SAN JOSE, Calif.--Last month at the annual D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Create, Entertain) convention, Sony Computer Entertainment America's God of War was named Overall Game of the Year at the annual Interactive Achievement Awards. Many industry-watchers dismissed its win, because the even more acclaimed Resident Evil 4 wasn't nominated due to a technicality. When Capcom's game was also not nominated for the top prize at the 2006 Game Developers Choice Awards, many present at the March 22 awards ceremony assumed God of War would once again rule the day.

　　However, as the evening progressed, it became clearer and clearer to the audience inside the San Jose Civic Auditorium that the game deities were not showing favor to God of War. The game was shut out of every category it was nominated in by a surprising rival--Shadow of the Colossus. The Japanese-developed action game, which was also published by SCEA, beat out its American rival in the Visual Arts, Game Design, and Character Design categories. It also was victorious at the end of the evening, taking home the Best Game of 2005 prize as well.

　　While Colossus was the big winner, the crowd showed the most enthusiasm for several other winners. Rock-concert-level cheers erupted when Harmonix's Guitar Hero was awarded for having the Best Audio, and howls of approval greeted the announcement that Nintendogs had won the Best Technology and Innovation awards.

　　However, the most emotion greeted a dual win by industry veteran Tim Schafer. First, his newly formed shop, Double Fine Productions, was named Best New Studio. That honor was followed by the award of Best Writing going to the studio's first game, the critically acclaimed Psychonauts.

　　Best Game

　　Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)

　　- Katsuya Eguchi, Hisashi Nogami, Takashi Tezuka, Kazumi Totaka

　　God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

　　- David Jaffe, Shannon Studstill

　　Guitar Hero (Harmonix Music Systems/RedOctane)

　　- Rob Kay, Greg LoPiccolo, Alex Rigopulos

　　Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　The Movies (Lionhead Studios/Activision)

　　- Gary Carr, Peter Molyneux, Mark Webley

　　Best Audio

　　Call of Duty 2 (Infinity Ward/Activision)

　　- Mark Ganus

　　Electroplankton (Nintendo)

　　- Toshio Iwai, Koichi Kyuma, Yuichi Ozaki

　　God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

　　- Dave Murrant

　　Guitar Hero (Harmonix Music Systems/RedOctane)

　　Project Gotham Racing 3 (Bizarre Creations/Microsoft Game Studios)

　　- Nick Bygrave, Guy Whitmore, Nick Wiswell

　　Character Design

　　City of Villains (Cryptic Studios/NCsoft Corporation)

　　- Ocala Bellows Kulig, Ryan Butts, Jay Doherty, Jeremy Mattson

　　God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

　　- David Jaffe, Terry Smith, Charlie Wen

　　Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath (Oddworld Inhabitants/Electronic Arts)

　　- Lorne Lanning, Rich McKain, Iain Morton, Raymond Swanland

　　Psychonauts (Double Fine Productions/Majesco Entertainment Company)

　　- Scott Campbell

　　Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　Game Design

　　Animal Crossing: Wild World (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)

　　- Katsuya Eguchi, Hisashi Nogami, Takashi Tezuka, Kazumi Totaka

　　God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

　　- David Jaffe

　　Nintendogs (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)

　　- Tsutomu Kaneshige, Hideki Konno, Shigeru Miyamoto, Kiyoshi Mizuki

　　Psychonauts (Double Fine Productions/Majesco Entertainment Company)

　　- Erik Robson, Tim Schafer

　　Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　Best Technology

　　Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (Digital Illusions/Electronic Arts)

　　- Fred Gill, Måns Vestin

　　Guitar Hero (Harmonix Music Systems/RedOctane)

　　- Eran Egozy, Eric Malafeew, Phil Winston

　　Nintendogs (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)

　　Project Gotham Racing 3 (Bizarre Creations/Microsoft Game Studios)

　　- Edmund Clay, Roger Perkins, Phil Teschner, Ian Wilson

　　Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　- Jinji Horagai, Takuya Seki, Hajime Sugiyama, Masanobu Tanaka

　　Best Visual Arts

　　God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

　　- Steve Caterson, Terry Smith, Charlie Wen

　　Project Gotham Racing 3 (Bizarre Creations/Microsoft Game Studios)

　　- Gren Atherton, Julie McGurren, Peter Roe, Kiki Wolfkill

　　Resident Evil 4 (Capcom Production Studio 4/Capcom Entertainment)

　　- Yusuke Hashimoto, Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, Yusuke Kan, Masaki Yamanaka

　　Shadow of the Colossus (Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.)

　　We Love Katamari (Namco Limited/Namco Hometek)

　　- Keita Takahashi, Takeshi Ugajin

　　Best Writing

　　Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich (Irrational Games/Vivendi Universal Games)

　　- Ken Levine

　　God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

　　- David Jaffe, Marianne Krawcyzk, Alex Stein

　　Indigo Prophecy (Quantic Dream/Atari)

　　- David Cage

　　Jade Empire (BioWare Corp./Microsoft Game Studios)

　　- Drew Karpyshyn, Brian Kindregan, Luke Kristjanson, Mike Laidlaw, Peter Thomas, Mac Walters

　　Psychonauts (Double Fine Productions/Majesco Entertainment Company)

　　Best New Studio

　　ArenaNet (Guild Wars)

　　- Mike O'Brien, Jeff Strain, Patrick Wyatt

　　Double Fine Productions (Psychonauts)

　　New Crayon Games (Bonnie's Bookstore)

　　- Phil Steinmeyer

　　TellTale Games (Bone: Out From Boneville)

　　- David Bogan, Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors, Troy Molander

　　Wideload Games (Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse)

　　- Alexander Seropian

　　Innovation Award

　　Nintendogs (Nintendo EAD/Nintendo)

　　Guitar Hero (Harmonix Music Systems/RedOctane)

　　- Eric Brosius, Kasson Crooker