9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards


The 9th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards was the 9th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2005. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, and were held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on. It was also held as part of the Academy's 2006 D.I.C.E. Summit, and was hosted by stand-up comedian Jay Mohr.
This was the first year that the Academy did not have separate genre awards for console and computer. In addition, there was only one award for "Outstanding Innovation in Gaming". "Wireless Game of the Year" was seemingly replaced with "Cellular Game of the Year", as the former was part of the description for "Cellphone Game of the Year" in the nomination packet. The announcement for submissions listed the "Handheld Game of the Year" as a "Game of the Year" category along with "Cellular Game of the Year", but would both be listed as genre categories when the finalists were announced.
God of War received the most nominations and won the most awards, including "Overall Game of the Year". Sony Computer Entertainment received the most nominations and won the most awards. Nintendo had the most nominated games, but Electronic Arts had the most award-winning games. There was a tie for the "Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering" award between Guitar Hero and Nintendogs. There was also a tie for "Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year" between City of Villains and Guild Wars, the only time a publisher, NCSoft, published both games that tied for a category.
Richard Garriott, creator of Ultima, was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

Winners and Nominees

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger.

Game of the Year

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Outstanding Achievement

Outstanding Character Performance

Genre Awards

Hall of Fame Award

  • Richard Garriott

    Multiple nominations and awards

Multiple Nominations

NominationsGame
12God of War
7Guitar Hero
7Shadow of the Colossus
6Nintendogs
5Call of Duty 2
5Jade Empire
4F.E.A.R.
4Gun
4King Kong
3Age of Empires III
3Battlefield 2
3Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
3The Movies
3Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
2Burnout Revenge
2Civilization IV
2Condemned: Criminal Origins
2Kameo
2Mario Kart DS
2Need for Speed: Most Wanted
2Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath
2Project Gotham Racing 3
2Rise of the Kasai
2Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves
2SSX on Tour

NominationsGamesCompany
256Sony Computer Entertainment
156Activision
157Microsoft Game Studios
148Nintendo
147Ubisoft
137Electronic Arts
71Harmonix
71RedOctane
63Vivendi Universal Games
62Monolith Productions
51BioWare
432K Games
41Neversoft
33Namco
33NCSoft
33Nokia
33Square Enix
31DICE
31Ensemble Studios
31Lionhead Studios
22Avalanche Software
22Bizarre Creations
22Gearbox Software
22PlayFirst
22THQ
22Treyarch
22Visual Concepts
21BottleRocket Entertainment
21Firaxis Games
21Oddworld Inhabitants
21Rare
21Rockstar Games
21Sega
21Sucker Punch Productions

Multiple awards

AwardsGame
7God of War
5Guitar Hero
2Battlefield 2
2Jade Empire
2Nintendogs
2Shadow of the Colossus

AwardsGamesCompany
92Sony Computer Entertainment
51Harmonix
51RedOctane
43Electronic Arts
32Microsoft Game Studios
22Activision
22Namco
22NCSoft
21BioWare
21DICE
21Nintendo