Halo 2 takes top honors at G-Phoria

LOS ANGELES--Though the G-Phoria video game awards will not be airing until August 9 at 8pm ET, tonight's taping of the event revealed all the winners across more than 20 different award categories. Halo 2, from developer Bungie and publisher Microsoft Game Studios, took away the Game of the Year award at the end of the evening, as well as the most awards overall, including Best Shooter, Best Multiplayer Game, Best Sound Design, Best Original Soundtrack, Best Boss for the game's Scarab battle, and even Best Male Voice Performance for comedian David Cross' smarmy antics. Several other games won some other awards, as well.

The G-Phoria award winners were apparently determined by audience voting, which consisted of more than a million votes tallied online and through text messages. The award show itself was hosted by Wilmer Valderrama, best known for his role as Fez on That '70s Show. Other celebrity appearances ranged from Kimberly Stewart to William Shatner, the latter of whom presented the G-Phoria Legend award to Ralph Baer, oft considered the grandfather of video games.

Other games that won big this evening included Sony's God of War for the PlayStation 2, which snatched up awards for Best Action Game, Best Cinematic, Best Original Game, and Favorite Character (for Kratos, the game's surly antihero).

Games like Halo 2 and God of War competed among the ranks of highly acclaimed titles from this year and last, including Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Capcom's Resident Evil 4, and Namco's Katamari Damacy.

Following is a complete list of category winners from G-Phoria 2005. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official G-Phoria Web site.

Alt Sports Award--NBA Street V3

Best Adaptation--LEGO Star Wars

Best Action Game--God of War

Best Boss--Halo 2 - Scarab Battle

Best Cinematic--God of War

Best Graphics--Half-Life 2

Best Handheld Game--The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap

Best Innovation--Katamari Damacy

Best Licensed Soundtrack--Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

Best Multiplayer Game--Halo 2

Best Original Game--God of War

Best Original Soundtrack--Halo 2

Best Racing Game--Burnout 3: Takedown

Best RPG--Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords

Best Shooter--Halo 2

Best Sound Design--Halo 2

Best Traditional Sports Game--Madden NFL 2005

Best Voice Performance - Female--Half-Life 2 - Merle Dandridge

Best Voice Performance - Male--Halo 2 - David Cross

EB Gamers' Choice Award--World of Warcraft

Favorite Character--God of War - Kratos

Game of the Year--Halo 2

Legend Award--Ralph Baer