Nominations unveiled for 7th annual Industry Excellence Awards
The nominations for the 2009 Develop Industry Excellence Awards have today been unveiled, with Rockstar and Media Molecule set to contest the most categories.
Rockstar Leeds and Rockstar North share six nominations for GTA: Chinatown Wars and GTA IV: The Lost and the Damned, whilst Media Molecule scoop five after a stunning year for LittleBigPlanet.
A real mix of coding talent go head to head in the Best New Studio category, where home console developers compete against handheld and web-based programmers after a year which has seen gaming explode across a range of platforms.
Perhaps the most interesting contest will be in the Technical Innovation category, where LittleBigPlanet will take on Killzone 2, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Fable II, PlayStation Home and Football Manager Live.
The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are the only accolades that celebrate the achievements of the European development community. An industry-wide panel of experts drawn from the magazine's extensive readership will vote on 16 awards spread across four categories, with a very special Grand Prix award determined by the Develop team themselves. In addition, another Development Legend will be honoured.
“This year's finalists showcase the wide array of talent working in and serving the UK and European games development sector, and also the broad, forward-thinking remit of the Develop team,” says Michael French, Editor-in-Chief, Develop. “The shortlist covers everything from traditional console games to iPhone, Facebook, Flash and social experiences, proving just what a rewarding and vibrant sector games development in Europe is. We wish all of the nominees the best of luck and look forward to seeing them on what's set to be a great night.”
The Develop industry Excellence Awards are held in association with Partnertrans, Black Rock Studios, Babel Media and Crytek.
The Awards will be held on Wednesday July 15th at the Hilton Metropole Brighton and hosted by Eight out of 10 Cats star, Jason Manford.
Develop Industry Excellence Awards nominations in full:
CREATIVITY
Best New IP
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
Mirror's Edge (EA DICE)
Pure (Black Rock Studio)
Zen Bound (Secret Exit)
You're in the Movies (Zoe Mode)
Burn Zombie Burn! (Doublesix)
Best Use of a Licence
Lego Batman (Traveller's Tales)
The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena (Starbreeze Studios)
Outrun Online Arcade (Sumo Digital)
Beijing 2008 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games (Eurocom)
House of the Dead: Overkill (Headstrong Games)
Hasbro Family Game Night (EA BrightLight)
Visual Arts
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar Leeds)
Killzone 2 (Guerrilla)
Xbox 360 Avatars (Rare)
PlayStation Home (London Studio)
Pure (Black Rock Studio)
Audio Accomplishment
Fable II (Lionhead)
Mirror's Edge (EA DICE)
You're in the Movies (Zoe Mode)
House of the Dead: Overkill (Headstrong Games)
GTAIV: The Lost and the Damned (Rockstar North)
Empire Total War (The Creative Assembly)
Publishing Hero
Apple
Sega
Direct2Drive
Codemasters
Ngmoco
Valve
TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES
Technical Innovation
LittleBigPlanet (Media Molecule)
Killzone 2 (Guerilla)
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (Rockstar Leeds)
Fable II (Lionhead)
PlayStation Home (London Studio)
Football Manager Live (Sports Interactive)
Best Tools Provider
Autodesk
Havok
Audiokinetic
Hansoft
Perforce
Scaleform
Quazal
Best Engine
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games)
Gamebryo (Emergent Game Technologies)
BlitzTech (Blitz Games Studios)
Unity (Unity Technologies)
Vision Engine (Trinigy)
PhyreEngine (SCEE R&D)
Recruitment Company
Aadvark Swift
Datascope
OPM
Amiqus
Natural Selection
Specialmove
Services
Testology
Babel
Universally Speaking
Partnertrans
Testronic Labs
Audiomotion
Centroid
Creative Outsourcing
High Score Productions
Axis Animation
Outsource Media UK
Side & Sidelines
Richard Jacques Studios
Nimrod
Pitstop Productions
STUDIOS
Best New Studio
Media Molecule
nDreams
Hand Circus
Proper Games
Playfish
Crytek Budapest
Best Handheld Games Studio
Rockstar Leeds
Exient
Curve
Traveller's Tales Fusion
Secret Exit
Business Development
Revolution
Gimme5Games
Monumental Games
Playfish
Crytek
Blitz Games Studios
Best Independent Developer
Media Molecule
Sumo Digital
Crytek
Asobo Studio
Starbreeze Studio
Jagex
Best In-House Team
Lionhead
Sports Interactive
Black Rock Studio
EA DICE
Rockstar North
Rockstar Leeds
Winners of the Development Legend and Grand Prix Awards will be announced on the night.