Kotaku: Oscars

Wii Shows Up At Oscars, Goes Berserk, Devours Audience, Etc

Mark Wilson — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:20:36 MST

Anyone who watched the Oscars last night caught what may have been the most non sequitur moment in both movie and gaming history—after coming back from a commercial break, we were greeted with an intense match of Wii Tennis. Upon finishing, Stewart asked, "Am I supposed to be winded?" Everyone laughed.

And then they shifted nervously in their seats, frightened by the autonomous entertainment device in the foreground. If you missed the Oscars last night, here's the video:

But it was just a little odd, no?

And The Bronze Mario Award Goes To...

Michael McWhertor — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 20:17:02 MDT

There is a ton of cool stuff over at the Video Game Memorabilia Museum, including this Oscar-esque bronze Mario statue. Normally adorning a marble base, this statue is, according to its owner, normally only given out in rare circumstances. These include "Nintendo Long Service Staff" awards, for those in the employ of the company for more than twenty years, and worldwide competition winners. Obviously, the latter is the easier of the two.

The owner also states that the statues are made by none other than R.S Owens, the Chicago based manufacturer responsible for fabricating the famous Oscar statue. They also make Emmys, Clios, MTV Video Music Awards and the NFL's MVP trophy, but those just don't have the same allure.

If I were to ever beat anyone to death with a blunt object, I pray to the Nintendo gods that I get to do it with a bronze Mario statue. Wait. What did I just say? Michael McWhertor

Lawyers Attack Game Site For Academy Awards Comparison (It Didn't Make)

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 01:22:24 MDT

The Academy Awards. Hollywood's opportunity to bask in itself and spend loads of money on limos, parties and wooing Academy members to vote for "important" motion pictures. Last week, Gamasutra ran an article, which compared a planned Japanese game award show to the Oscars. The Academy's sue-happy lawyers jumped down Gamasutra's throat:

The headline reads [before it was edited] "Japan Plans 'Game Academy Awards'." It refers to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to create an award for the country's video games industry. Regardless of whether or not this ACADEMY AWARDS reference was derived from an outside news source, it is nonetheless concerning to the Academy. We consider the use of the ACADEMY AWARDS name in Gamasutra's headline as damaging to our rights by tending to dilute the ACADEMY AWARDS mark's unique identification with the Academy or incorrectly implying these awards are in some way connected with or endorsed by the Academy.

Thing is, the "Game Academy Awards" bit came from a Japanese newspaper, The Yomiuri Shinbun, and was simply quoted by the site. So to prevent the Oscars' "unique" identity to be diluted, the Academy strong-armed Gamasutra to remove a quote from a major Japanese newspaper.

Just know Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that hopefully this Japanese "Game Academy Awards"—I'm quoting here as it's not connected with your dog and pony show—will be nothing like the Oscars. Judging by your track record (take for example, stiffing Martin Scorsese in favor of Kevin Costner for Best Director), I can only hope that the Japanese "Game Academy Awards" will be nothing like the "Movie Academy Awards." Otherwise, fat chance Miyamoto or Kojima will ever get recognized. Brian Ashcraft

More Here [GameSetWatch]

Sims Red Carpet

Brian Crecente — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 06:00:34 MST

Passionate Sims fans took to the net Sunday night, creating digi knock-offs of some of the hot fashions from the Academy Awards Red Carpet. By Monday morning some of the Red Carpet clothes were the top downloads on the Sims 2 community site.

Check out the jump for more virtual vogue.

Full selection of Sims games and accessories [Amazon]

The Sims 2