| D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Presented by | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences |
| First award | 1998 |
| Currently held by | Astro Bot |
| Website | www |
The D.I.C.E. Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement is an award presented annually by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences during the 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] Creative/technical Academy members with expertise as an artist, animator or programmer are qualified to vote for this award. [2]
The award's most recent winner is Astro Bot , developed by Team Asobi and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.
The first and second awards ceremonies offered the Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering. [3] [4] In 2000, the award for software engineering was split into separate categories 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". Visual Engineering would recognize "the highest level of achievement in rendering 3-D virtual environments for an interactive title." [5] The two categories would eventually be merged into Outstanding Technical Achievement in 2015. [6]
There was tie for the award in Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering in 2006 between Guitar Hero and Nintendogs . [7]
| Indicates the winner |
Sony has published the most nominees, as well as the most winners. Sony's subsidiary Naughty Dog has developed the most winners, while Nintendo EAD (now EPD) has developed the most nominees. Nintendo has also published both winners for Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering. There have been two developers with back-to-back wins for Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering:
Four developers have developed winners for both Gameplay Engineering and Visual Engineering: EA Canada, Ubisoft Montreal, Valve, and Naughty Dog. Electronic Arts has published the winners for both awards with different developers for different games in 2008. Sony has 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 a single winner.
| Developer | Nominations | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Naughty Dog | 10 | 5 |
| Nintendo EAD/EPD | 15 | 3 |
| Ubisoft Montreal | 12 | 3 |
| Valve | 6 | 3 |
| Insomniac Games | 11 | 2 |
| Epic Games | 5 | 2 |
| EA Canada | 4 | 2 |
| Rockstar North/DMA Design | 3 | 2 |
| Maxis | 2 | 2 |
| Media Molecule | 2 | 2 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Ninja Theory | 2 | 0 |
| Rainbow Studios | 2 | 0 |
| Ready at Dawn | 2 | 0 |
| Relic Entertainment | 2 | 0 |
| Remedy 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 | 43 | 14 |
| Electronic Arts | 21 | 7 |
| Nintendo | 20 | 4 |
| Rockstar Games | 6 | 4 |
| Microsoft/Xbox Game Studios | 25 | 3 |
| Ubisoft | 14 | 3 |
| Valve | 6 | 3 |
| Sierra On-Line/Entertainment | 3 | 2 |
| Bethesda Softworks | 6 | 1 |
| Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment/Games | 3 | 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 |
| Oculus Studios | 2 | 0 |
| Ubisoft | 2 | 0 |
The Legend of Zelda and Call of Duty are the most nominated franchises in this category. 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 . Uncharted and Halo have won the awards for "Visual Engineering" twice, while Grand Theft Auto is the only franchise to win for "Gameplay Engineering" twice. Despite the record-tying nomination count, Call of Duty has never won an award outright.
| 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 | 8 | 1 |
| Ratchet & Clank | 6 | 1 |
| Gears of War | 3 | 1 |
| Spider-Man | 3 | 1 |
| The Last of Us | 3 | 1 |
| Tom Clancy's | 3 | 1 |
| Astro Bot | 2 | 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 |
| Batman: Arkham | 2 | 0 |
| Company of Heroes | 2 | 0 |
| Fable | 2 | 0 |
| Hellblade | 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 |
| Star Wars | 2 | 0 |
| Tomb Raider | 2 | 0 |
| Tony Hawk's | 2 | 0 |
| Unreal | 2 | 0 |