GameFly Tosses AIAS Panel Rental Freebies
Should make it easy for them to dole out those awards with confidence now, hmm?
Published: February 3, 2005
Long ago (and we're talking like almost a whole decade here), the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences formed with the almost sole reason of recognizing video games as the very thing many of us in the industry have been calling them: art.
The geek non-profit collective has helped to recognize some of the best efforts each year for a while now at their annual D.I.C.E. conference where developers and publishers can have pow-wows to discuss how to move the industry forward. D.I.C.E. is also the birthplace of each year's Interactive Achievement Awards, where dozens of games were considered before about a half-dozen more or less swept the bulk of the awards.
Still, the task of playing through all the nominees in order to properly champion the crème de la crème isn't exactly easy when the games are $50 a pop and there are more than a few judges. Luckily, game rental services have popped up all over the place as of late, namely GameFly, who couldn't resist helping the awards panel out (while garnering a little publicity in the process, something we're sure had nothing to do with the decision).
GameFly has doled out year-round rentals for the panel, allowing them to play through all of the biggest games across all consoles at their leisure using the same basic late fee-free leniency paying customers enjoy. It's a nice move, sure, but hopefully it'll also mean some of the less well-known nominees in next year's categories will get a little more play time before getting smothered in the usual landslides of the big-budget blockbusters.
"With GameFly, our peer panelists will be able to immerse themselves in the industry's best games -- as soon as they are released -- and for as long as they chose, which will greatly assist the Interactive Achievement Award evaluation process in the future," gushed AIAS president Joseph Olin. "GameFly offers a tremendous service to both our peer voting panels and ultimately our members as they vie for the industry's highest honor."
"The AIAS, with more than 8,000 members, is the premier organization in our industry and it's an honor to be chosen to work with them," proclaimed Sean Spector, GameFly's co-founder and VP of marketing and business development. "GameFly is committed to supporting the developer and publisher community; as part of this partnership all members of the AIAS will receive a free trial of GameFly's online video game rental service, as well as a discount off their monthly GameFly membership fee."
With nearly all the big awards going to either Half-Life 2, Halo 2, or GTA: San Andreas (and rightly so, they were amazing games), it'll be interesting to see if next year's results tip a little more in favor of some of the other games should the blockbusters, though it should be noted that ultra-quirky industry darling Katamari Damacy walked away with more than a few awards. We'll see if we're singing a different tune this time next year.
The geek non-profit collective has helped to recognize some of the best efforts each year for a while now at their annual D.I.C.E. conference where developers and publishers can have pow-wows to discuss how to move the industry forward. D.I.C.E. is also the birthplace of each year's Interactive Achievement Awards, where dozens of games were considered before about a half-dozen more or less swept the bulk of the awards.
Still, the task of playing through all the nominees in order to properly champion the crème de la crème isn't exactly easy when the games are $50 a pop and there are more than a few judges. Luckily, game rental services have popped up all over the place as of late, namely GameFly, who couldn't resist helping the awards panel out (while garnering a little publicity in the process, something we're sure had nothing to do with the decision).
GameFly has doled out year-round rentals for the panel, allowing them to play through all of the biggest games across all consoles at their leisure using the same basic late fee-free leniency paying customers enjoy. It's a nice move, sure, but hopefully it'll also mean some of the less well-known nominees in next year's categories will get a little more play time before getting smothered in the usual landslides of the big-budget blockbusters.
"With GameFly, our peer panelists will be able to immerse themselves in the industry's best games -- as soon as they are released -- and for as long as they chose, which will greatly assist the Interactive Achievement Award evaluation process in the future," gushed AIAS president Joseph Olin. "GameFly offers a tremendous service to both our peer voting panels and ultimately our members as they vie for the industry's highest honor."
"The AIAS, with more than 8,000 members, is the premier organization in our industry and it's an honor to be chosen to work with them," proclaimed Sean Spector, GameFly's co-founder and VP of marketing and business development. "GameFly is committed to supporting the developer and publisher community; as part of this partnership all members of the AIAS will receive a free trial of GameFly's online video game rental service, as well as a discount off their monthly GameFly membership fee."
With nearly all the big awards going to either Half-Life 2, Halo 2, or GTA: San Andreas (and rightly so, they were amazing games), it'll be interesting to see if next year's results tip a little more in favor of some of the other games should the blockbusters, though it should be noted that ultra-quirky industry darling Katamari Damacy walked away with more than a few awards. We'll see if we're singing a different tune this time next year.