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Andrew Zucker, an entertainment lawyer, envisioned an awards show for video games while watching the ] in 1991. The show briefly introduced ], who had founded the administering ] in 1946, when televisions were scarce in American households. Zucker believed that the ] would experience similar growth in the future and subsequently established the ] (AIAS) later in 1991.<ref name="The Atlanta Journal 1994" /> The academy announced its first foray into awards ceremonies, the Ajax, in June 1993, aiming to distribute them in early 1994.<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1993" /> In 1994, it planned to announce the nominees in thirty-four categories in May and hand out the awards at the ] on June 16.<ref name="Pasadena Star-News 1994" /> Andrew Zucker, an entertainment lawyer, envisioned an awards show for video games while watching the ] in 1991. The show briefly introduced ], who had founded the administering ] in 1946, when televisions were scarce in American households. Zucker believed that the ] would experience similar growth in the future and subsequently established the ] (AIAS) later in 1991.<ref name="The Atlanta Journal 1994" /> The academy announced its first foray into awards ceremonies, the Ajax, in June 1993, aiming to distribute them in early 1994.<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1993" /> In 1994, it planned to announce the nominees in thirty-four categories in May and hand out the awards at the ] on June 16.<ref name="Pasadena Star-News 1994" />


In creating the awards for ''Cybermania '94'', the group solicited nominations from 2,500 multimedia companies across the United States. Because of an application fee, only 200 competing entries were received. Some companies, such as ], decided to stay out of the event due to the unclear credibility of the AIAS. The nominations were voted on by the AIAS' 300-member body.<ref name="Computer Player 1995" /> A total of fifty categories were prepared, of which only twelve were televised. Subscribers of the ] service were asked to reduce the number of nominees for "Best Overall Game".<ref name="The Atlanta Journal 1994" /> The AIAS pitched the idea of a televised awards show to several ]s and eventually reached an agreement with ].<ref name="Broadcasting & Cable 1994" /> According to early reports, the show was to be titled ''Cybermania '94: The Ultimate Gamers' Event'' and broadcast from ] in ].<ref name="The Star Press 1994" /> In creating the awards for ''Cybermania '94'', the group solicited nominations from 2,500 multimedia companies across the United States. Because of an application fee, only 200 competing entries were received. Some companies, such as ], decided to stay out of the event due to the unclear credibility of the AIAS. The nominations were voted on by the AIAS' 300-member body.<ref name="Computer Player 1995" /> A total of fifty categories were prepared, of which only twelve were televised. Subscribers of the ] service were asked to reduce the number of nominees for "Best Overall Game" by voting on nine candidates.<ref name="The Atlanta Journal 1994" /> The AIAS pitched the idea of a televised awards show to several ]s and eventually reached an agreement with ].<ref name="Broadcasting & Cable 1994" /> According to early reports, the show was to be titled ''Cybermania: The 1994 Interactive Games Awards'' and later ''Cybermania '94: The Ultimate Gamers' Event'', to be broadcast from ] in ].<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1994" /><ref name="The Star Press 1994" />


== Format == == Format ==
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''Cybermania '94'' was the first televised ] show.<ref name="Computer Player 1995" /><ref name="Los Angeles Times 2017" /> A teenage ] was part of the production as the "interactive products specialist", writing Shatner's narrations. He said that being at an event with the creators behind popular games like '']'' and '']'' left a big impression on him. Keighley went on to work on the annually hosted award shows of ] (]) and ] (]) until 2013. He then created ], which he hosts.<ref name="Los Angeles Times 2017" /> ''Cybermania '94'' was the first televised ] show.<ref name="Computer Player 1995" /><ref name="Los Angeles Times 2017" /> A teenage ] was part of the production as the "interactive products specialist", writing Shatner's narrations. He said that being at an event with the creators behind popular games like '']'' and '']'' left a big impression on him. Keighley went on to work on the annually hosted award shows of ] (]) and ] (]) until 2013. He then created ], which he hosts.<ref name="Los Angeles Times 2017" />


The AIAS produced a follow-up event, The Second Annual AIAS Awards, originally scheduled for December 1995. To broaden its audience, the academy sought a ] slot on a major network and a well-known host. Considerations for the latter included ], ], and ].<ref name="Internet Underground 1995" /> The show as ultimately held online on April 17, 1996, with host ].<ref name="AIAS 1996" /> According to Joseph Olin, the 2004–2010 president of the AIAS, "maybe five people watched it". The academy went on to create the ] in 1998.<ref name="VentureBeat 2017" /> The AIAS produced a follow-up event, The Second Annual AIAS Awards, originally scheduled for December 1995. To broaden its audience, the academy sought a ] slot on a major network and a well-known host. Considerations for the latter included ], ], and ].<ref name="Internet Underground 1995" /> The show was ultimately held online via ] on April 17, 1996, with host ].<ref name="AIAS 1996" /><ref name="Los Angeles Times 1996" /> According to Joseph Olin, the 2004–2010 president of the AIAS, "maybe five people watched it". Reestablished in 1996, the academy went on to create the ] in 1998.<ref name="VentureBeat 2017" />


