Call of Duty, Wii Fit each win three videogame awards

EMA names GTA IV videogame of the year

By Cheryl Cheng -- Video Business, 2/11/2009

FEB. 11 | The Entertainment Merchants Assn. awarded Activision’s Call of Duty: World at War the 2009 Video Game Home Entertainment Awards’ Game of the Year for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and Nintendo’s Wii Fit was named the Most Innovative Game of the Year at the GameSupply: The Supply Chain Academy for Interactive Entertainment, held in Encino, Calif. on Feb. 11. (Click here for a full list of winners.)

Both games won the most awards, with three wins each.

Nintendo garnered the most awards of any studio, with wins in five categories, including two for Mario Kart Wii, which won Family/Children’s Game of the Year and Racing Game of the Year.

In the new non-title specific category of Best Third-Party Publisher, EMA awarded Electronic Arts, which also won for Left 4 Dead (Non-Sequel Game of the Year) and Madden NFL 09 (Sports Game of the Year).

Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV, which set one-day and first-week all-time records for videogames last year, received two awards, including Video Game of the Year.

“Today’s interactive entertainment has revolutionized consumers’ perception of entertainment and how they enjoy it,” EMA president and CEO Bo Andersen said. “EMA is pleased to recognize the winners of our 2009 Video Game Home Entertainment Awards for their extraordinary contributions to the industry and the amazing ways they changed the relationship between entertainment and the consumer.”

To be eligible, a videogame had to have been released during 2008. EMA’s Video Game Home Entertainment Awards Nominating Committee, comprised of videogame retailers and distributors, determines the awards categories and nominees.

2009 Video Game Home Entertainment Award Winners