Gears of War heads AIAS nominations

America's Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has announced the nominees for its 2006 awards, with Epic's Gears of War scoring ten nominations including Overall Game of the Year.

The 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards take place in Las Vegas next month as part of the D.I.C.E. Summit, and awards games for achievements in animation, art direction, sound design and story and character development, amongst others.

Along with Gears of War's ten nominations, Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess have scored six nominations each.

The full list of nominees and categories follows:

Overall Game of the Year

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Console Game of the Year

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)

Viva Piñata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Computer Game of the Year

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Battlefield 2142 (D.I.C.E./Electronic Arts)

Prey (Human Head Games/2K Games)

Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs (Ensemble Studios/Microsoft Game Studios)

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Viva Piñata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Handheld Game of the Year

LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Elite Beat Agents (Nintendo/Nintendo) New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Daxter (ReadyatDawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)

Rayman Raving Rabidds (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)

Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports/Electronic Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix/Square Enix)

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Viva Piñata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack

Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)

SingStar Rocks! (Sony Computer Entertainment London/Sony Computer Entertainment)

FIFA '07 (Electronic Arts Canada/Electronic Arts)

Marc Ecko's Getting Up (The Collective/Atari)

Scarface (Radical Entertainment/Sierra Entertainment)

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)

LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)

Black (Criterion Games/Electronic Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Redstorm Studios/Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)

Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

Outstanding Character Performance - Male

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent(Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)

Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Games)

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)

Daxter (ReadyatDawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance - Female

Saints Row (Volition/THQ)

Desperate Housewives (Liquid Entertainment/Buena Vista Games)

Viva Piñata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Bully (Rockstar Games/Rockstar Games)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Outstanding Achievement in Story and Character Development

Sam and Max Episode 1: Culture Shock (GameTap/Telltale Games)

Saints Row (Volition/THQ)

24: The Game (Sony Online Entertainment/2K Games)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey (Funcom/Aspyr)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Redstorm Studios/Ubisoft Paris/Ubisoft)

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Chromehounds (From Software/Sega of America)

Battlefield 2142 (D.I.C.E./Electronic Arts)

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering

Viva Piñata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Call of Duty 3 (Treyarch/Activision)

Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

Wii Sports (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Nintendo Brain Age (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Sports Game of the Year

Tony Hawk's Project 8 (Neversoft Entertainment/Activision)

MLB '06: The Show (SCEA SD Sports Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment)

NBA 2K7 (Visual Concepts/2K Sports)

FIFA '07 (Electronic Arts Canada/Electronic Arts)

NBA '07 (SCEA SD Sports Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Strategy Game of the Year

Company of Heroes (Relic/THQ)

Star Wars: Empire at War (Petroglyph/Lucas Arts)

Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II (Electronic Arts/Electronic Arts)

Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends (Big Huge Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

Medieval II: Total War (Creative Assembly/Sega of America)

First-Person Action Game of the Year

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas (Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft)

Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac Games/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Prey (Human Head Games/2K Games)

Half Life 2: Episode 1 (Valve/Electronic Arts)

Black (Criterion Games/Electronic Arts)

Fighting Game of the Year

Fight Night Round 3 (EA Sports/Electronic Arts)

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Midway/Midway)

WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw 2006 (Yuke's Co. Ltd./THQ)

Tekken Dark Ressurection (Namco/Namco)

Racing Game of the Year

Test Drive Unlimited (Eden Studios/Atari)

Burnout Revenge (Criterion Games/Electronic Arts)

Excite Truck (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Full Auto 2: Battlelines (Pseudo Interactive/Sega of America)

Need for Speed: Carbon (Black Box/Electronic Arts)

Role-Playing Game of the Year

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks/2K Games)

Final Fantasy XII (Square Enix/Square Enix)

Final Fantasy III DS (Square Enix/Square Enix)

Titan Quest (Iron Lore Entertainment/THQ)

Phantasy Star Universe (Sonic Team/Sega of America)

Children's Game of the Year

LocoRoco (Sony Computer Entertainment/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (The Pokemon Co./CHUNSOFT Co./Nintendo)

Disney's Kim Possible: What's the Switch (A2M/Buena Vista Games)

Over the Hedge (Edge of Reality/Activision)

Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning (Krome Studios/Sierra Entertainment)

Action/Adventure Game of the Year

Gears of War (Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft)

Saints Row (Volition/THQ)

Daxter (ReadyatDawn/Sony Computer Entertainment)

Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year

Eve Online: Revelations (CCP Games/CCP Games)

Guild Wars: Nightfall (Arena Net/NCsoft)

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach (Turbine/Atari/Wizards of the Coast)

Auto Assault (Net Devil/NCsoft)

Family Game of the Year

Rayman Raving Rabidds (Ubisoft Montpellier/Ubisoft)

Viva Piñata (Rare/Microsoft Game Studios)

Guitar Hero 2 (Harmonix/Activision/Red Octane)

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (TT Games/Lucas Arts)

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo/Nintendo)

Simulation Game of the Year

Microsoft Flight Simulator X (Microsoft Game Studios/Microsoft Game Studios)

Sid Meier's Railroads! (Firaxis Games/2K Games)

Tourist Trophy (Polyphony Digital, Inc./Sony Computer Entertainment)

Downloadable Game of the Year

Mystery Case Files: Prime Suspects (Big Fish Games/Big Fish Games)

Virtual Villagers: A New Home (Last Day of Work/Big Fish Games)

Diner Dash: Flo on the Go (Playfirst/Playfirst)

Bookworm Adventures (PopCap/PopCap)

Plantasia (Playfirst/Playfirst)

Mobile Game of the Year

Orcs and Elves (Fountainhead Entertainment/Electronic Arts Mobile)

Tropical Madness (Gameloft/Gameloft)

Duckshot (MoFactor/Hands-On Mobile)

Brothers in Arms 3D (Gameloft)