== References == == References ==
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<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1993">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-17-fi-4024-story.html |title=Oscar, Emmy, Tony: Move Over for Ajax |first=John |last=Lippman |date=June 17, 1993 |website=] |access-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824105504/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-17-fi-4024-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name="Los Angeles Times 1993">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-17-fi-4024-story.html |title=Oscar, Emmy, Tony: Move Over for Ajax |first=John |last=Lippman |date=June 17, 1993 |website=] |access-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824105504/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-17-fi-4024-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1994">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-11-tv-37032-story.html |title=Preview '94 : Baby, It's Special |first=N.F. |last=Mendoza |date=September 11, 1994 |website=] |access-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824114728/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-11-tv-37032-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

<ref name="Los Angeles Times 1996">{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-cyberspace/130560708/ |title=Cyberspace |newspaper=] |date=April 15, 1996 |page=D1 |via=] |access-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-date=August 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824114020/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-cyberspace/130560708/ |url-status=live}}</ref>


<ref name="Los Angeles Times 2017">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-game-awards-20171205-story.html |title=Geoff Keighley's lifelong obsession to create a video game Oscars |first=Todd |last=Martens |date=December 5, 2017 |website=] |access-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823221604/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-game-awards-20171205-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref> <ref name="Los Angeles Times 2017">{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-game-awards-20171205-story.html |title=Geoff Keighley's lifelong obsession to create a video game Oscars |first=Todd |last=Martens |date=December 5, 2017 |website=] |access-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-date=August 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230823221604/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-game-awards-20171205-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Revision as of 11:50, 24 August 2023

1994 video game awards show

Award
Cybermania '94
Poster by Peter Max
DateNovember 5, 1994 (1994-11-05)
VenueUniversal Amphitheatre
CountryUnited States
Presented by
Highlights
Most awardsVoyeur (2)
Most nominationsMegaRace and Myst (3)
Best Overall GameMortal Kombat
Television coverage
NetworkTBS
Runtime2 hours
Viewership1.1% (Nielsen ratings)
Produced byPeter Hayman
Directed bySue Brophey

Cybermania '94: The Ultimate Gamer Awards was the first televised video game awards show. Created by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the two-hour show was broadcast live on TBS on November 5, 1994. Out of twelve award categories, Mortal Kombat won "Best Overall Game".

Background

Andrew Zucker, an entertainment lawyer, envisioned an awards show for video games while watching the 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards in 1991. The show briefly introduced Syd Cassyd, who had founded the administering Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1946, when televisions were scarce in American households. Zucker believed that the video game industry would experience similar growth in the future and subsequently established the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) later in 1991. The academy announced its first foray into awards ceremonies, the Ajax, in June 1993, aiming to distribute them in early 1994. In 1994, it planned to announce the nominees in thirty-four categories in May and hand out the awards at the Pantages Theater on June 16.

In creating the awards for Cybermania '94, the group solicited nominations from 2,500 multimedia companies across the United States. Because of an application fee, only 200 competing entries were received. Some companies, such as LucasArts, decided to stay out of the event due to the unclear credibility of the AIAS. The nominations were voted on by the AIAS' 300-member body. A total of fifty categories were prepared, of which only twelve were televised. Subscribers of the Prodigy service were asked to reduce the number of nominees for "Best Overall Game" by voting on nine candidates. The AIAS pitched the idea of a televised awards show to several television networks and eventually reached an agreement with TBS. According to early reports, the show was to be titled Cybermania: The 1994 Interactive Games Awards and later Cybermania '94: The Ultimate Gamers' Event, to be broadcast from Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills.

Format

Cybermania '94 was produced by the AIAS and TBS, with Peter Hayman of ICE Integrated Communications & Entertainment as executive producer. It was staged in the Universal Amphitheatre and broadcast live on TBS on Saturday, November 5, 1994, at 5:05 p.m. PST. The broadcast ran for two hours with Leslie Nielsen and Jonathan Taylor Thomas as hosts. William Shatner narrated the nominee announcements. Awards in twelve categories were handed out by a range of lesser-known celebrities, interlaced with acts like jugglers, wrestling, and dancers performing to music by Herbie Hancock, as well as comedic bits about the gaming scene.

