BioShock Thriller Wins Spike TV’s Award for Video Game of the Year - E-vizio.com

Vanjezi · #1 (**permalink**) 10th-December-2007, 14:58

BioShock, the noir thriller from Take-Two Interactive, garnered the top prize at the 2007 Spike Video Game Awards presentation in Las Vegas on Friday.

In addition to game of the year, BioShock won for best Xbox 360 game and best original score. Set under the Atlantic Ocean in a libertarian paradise gone wrong, BioShock has impressed players with its lush graphics, emotive voice acting and provocative story line. The title beat out the finalists Halo 3, Mass Effect and the Orange Box for game of the year.

This is the fifth year Spike TV has produced the awards show. The program, with Samuel L. Jackson as host, was scheduled to have its premiere on Spike TV last night. In addition to performances by Kid Rock and the Foo Fighters, the show included appearances and award presentations by the magician Criss Angel, the promoter Don King, the skateboarder Tony Hawk and the quarterback Matt Leinart, among other celebrities.

A Spike spokeswoman said the winners were selected by a panel of 31 industry experts, including employees of Spike and its parent company, Viacom. Another Viacom subsidiary, the game studio Harmonix Music Systems, and its top title this year, Rock Band, also won three awards.

Harmonix, in Cambridge, Mass., developed the hit Guitar Hero music game series before being acquired by Viacom’s MTV Networks last year. Now another company, Activision, owns the Guitar Hero brand, and the new Guitar Hero III is facing off against Harmonix’s Rock Band in the marketplace this holiday season.

Viacom has heavily promoted Rock Band on its television networks, including Spike, MTV and VH1, and the game received a hefty dose of attention at the awards presentation, winning for best soundtrack and best rhythm game. In addition Harmonix won studio of the year. Meanwhile Guitar Hero III won nothing.

Activision, which recently announced plans to merge with Vivendi’s game division, was not shut out, however. Its Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a combat game set in trouble spots, won for best shooter and best military game.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/10/ar...rssnyt&emc=rss