And The Award Goes To…

The GDC was the perfect backdrop for the many awards and recognitions which were bestowed upon the audio scene this year. Terraformers, by the Swedish team Pin Interactive, won the "Innovation in Audio" award at the Independent Games Festival for their adaptation of an auditory feedback system which allows a blind player to navigate through a 3D world. It was refreshing to see the award go to this type of application and was definitely well deserved. The Game Developers Choice Awards "Excellence in Audio" was presented by last year's recipient, Marty O'Donnell, for sound effects in EA's Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. The deserving team of Jack Grillo, Rebecca Hanck, Erik Kraber and Yuan Liu should be proud of their efforts in this incredible game - it is indeed an example for all of us to follow.

The Game Audio Network Guild took the place by storm with the first-annual G.A.N.G. Awards ceremony, held Friday night at the Fairmont Hotel. Close to 500 people packed the Regency II ballroom in an incredible celebration honoring the many hard working and often under-recognized game audio artisans. In between the 30 award category presentations made by the officers of the guild -- Tommy Tallarico, Clint Bajakian and Jack Wall -- live musical interludes competed with the overly amplified band in the next room to a very enthusiastic crowd. There were performances by LoudLouderLoudest ( which performed a entertaining retro video game music montage via clarinet, xylophone and standup bass), Orpheus Hanley (singing his "Kill the Dragon" from Dragon's Lair 3D), The Slackmates (previewing their new music from The Hobbit, with some other oddly familiar music mixed in), and The Ex Lucas Arts Boys + 1 Fatman, which performed music from The Outlaws and Super Mario Bros. The musical highlight of the evening came from an impromptu but somehow magical moment by The Fatman (George Sanger) on trumpet, Peter McConnell on violin and Michael Land on bass -- who offered the theme to Medal of Honor in tribute to multiple award winner and to composer Michael Giacchino who was in the audience.

	Mark Miller proudly displays his G.A.N.G "Lifetime Achievement Award". (Photo credit: Clint Bajakian.)

The G.A.N.G. Awards recognize achievement and excellence in game audio from the past year as voted on by members of the Game Audio Network Guild. Membership is not required to be nominated or to win. The following is the complete list of awards presented and their recipients from the G.A.N.G. awards.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:
Mark Miller

AUDIO OF THE YEAR:
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Michael Giacchino, Jack Grillo, Jeremy Hall, Rebecca Hanck, Yuan Liu, Eric Shemkovitz

MUSIC OF THE YEAR:
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Michael Giacchino

SOUND DESIGN OF THE YEAR:
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Erik Kraber, Jack Grillo, Jeremy Hall, Rebecca Hanck, Yuan Liu, Eric Shemkovitz

	Jack Grillo, Rebecca Hanck, Erik Kraber and Yuan Liu took top audio honors at the Game Developers Choice Awards for their work on EA's Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:
Shane Kneip

BEST COMMENTARY IN A SPORTS GAME:
Madden NFL 2003

BEST DIALOGUE:
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Dan Houser, Jamie King

MOST INNOVATIVE USE OF AUDIO:
SOCOM: U.S. Navy Seals
Seth Luisi, Dave Korus, Buzz Burrowes, Nate Brenholdt

BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A SPORTS OR DRIVING GAME:
FIFA World Cup 2002
Jesse Lyon, Michael Gordon

BEST ARRANGEMENT OF A NON-ORIGINAL SCORE:
007: Nightfire
Jeff Tymoschuk (Driving)
Steve Duckworth (FPS)

BEST USE OF LICENSED MUSIC:
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Rockstar Games - Dan Houser

BEST CINEMATIC/CUT-SCENE AUDIO:
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Glenn Stafford, Jason Hayes, Derek Duke, Brian Farr, Tracy Bush, Tami Harrison

BEST INTERACTIVE SCORE:
007: Nightfire
Jeff Tymoschuk & Jennifer Lewis (Driving)
Steve Duckworth (FPS)

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM:
The Best of LucasArts
Clint Bajakian, Michael Land, Peter McConnell, Mark Griskey, David Levison

BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL SONG:
"Allied Assault Main Theme"
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL SONG - POP:
"Kingdom"
Kingdom Hearts
Utada Hikaru

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL SONG - CHORAL:
"Memoro de la Santono"
Final Fantasy XI
Nobuo Uematsu

BEST LIVE PERFORMANCE RECORDING:
"Op. Market Garden"
Medal of Honor: Frontline
Michael Giacchino

BEST HANDHELD AUDIO:
Alienators: Evolution Continues
Allister Brimble

BEST EDUTAINMENT/CHILDREN AUDIO:
Disney/Pixar Learning 2nd/3rd Grade
Billy Martin

BEST USE OF MULTI-CHANNEL SURROUND IN A GAME:
007: Nightfire
Jennifer Lewis (EAC audio team)
Neil Baldwin (Eurocom)
Scott Gershin (Soundelux)

BEST WEBSITE AUDIO:
www.audiogang.org
Blitz Digital Studios

BEST AUDIO - OTHER:
Leap Frog Imagination Desk Reading Games & Fisher Price Pixter Pro Base
Don Diekneite, Brad Fuller (Sonaural) & Barry Leitch

BEST PRODUCER/DESIGNER:
Dan Irish

BEST AUDIO PROGRAMMER:
Buzz Burrowes

BEST NEW AUDIO TECHNOLOGY:
XACT
Microsoft

BEST AUDIO SOFTWARE:
Steinberg Cubase SX
Steinberg

BEST AUDIO HARDWARE:
Digidesign Digi002
Digidesign

BEST SOUND LIBRARY:
Vienna Symphonic Library Orchestral Cube

BEST GAME AUDIO ARTICLE, PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST:
"The Use and Effectiveness of Audio in HALO: Game Music Evolved"
www.music4games.net
Marty O'Donnell, Aaron Marks, Greg O'Connor-Read

G.A.N.G. RECOGNITION AWARD:
Greg O'Connor-Read
www.music4games.net

G.A.N.G. RECOGNITION AWARD:
Richard Jacques
Headhunter

DISTINGUISHED G.A.N.G. SERVICE AWARDS:
Sach Jobbs, Jay Semerad, Todd Fay, Mike Tallarico

G.A.N.G. Contest winners:
Sam Hulick (songwriting), Rob King (sound design)