On February 7, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences handed out their annual D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) awards on a dry, cool evening in Las Vegas. Two of those Interactive Achievement Award winners were Nintendo and ... Nintendo, as the gaming juggernaut packed it up in the Handheld Game of the Year category for
Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass; and
Super Mario Galaxy took top honors as Adventure Game of the Year. Even though
BioShock had an electrifying (and record-breaking) 12 nominations, Nintendo's 9 nods in 8 categories is nothing to cough at, coming out of what is widely-held as the gaming industry's most prominent set of trophies.