Hironobu Sakaguchi, President of Square USA, and creator of the Final Fantasy Series was honored with the Academy’s Hall of Fame Award. He was presented with the award by Sid Meier, last year’s recipient. The Game of the Year Award went to The Sims, and was accepted by creator, Will Wright. The remaining awards were distributed in four categories: The Craft Awards, Console, Online, and Personal Computer.
The Craft Awards
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction Winner: Final Fantasy VIII
Outstanding Achievement in Animation Winner: Final Fantasy VIII
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design Winner: Medal of Honor
Outstanding Achievement in Original Musical Composition Winner: Um Jammer Lammy
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design Winner: The Sims
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering Winner: Unreal Tournament
Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering Winner: The Sims
Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development Winners: Age of Empires II: Age of Kings and Thief: The Dark Project
Console
Action Game of the Year Winner: Crazy Taxi
Adventure/Role-Playing Game of the Year Winner: Final Fantasy VIII
Fighting Game of the Year Winner: Soul Calibur
Racing Game of the Year Winner: Star Wars Episode One Racer
Children’s/Family Title of the Year Winner: Pokemon Snap
Sports Game of the Year Winner: Knockout Kings
Console Game of the Year Winner: Soul Calibur
Online
Entertainment Site of the Year Winner: The Onion, America’s Finest News Source
News/Information Site of the Year Winner: GameSpot
Online Game of the Year Winner: Everquest
Personal Computer
Children’s Game of the Year Winner: Disney’s Villains’ Revenge
Creativity Title of the Year Winner: Disney’s Magic Artist Studio
Educational Title of the Year Winner: Jump Start Phonics Learning System
Family Entertainment Title of the Year Winner: 3-D Ultra Lionel Traintown
Adventure/Role Playing Game of the Year Winner: Asheron’s Call
Sports Game of the Year Winner: FIFA 2000
Simulation Game of the Year Winner: Microsoft Flight Simulator 2000 Professional
Action Game of the Year Winner: Half-Life Opposing Force
Strategy Game of the Year Winner: Age of Empires II: Age of Kings
Computer Game of the Year Winner: Age of Empires II: Age of Kings