Computer Gaming World awards
Winners of the sacred Game of the Year award, Valve's Gabe Newell, John Guthrie, Jahn Bernier and Marc Laidlaw flew south from Seattle to accept their award for Half-Life.
And, for the first time, ZDTV cameras were on the scene to catch all the action. Footage of the event will be aired on ZDTV on March 6.
"The Premier Awards are reserved for those games that have significantly raised the gaming experience to new levels," noted CGW editorial director Johnny Wilson. "Led in 1998 by Half-Life, there were some truly outstanding candidates in every genre. What these games represent is a new level of technical and intellectual achievement in the PC gaming industry."
Games were evaluated on their advancement of the gaming experience, performance within game genre or hardware component standards, and the quality of innovation, play balance, and aesthetic presentation. The CGW staff also took into account the popularity and critical acceptance of the games up for the winner's circle.
Here's a complete listing of the winners and runners-up of the Computer Gaming World 1999 Premier Awards:
Game of the Year
Half-Life (Sierra Studios/Valve)
Action Game of the Year
Battlezone (Activision)
Runner-Up
Thief: The Dark Project (Looking Glass/EIDOS)
Adventure Games of the Year (tie)
Grim Fandango (Tim Schaefer/LucasArts) (TIE)
Sanitarium (Dreamforge/ASC Games)
Role-Playing Game of the Year
Baldur's Gate (Interplay)
Runner-Up
Might & Magic VI (New World Computing/3DO)
Simulation Game of the Year
European Air War (MicroProse)
Runner-Up
WW2 Fighters (Jane's Combat Simulations)
Space Simulation Game of the Year
Independence War (Infogrames)
Sports Game of the Year
FIFA and World Cup 98 (Electronic Arts)
Runner-Up
NHL 99 (Electronic Arts)
Driving Game of the Year
Need for Speed III (Electronic Arts)
Runner-Up
Grand Prix Legends (Sierra Sports/Papyrus)
Strategy Game of the Year
Starcraft (Blizzard)
Runner-Up
Populous: The Beginning (Bullfrog/Electronic Arts)
Wargame of the Year
The Operational Art of War (TalonSoft)
Runner-Up
Great Battles of Julius Caesar (Erudite/Interactive Magic)
Puzzle/Classic of the Year
You Don't Know Jack 4: The Ride (Berkeley)
Gaming Hardware of the Year
Diamond Monster Sound MX300 powered by Vortex 2
audio chipset (Diamond/Aureal Semiconductor)
Add-On Product of the Year
Starcraft: Brood War (Blizzard)
Special Award for Musical Achievement
Jane's WWII Fighters (Electronic Arts)
Special Award for Best Quick Fix Gaming Experience
Big Race Pinball
Computer Gaming World is a Ziff-Davis publication