NCsoft's Aion Top Winner

Internet game wins Grand Award at 2008 Korea Game Grand Award

NCsoft Corp. picked up the 2008 Korea Game Grand Award for its Internet game "Aion" at an award presentation ceremony held at SETEC in Seoul on Dec. 16.
"Atlantica" won the Excellence Award among the 24 games in the 10 areas selected as those that have contributed to the progress of the game industry last year.
The citation for top award winner "Aion," said the Internet game showed excellence in a number of key areas such as its huge scale, the development of story, graphics and sound, among others, to outperform rivals in the business, which led it to win the Presidential Award along with a cash prize of 10 million won.
It's the third time for NCsoft to clinch the award for its game products, starting with "Lineage" in 1998 followed by "Lineage 2" in 2003.
The Prime Minister's award, the second highest award in the event, went to "Atlantica" from NDoors Corp., with a cash prize of 7 million won. The citation said the game's "turn method," in which opposing players take turns like in chess, makes the game stand out among its rivals.
Blueside's "Kingdom Under Fire" won the Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister's Award, while other games in the top 10 games picked for their excellence, including "Circle of Doom," "Free House Online," "Super Action Hero 2" and "Hexus," among others, won cash prizes of 5 million won each.
Pres. Paek Chil-hyun of Windysoft and CJ Entertainment jointly won the Contribution Award for each, while popularity awards went to "Gears of War 2" from Microsoft, "Slugger" from Wisecat and "2009 Pro-baseball" from Gamebill. Hedangonline picked up an award for social contribution enterprise.
Minister Yu of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which sponsored the event along with the daily Sports Chosun and the Electronics Newspaper, was among some 800 people in attendance at the ceremony, along with President Choi Kyu-nam of the Korea Game Industry Promotion Institute, and Chairman Kwon Jun-mo of the Korea Game Industry Association. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo delivered his congratulatory speech on video. The Wonder Girls and other entertainers performed on stage.
The event was broadcast live on the MBC Game, MBC ESPN and MBC Everyone cable TV channels. MBC-TV rebroadcast the event on Dec. 27. nw

The winners of Internet games at Korea Game Grand Award presentation ceremony held on Dec. 16 at SETEC in southern Seoul.

The logo of 'Aion' developed by NCsoft, which won the 2008 Korea Game Grand Award and the poster for the Internet game.