Nintendo trio of awards plus Assassins Creed Halo 3 and Cooking Mama celebrate

MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2008: Winners Announced

The games industry's most prestigious accolades unveiled; Nintendo bags unique hat-trick; Assassins Creed, Halo 3 and Cooking Mama also celebrated.

The sixth annual MCV Industry Excellence Awards were unveiled last night, as over 600 industry executives gathered at the Brewery, London, to celebrate the best gaming achievements of the past 12 months.

Hosted by industry news bibles MCV and MCVUK.com and presented by Simon Amstell, the BAFTA nominated comedian, the MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2008 saw Nintendo grab three honours (Games Publisher, PR Team and the prestigious Grand Prix Award). Other big winners included Assassins Creed as new Games Brand, GAME as Specialist Retailer, Play.com as Online Retailer and Cooking Mama as Sales Triumph.

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards are voted for by a panel of over 100 of the industry’s most influential executives. The judges are spread across all areas of the business, offering an unprecedented pool of knowledge and influence.

If Nintendo’s trio of awards wasn’t success enough, this is also the third time the publisher has bagged the ridiculously-prestigious Grand Prix Award: awarded by the magazine’s editorial team to the firm or individual they feel has contributed the most to the business in the previous 12 months.

“The last 12 months has been an amazing – and often unpredictable – ride for the games industry,” says Stuart Dinsey, managing director of Intent Media, publisher of MCV and MCUK.com. “From the departure of Ken Kutaragi in April 2007, to this month’s launch of Wii Fit, it’s been an incredible year – and it’s been an honour for MCV to be right at the heart of the business yet again. The winners of a 2008 Industry Excellence Award can quite rightly claim to have been at the very top of their game – during gaming’s biggest ever year.”

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards Winners in full:

INDEPENDENT RETAILER

Winner: Grainger Games
Finalists: Playtime Video Games, Console Connections, Powerplay, Ninja Games

SPECIALIST RETAILER

Winner: GAME
Finalists: Gamestation, CHIPS, Gameseek, Gamestop

ENTERTAINMENT RETAILER

Winner: HMV
Finalists: Zavvi, Woolworths, Blockbuster, Asda

ONLINE RETAILER

Winner: PLAY.COM
Finalists: Amazon, Gameseek, Shopto.com, Tgrav.com

STAR STORE

Winner: ZAVVI, OXFORD STREET
Finalists: Gamestation (Hull), Playtime Video Games (Doncaster), Gamestation (Birmingham), HMV (Trocadero)

PR TEAM

Winner: NINTENDO/RED
Finalists: Microsoft/JCPR, EA/Shine, SCE/Shine, Vivendi/Indigo Pearl

GAME CAMPAIGN

Winner: HALO 3 (MICROSOFT)
Finalists: Touch! Generations range (Nintendo), FIFA ’08 (Electronic Arts),
Mario & Sonic (Sega), Call of Duty 4 (Activision)

NEW GAME BRAND

Winner: ASSASSINS CREED (UBISOFT)
Finalists: Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune (SCE), Mario & Sonic (Sega), Bioshock (2K Games), Mass Effect (Microsoft)

TRADE MARKETING TEAM

Winner: ELECTRONIC ARTS
Finalists: Sony Computer Entertainment, Activision, THQ, Microsoft

MARKETING TEAM

Winner: NINTENDO
Finalists: Microsoft, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment

UK DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Winner: CODEMASTERS
Finalists: Bizarre Creations, Sports Interactive, Criterion, Rebellion

DISTRIBUTION TEAM

Winner: CENTRESOFT
Finalists: Koch Media, Gem, Advantage, Trilogy

SALES TRIUMPH

Winner: COOKING MAMA (505 GAMES)
Finalists: HSM: Sing It! – Disney Interactive Studios, Mario & Sonic – Sega,
Assassin’s Creed – Ubisoft, Devil May Cry 4 - Capcom

SALES TEAM

Winner: UBISOFT
Finalists: Activision, THQ, Electronic Arts, Nintendo

GAMES PUBLISHER

Winner: NINTENDO
Finalists: Ubisoft, Activision, Electronic Arts, Microsoft

RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD: SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Winner: PAUL DONNELLY (GEM)
Finalists: Rob Gross, Dave Gould (Vivendi Games), Jonathan Grimes (Microsoft),
Penny Humphrey (Electronic Arts), Rosemary Buahin (Sony Computer Entertainment)

GRAND PRIX

Winner: NINTENDO