Blue's News has posted a list of the finalists for the gaming achievement awards given by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Here's some of the stuff to chuckle about:

• Innovation in Computer Gaming
  
  Doom 3 (Activision/id Software)
  City of Heroes (NCSoft/Cryptic Studios)
  Rome: Total War (Activision/Creative Assembly)
  Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal Games/Valve)
  The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts/Maxis)

Yes, four out of the five most innovative games of 2004 were sequels!

And for the on topic thing, here's the computer roleplaying section of the finalists:

• Role Playing Game Of The Year
  
  Neverwinter Nights: Kingmaker (BioWare/BioWare)
  Vampires: Bloodline (Activision/Troika)

Woah, stiff competition there! A $5 module for a two to three year old game, and Bloodlines. Bet the module wins.

Just for addiitional funniness:

• Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game Of The Year
  
  World of WarCraft (Vivendi Universal Games/Blizzard)
  City of Heroes (NCSoft/Cryptic Studios)
  StarWars Generations: Jump to Lightspeed (Sony Online LucasArts)
  Final Fantasy XI Chains of Promathia (Square Enix, Inc./Square Eniz Co. Ltd.)

Okay, so they got the name wrong. Is this expansion pack even out yet?!