Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), founded in 1996, is a non-profit organization that promotes computer and video game entertainment with the annual D.I.C.E. Summit event, where its Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony has been held annually since 1998. Its membership consists of industry professionals, and only professional members who meet a set of minimum criteria are able to vote for the best entertainment software of the year. The AIAS was created in 1996.

History
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) was begun originally in 1992 by a small group of Los Angeles based professionals whose desire was to provide a means to encourage Silicon Valley game developers to involve Hollywood actors and other creative professionals in their activities. Andrew Zucker, a Beverly Hills attorney founded the effort. As a result, AIAS was built into an organization with close to 500 members and 50 board advisors.

In 1994, AIAS successfully executive produced the first televised awards show for computer games, "Cybermania '94" which was licensed to TBS. "Cybermania" took place on the Universal Studios lot and was co-hosted by Leslie Nielsen and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. In 1995, the second awards program was the first to be "televised" via that burgeoning medium now known as the Internet.

Once it was determined that the likelihood of creating additional televised awards shows was slim, at least for the near term, the name of the organization was licensed to the entity that presently operates the academy today. The present AIAS bears no relation to the entity that was founded by Zucker and the Los Angeles executives back in 1992.

Annual Interactive Achievement Awards
The Interactive Achievement Awards have been presented annually since 1997. Previous "Game of the Year" award winners are as follows: