Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences

History

AIAS was founded in 1992 by Andrew Zucker. After building an organization of close to 400 members consisting of executives from both the gaming and entertainment industries, as well as a board of 40 notable industry leaders including visionary Timothy Leary, AIAS produced the first televised awards show honoring computer games in 1994, which was broadcast live from Universal Studios Hollywood via TBS. The show, entitled "Cybermania '94" was hosted by Leslie Nielsen and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. In 1995, the second annual awards show became the first awards program streamed on the Web, via bravo.com, at the same time promoted by its sister television network, Bravo. As originally envisioned by Andrew Zucker, AIAS was to become a bridge between Silicon Valley and Hollywood, thus serving to link and provide a forum for dialogue between professionals in both technology and entertainment. Judging was independently audited by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. AIAS co-promoted numerous events with organizations such as the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild of America and Women in Film.

Thereafter, in 1996, AIAS was re-established is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998. Its membership consists of industry professionals, and only professional members who meet a set of minimum criteria are able to vote for the best entertainment software of the year.

On October 24, 2012, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences announced that the IAAs would be known as the D.I.C.E. Awards beginning in 2013. The name stands for "Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain".

D.I.C.E. Awards

The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs)) are the awards that recognize the year's best videogames, computer games, online entertainment, outstanding individuals, and groundbreaking development teams that have propelled the advancement of the entertainment software industry.

TThe winners of the D.I.C.E. Awards are determined by secure ballot of industry experts and Academy members. These experts comprise a body of accomplishments in all facets of game craft: art, design, engineering, animation, performance and production. All Academy voting is conducted in secret-online, secure, supervised and certified by eBallot Inc. The awards ceremony is held during the annual D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada, typically in the moth of February. The awards were previously broadcast on G4 TV, and G4TV.com, but now are live-streamed to viewers.

The tables below are based on the awards cycle for the calendar year preceded the award ceremony date; for example, all awards given for "1997" were presented to winners in a 1998 ceremony.

Overall

Game of the Year

Immersive Reality

The Immersive Reality Game of the Year was added for consideration of 2016 games to award those in the growing area of virtual reality and augmented reality games.

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

This award was added to honor games from 2016 onward in technical achievements for virtual reality and augmented reality.

D.I.C.E. Sprite Award

The D.I.C.E. Sprite Award was added for the 2015 awards ceremony to honor "a game having disproportionate resources for development and exposure (as compared to AAA titles), represent a higher degree of risk tolerance and advances our industry with innovative gameplay and experiences".

Technical Impact Award

The Technical Impact Award was added for the 2015 awards ceremony to recognize "unique innovations that contribute to the ongoing progress of interactive media".

Award show hosts

Since 2000, the annual award show has been hosted by many notable figures from the entertainment world.

2000 : Martin Short2001 : Martin Lewis2002 : Patton Oswalt2003 : Dave Foley2004 : Diane Mizota2005 : Cory Rouse and Kurt Scholler2006 : Jay Mohr2007 : Jay Mohr2008 : Jay Mohr2009 : Jay Mohr2010 : Jay Mohr2011 : Jay Mohr2012 : Chris Hardwick2013 : Freddie Wong and Felicia Day2014 : Pete Holmes2015 : Pete Holmes2016 : Greg Miller and Jessica Chobot

Hall of Fame

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has annually inducted into its "Hall of Fame" video game developers that have made revolutionary and innovative achievements in the video game industry/computer game industry.

Lifetime Achievement Awards

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given "for individuals whose accomplishments span a broad range of disciplines over a lengthy career in the industry".

Pioneer Awards

The Pioneer Award is given "for individuals whose career spanning work has helped shape and define the interactive entertainment industry".