The 10th Annual Interactive Achievements Awards (AIAA) from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) were presented in Las Vegas with comedian Jay Mohr serving as emcee of the show. Local game developer Epic Games was on hand to accept eight awards for "Gears of War," which has gone on to sell over 3 million copies worldwide and help Microsoft sell a lot of Xbox 360s.

The shooter won trophies for Outstanding Character Performance - Male, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Online Play, Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering, Action/Adventure Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, and Overall Game of the Year.

While the awards show certainly garners press each year, it continues to have a dark cloud hanging over it. Unlike other award shows like the Oscars or even the SpikeTV VGAs, the process for being nominated and winning an AIAA requires membership in the non-profit AIAS. Capcom, which had its excellent "Resident Evil 4" snubbed last year, issued a tirade this year after its "Dead Rising" and "Okami" games, both of which received critical acclaim and sold well, were left off the nomination list for the AIAA because the game publisher refused to join the AIAS. In essence, the awards are "pay to play," and Capcom didn't feel like paying, so its games, although they received a lot of write-in votes in the process leading up to nominations, were left out of the competition.

Although more media attention was given this year to the situation, it's been a problem for many years. "Gears of War" would have won many of its awards regardless of whether the Capcom titles were in. But last year, "Resident Evil 4" took top prize at many awards ceremonies, including the "VGAs" and to leave that off the ballot completely was just plain wrong. You cannot have legitimate awards without allowing all of the best games a chance to compete.

The DICE Summit is a great place to mingle with the brightest minds in the game industry, and having Jay Mohr host the awards two years running brings plenty of star power. But for this awards show to really matter in the games industry, it needs to take its cue from the movie industry and its Academy Awards, which means all games and developers are open for award nominations and winning. As it is, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony and Electronic Arts, the most powerful members of the AIAS, tend to also (coincidentally?) dominate the awards each year. This year, "Gears of War" did deserve the accolades. But if Capcom or some other non-AIAS publisher had footed the bill for Epic's game instead of Microsoft, would it even have made the ballot?