Televoting over an 800 number was used to determine the "Best Overall Game", with votes tabulated on a backstage computer in a process audited by Price Waterhouse. The eventual winner was Mortal Kombat. More than half of the awards were won by Philips Interactive Media, which considered its products winning awards on national television "worthwhile" as a marketing strategy and morale boost for its employees.

Awards

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).

Best Overall Game Best Action/Adventure
Best CD Computer Game Best Portable
Best Comedy Best Art and Graphics in an Interactive Product
  • Myst ‡
    • Tuneland
    • OceanLife II, III
    • Space: A Visual History
    • Macworld Interactive Vol. I, II
Best Music Best Simulation/Strategy
Best Sports Best Actor – Female
Best Actor – Male Special awards
  • Governor's Award for Best Achievement in Virtual Reality: Iwerks Entertainment (Virtual Adventures)
  • Special Achievement in Education: Ruff's Bone
  • Individual Growth In Development: American Institute for Learning (Addiction and Its Processes)

Reception

The broadcast drew in 1.1% of US households. Journalistic reception was largely negative. Bill Kunkel, writing for Electronic Games, criticized the show for low production value, including missing details for games (such as platform, developer, and publisher), no names for people who collected awards, missed cues, poor writing, and bad performances. He noted that, as a video game journalist, he never "had to endure anything like TBS' horrendous Cybermania '94, the first televised attempt to integrate electronic games and the tired TV award show format". Chris Nashawaty for Entertainment Weekly described the ceremony as "a low-rent whack at the MTV Video Music Awards without the faintest whiff of Oscar's legitimacy". In 2022, Time Extension contacted several of the show's winners, of whom several reported that they had not known the show was televised.

Legacy

Cybermania '94 was the first televised video game awards show. A teenage Geoff Keighley was part of the production as the "interactive products specialist", writing Shatner's narrations. He said that being at an event with the creators behind popular games like Doom and Myst left a big impression on him. Keighley went on to work on the annually hosted award shows of G4 (G-Phoria) and Spike TV (Spike Video Game Awards) until 2013. He then created The Game Awards, which he hosts.

The AIAS produced a follow-up event, The Second Annual AIAS Awards, originally scheduled for December 1995. To broaden its audience, the academy sought a prime time slot on a major network and a well-known host. Considerations for the latter included Dennis Miller, Howie Mandel, and Sinbad. The show was ultimately held online via Bravo on April 17, 1996, with host Ariana Richards. According to Joseph Olin, the 2004–2010 president of the AIAS, "maybe five people watched it". Reestablished in 1996, the academy went on to create the Interactive Achievement Awards in 1998.

References

  1. ^ Jensen, Kris (October 30, 1994). "Best interactive works to take a bow on TV". The Atlanta Journal. p. P2. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Lippman, John (June 17, 1993). "Oscar, Emmy, Tony: Move Over for Ajax". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  3. "Interactive awards show set". Pasadena Star-News. March 11, 1994. p. Cheers!-13. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Berg, Jeremy (February 1995). "Buying Your Award – Cybermania '94: Respected Awards Show or Joke of the Year". Computer Player. Vol. 1, no. 9. HG Publications. pp. 13–14. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ^ Berniker, Mark (September 26, 1994). "WTBS to air first interactive games awards show". Broadcasting & Cable. Vol. 124, no. 39. Cahners Publishing. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  6. Mendoza, N.F. (September 11, 1994). "Preview '94 : Baby, It's Special". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.
  7. Richey, Rodney (September 25, 1994). "R&R". The Star Press. p. 13B. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Martens, Todd (December 5, 2017). "Geoff Keighley's lifelong obsession to create a video game Oscars". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  9. ^ Yarwood, Jack (December 8, 2022). "Before The Game Awards, There Was Cybermania '94". Time Extension. Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  10. Miller, Lesslie (October 31, 1994). "'Cybermania '94' to honor top computer entertainment". The Desert Sun. Gannett News Service. p. B6. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Nashawaty, Chris (November 25, 1994). "Cybermania '94: The Ultimate Gamer Awards". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. Retrieved August 23, 2023.
  12. ^ Kunkel, Bill (January 1995). "The Kunkel Report: TBS & The Sonic Hedgehog". Electronic Games. Vol. 2, no. 11. Decker Publications. p. 144. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  13. "Interactive Media Awards". Internet Underground. Vol. 1, no. 1. Sendai Media. December 1995. p. 20. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  14. "The Second Annual AIAS Awards". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. 1996. Archived from the original on November 7, 1996.
  15. "Cyberspace". Los Angeles Times. April 15, 1996. p. D1. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Takahashi, Dean (February 21, 2017). "DICE Awards turn 20: How gaming's Academy Awards have grown". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on August 24, 2023. Retrieved August 24, 2023.

External links

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