D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement
The D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the academy's annual D.I.C.E. Awards. "The award celebrates the highest level of technical achievement through the combined attention to gameplay engineering and visual engineering. Elements honored include but are not limited to artificial intelligence, physics, engine mechanics, and visual rendering."[1]
| D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |
| First awarded | 1998 |
| Currently held by | Elden Ring |
| Website | www |
The most recent winner was Elden Ring, developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.
History
The first and second awards offered the Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering.[2][3] In 2000 the award for software engineering was separated into separate awards for Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering and Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering. Gameplay Engineering recognized "the highest level of achievement in engineering artificial intelligence and related elements which contribute to a challenging game".[4] Visual Engineering would recognize "the highest level of achievement in rendering 3-D virtual environments for an interactive title."[5] The two categories would be merged into the Outstanding Technical Achievement in 2015.
- Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering (1998–1999)
- Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering (2000–2014)
- Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering (2000–2014)
- Outstanding Technical Achievement (2015–present)
There was tie for the award in Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering in 2006 between Guitar Hero and Nintendogs.[6]
Winners and nominees
| Indicates the winner |
1990s
| Indicates the winner |
2000s
2010s
2020s
Multiple nominations and wins
Developers and publishers
Sony has published the most nominees as well as the most winners so far. Sony's subsidiary Naughty Dog has developed the most winners while Nintendo EAD (now EPD) has developed the most nominees. There have been two developers to have back-to-back wins for Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering:
- Nintendo EAD: Nintendogs[lower-alpha 3] in 2006 and Wii Sports in 2007.
- Ubisoft Montreal: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell in 2003 and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in 2004.
Four developers have developed winners for both Gameplay Engineering and Visual Engineering: EA Canada, Ubisoft Montreal, Valve, and Naughty Dog. Electronic Arts published the winners for both awards with different developers for different games in 2008. Sony published the winners for Visual Engineering for four consecutive years with LittleBigPlanet (2009), Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2010), Heavy Rain (2011), and Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2012). Activision has published the most nominees without having a single winner. Electronic Arts developer DICE has developed the most nominees without having a single winner.
| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Naughty Dog | 10 | 5 |
| Nintendo EAD/EPD | 14 | 3 |
| Ubisoft Montreal | 12 | 3 |
| Valve | 6 | 3 |
| Epic Games | 5 | 2 |
| EA Canada | 4 | 2 |
| Rockstar North/DMA Design | 3 | 2 |
| Maxis | 2 | 2 |
| Media Molecule | 2 | 2 |
| Rockstar San Diego[lower-alpha 4] | 2 | 2 |
| Insomniac Games | 10 | 1 |
| Harmonix | 4 | 1 |
| Bethesda Game Studios | 3 | 1 |
| Crytek | 3 | 1 |
| Guerrilla Games | 3 | 1 |
| Japan Studio | 3 | 1 |
| Monolith Productions | 3 | 1 |
| Rare | 3 | 1 |
| Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment | 3 | 1 |
| Bungie | 2 | 1 |
| Digital Extremes | 2 | 1 |
| Kojima Productions | 2 | 1 |
| Stormfront Studios | 2 | 1 |
| DICE | 7 | 0 |
| Santa Monica Studio | 5 | 0 |
| Infinity Ward | 4 | 0 |
| Treyarch | 4 | 0 |
| Lionhead Studios | 3 | 0 |
| Retro Studios | 3 | 0 |
| Visual Concepts | 3 | 0 |
| 4A Games | 2 | 0 |
| BioWare | 2 | 0 |
| Crystal Dynamics | 2 | 0 |
| id Software | 2 | 0 |
| Iguana Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Microsoft Simulation Group | 2 | 0 |
| Neversoft | 2 | 0 |
| Rainbow Studios | 2 | 0 |
| Ready at Dawn | 2 | 0 |
| Relic Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Santa Monica Studio | 2 | 0 |
| Sucker Punch Productions | 2 | 0 |
| Turn 10 Studios | 2 | 0 |
| Publisher | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Sony Computer/Interactive Entertainment | 41 | 12 |
| Electronic Arts | 21 | 7 |
| Nintendo | 20 | 4 |
| Rockstar Games | 6 | 4 |
| Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios | 24 | 3 |
| Ubisoft | 14 | 3 |
| Valve | 6 | 3 |
| Sierra On-Line/Entertainment | 3 | 2 |
| Bethesda Softworks | 5 | 1 |
| 2K Games | 2 | 1 |
| Activision | 14 | 0 |
| Sega | 7 | 0 |
| Square Enix Europe/Eidos Interactive | 4 | 0 |
| THQ | 3 | 0 |
| Acclaim Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Atari | 2 | 0 |
| Konami | 2 | 0 |
| MTV Games | 2 | 0 |
| Ubisoft | 2 | 0 |
Franchises
Call of Duty has been the most nominated franchise so far, but it has never won. Uncharted is the most award-winning franchise , with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves being one of four games to win both awards in gameplay and visual engineering. The other three are SSX, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and Half-Life 2.
| Franchise | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Uncharted | 5 | 4 |
| Grand Theft Auto | 3 | 2 |
| Half-Life | 3 | 2 |
| Halo | 3 | 2 |
| SSX | 3 | 2 |
| Prince of Persia | 2 | 2 |
| Red Dead | 2 | 2 |
| The Legend of Zelda | 7 | 1 |
| Ratchet & Clank | 6 | 1 |
| Gears of War | 3 | 1 |
| The Last of Us | 3 | 1 |
| Tom Clancy's | 3 | 1 |
| Crysis | 2 | 1 |
| Horizon | 2 | 1 |
| Portal | 2 | 1 |
| The Elder Scrolls | 2 | 1 |
| Call of Duty | 8 | 0 |
| Assassin's Creed | 7 | 0 |
| Battlefield | 5 | 0 |
| God of War | 5 | 0 |
| Mario | 5 | 0 |
| Forza | 3 | 0 |
| Metroid | 3 | 0 |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator | 3 | 0 |
| Company of Heroes | 2 | 0 |
| Fable | 2 | 0 |
| Jak & Daxter | 2 | 0 |
| Left 4 Dead | 2 | 0 |
| Metal Gear | 2 | 0 |
| Metro | 2 | 0 |
| Motocross Madness | 2 | 0 |
| NFL 2K | 2 | 0 |
| NFL Quarterback Club | 2 | 0 |
| Resistance | 2 | 0 |
| Spider-Man | 2 | 0 |
| Star Wars | 2 | 0 |
| Tomb Raider | 2 | 0 |
| Tony Hawk's | 2 | 0 |
| Unreal | 2 | 0 |
Notes
- Presented as the Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering.
- Tie between finalists for Gameplay Engineering.
- Tied with Guitar Hero.
- Rockstar San Diego was the leading developer of Rockstar Studios for Red Dead Redemption 2.
References
- "2015 Award Category Details". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
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- "2000 Awards Category Details - Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
- "DICE 2006: Interactive Achievement Awards". IGN. February 10, 2006. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
- "The Award - Updates". Interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on June 15, 1998. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
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