Nintendo press release - AIAA awards, Zelda talk

REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ — The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has honored Nintendo with five Interactive Achievement Awards, including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming for Wii Sports(TM). The hugely popular Wii title won three awards, while The Legend of Zelda(R): Twilight Princess and Brain Age(TM): Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day each took home honors. This critical recognition comes on the heels of dramatic commercial success, as the Wii version of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess just crossed the 1 million sales mark in the United States, making it the fastest-selling launch title for any new video game system since Super Mario(R) 64 for Nintendo(R) 64 some 10 years ago.

The awards were presented the night of Feb. 8 at the academy’s annual Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain summit in Las Vegas. The awards are among the most respected in the interactive entertainment community.

“These awards, granted by a group of our industry peers, demonstrate that it’s possible to please both new and experienced game players,” says Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime. “To see honors given to games as varied as Twilight Princess, Wii Sports and Brain Age tells us the industry hungers for new ideas and great games. We believe both Wii and Nintendo DS are specifically equipped to deliver those experiences.”

Nintendo received 19 nominations in 11 different gaming categories, and came home with five awards. The complete list of Nintendo’s Interactive Achievement Awards is as follows:

* Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Wii Sports

* Outstanding Achievement in Story and Character Development: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

* Outstanding Achievement in Game-Play Engineering: Wii Sports

* Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: Wii Sports

* Hand-Held Game of the Year: Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day

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