March 8^th, 2003 (12:00am) - The 3rd annual Game Developer’s Choice awards were held in San Jose, and just like at AIAS, Nintendo walked out victorious. Unlike, the AIAS awards show, Nintendo’s Animal Crossing wasn’t Nintendo’s big winner, though the game did receive the Game Innovation Spotlight award, Nintendo’s winner was the game that deserves all the spotlight it can get, and more…Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime won three awards for Nintendo and the guys at Retro Studios, winning Retro Studios the Rookie Studio of The Year award, the Excellence in Level Design award, and the coveted Game of The Year award.

The Metroid series really took the spotlight…Why? The series’ creator Gunpei Yokoi also won the Lifetime achievement award, with last year’s winner and Sonic the Hedgehog creator, Yuji Naka presenting the award to Mr. Yokoi’s family, since Gunpei had been killed in an unfortunate car accident in 1996.

If you think he didn’t deserve it, then I suggest you read up on what he has done for the gaming world. If it wasn’t for him Nintendo’s biggest money maker, the Game Boy brand, would never have existed.

Now, all of those anti-Nintendo gamers might just keep their mouths shut for awhile.