Thursday 28-Aug-2003 5:09 PM The annual back-slapping shenanigans commenced with the ECTS Awards 2003. The ECTS Awards 2003 have just been announced at the event in south-west London. Presented by veteran games TV journo, Kate Russell, there wasn't much in the way of shocks apart from the fact that Ubi Soft popped along for the free nibbles and ended up walking off with five gongs.
For the Game of the Year awards, there was the expected split between various nations. Interestingly, Battlefield 1942 stormed through as Game of the Year in France and Scandinavia, whereas the Italians went for, erm, Mafia, and the Spanish for GTA: Vice City. Splinter Cell took the honours in Germany, then the Brits surprised everyone by choosing Pro Evolution Soccer 2 as its star turn. Good work.
Best console was maybe predictable, with the Xbox, but less predictable was Publisher of the Year, which was awarded to Nintendo. The award for 'Best PC Hardware' was yet again won by the best spec graphics card: the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - or Charlie to its spoddy friends.
The 'Best of Show' rosettes - not for the gun dog category - was of more interest to us, as it's voted for by an anonymous press panel of games journalists. And the winners are (cue drum roll...):
Best PC Game of the Show: Far Cry, Ubi Soft
Best Console Game of the Show: XIII, Ubi Soft
Best Handheld Game of the Show: Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising, Nintendo
Best Online Game of the Show: Everquest II, Ubi Soft
Overall Best Game of the Show: XIII, Ubi Soft
And, of course, Half Life 2 couldn't leave empty handed. It left with The London Games Week Award. Harumph.
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