2nd Annual BAFTA Games Awards Winners Announced

Pictures available on request

Half-Life 2 roared home with six prestigious Awards at this year's BAFTA Games Awards, winning in the categories Best Game, Action Adventure, Online & Multiplayer, PC, Art Direction and Animation. Hosted by Jonathan Ross, the 2nd Annual Games Awards ceremony was held last night at London's Café Royal and was attended by some of the biggest names in the Video Games Industry.

Burnout 3: Takedown scooped three Awards in the categories for Racing, Technical Direction and PlayStation 2. In the other individual console categories, Halo 2 won the Xbox category, and the GameCube category was won by Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.

A BAFTA Special Award, one of the most prestigious awards bestowed by the British Academy, was awarded to Sam Houser and Leslie Benzies of Rockstar Games for their outstanding contribution to the Games Industry.

The Originality Award was won by Singstar/Singstar Party, the Children's category was won by Donkey Konga and Pro Evolution Soccer 4 snagged the Sports Award.

In other categories, the Handheld Award went to Colin McRae Rally 2005, the Mobile category was won by Blue Tooth Biplanes, the Audio Award was won by Call of Duty: Finest Hour and Hitman: Contracts won the Original Music Award.

Grant Dean, Chairman of the BAFTA Games Committee said, "Last year was a great year for the Video Games industry. These awards reflect the enormous achievements, progress and diversity that we have seen in that time. "

Notes to editor:

The Games industry boasts developers with the finest technical expertise, and ground-breaking talent in the field of design creativity. The BAFTA Games Awards give the creative and technical specialists the recognition they deserve; it is their craft which has made the Games business the fastest growing form of entertainment today.

For further information, please contact:

Charlotte Fraczek, Fleishman-Hillard

Tel: 020 7395 7062 - Email: fraczekc@fleishmaneurope.com