for ICO and 3 awards for Shadow of the Colossus in the areas of animation and design.  Takashi Tezuka has won for Animal Crossing®, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario Sunshine.

Jamie King, Jeremy Pope, and Leslie Benzies have each won four (4) awards for producing the Grand Theft Auto® series, including two genre awards and two Game of the Year awards.

Atsushi Inaba has won three awards - two for Okami and one for God Hand.

Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom has won for the games Frequency, Karaoke Revolution, and Guitar Hero II.

Yoshinori Kitase has won for Final Fantasy X, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy III.

Hajime Sugiyama has won 3 awards --- two for ICO's camera and lighting, plus a technical graphics award for Colossus.

Atsuko Fukuyama has won 3 awards --- two for Animation in a Game Engine (Ico and Shadow of the Colossus), as well as an award for Colossus' character design.

Bruce Oberg has earned his third award for programming on the Sly Cooper series.

Keita Takahashi has won three awards for the Katamari series.

James Worral has also won three (3) awards for writing and design in the Grand Theft Auto® series.

Akira Yamaoka has won three awards for his work on the Silent Hill® series, winning in the categories of Sound Effects, Use of Sound, and Original Musical Score.

Mathieu Laforce has won three awards.  His first two awards were for Graphics, Technical and Lighting & Texturing Effects for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell in 2002, and his third award was for Lighting & Texturing Effects for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2003.

Rik Schaffer has won three awards, including two for Sound Effects in Call of Duty and Doom 3, as well as one for Sound Editing in a Game Cinema for Doom 3.

Programmers Ben Wallace, Bernie Freidin, Charles Gough, Chris Butcher, Mat Noguchi, Matt Segur, Eamon McKenzie, and Stefan Sinclair have all won three awards for the first Halo®.

Of the 26 past winners who have won at least three awards, Atsushi Inaba, Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Tracy Rosenthal-Newsom, Yoshinori Kitase, Dan Houser, Mathieu Laforce, Atsuko Fukuyama, Fumito Ueda, Hajime Sugiyama, and Rik Schaffer are the only (11) people that have won awards for work in multiple franchises.
 
ABOUT THE NAViGaTR AWARDS

Through annual awards, television specials, videos, cruises, and other future plans, we hope to preserve the history of the medium as well as honor the creative and technical individuals who have paved the way for new ideas and innovations.

For more information on NAVGTR missions and programs, log onto http://www.navgtr.org/

The general voting body of more than 1,100 journalists and writers includes contributors for such varied outlets as About.com, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Austin American-Statesman, NBC, CNN, CNN.com, CNNmoney.com, Chicago Sun-Times, Computer Gaming World, Contra Costa Times, Digital Journal, ElectricPlayground.com, FHM, GamersTemple.com, GamingTarget.com, Gannett News Service, Gear, HappyPuppy.com, Kids & Computers, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, National Post, New York Times, Marquee, PC Gamer, Philadelphia Inquirer, PlanetPong.com, Salon, San Jose Mercury-News, USA Today, USAToday.com, Wired News, Wizard Magazine, WOW Weekly, ZDNet, Detroit Free Press, National Public Radio, Public Radio International, Play Magazine, Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff-Davis Media), Evergeek Media, The Ottawa Citizen, The Vancouver Sun, The Regina Leader-Post, EclipseMagazine.com, and hundreds more.

The Academy is currently accepting applications from new analysts/journalists to become voters.  For more information, e-mail vote at navgtr dot org with a bio and/or resume.

ABOUT NAVGTR CORP.

NAVGTR Corp. is a 501(c)(6) non-profit corporation devoted to promoting and recognizing the developments and achievements of the interactive entertainment industry for public awareness and education.  In addition to the annual awards, the academy’s future goals include acknowledging, documenting, and/or memorializing industry leaders and historical events through educational and informative television specials or videos, as well as efforts to preserve the history of interactive entertainment through the development of archives in public libraries and universities.  (www.navgtr.org)