Main Competition Finalists Chosen for Tenth Annual Independent Games Festival
Posted on December 4, 2007
Filed Under Gaming, News, TechShowWIRE
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire/ — The Independent Games Festival
(IGF) has named the main competition finalists for its historic tenth
annual set of awards, celebrating the most ground-breaking creations to
come out of the independent game community this year.
From a record field of 173 entries, nominations were led by 2D Boy’s
physics construction game World of Goo and Invisible Handlebar’s
music-adapting puzzle racer Audiosurf. Games were adjudicated by a panel
made up of the creators of previous IGF honorees Aquaria, Braid, Cloud and
N; industry veterans from studios including Foundation 9, Crytek,
Electronic Arts, Big Huge Games and Midway; and noted journalists from
Newsweek, Games For Windows Magazine, Joystiq, Wired, Kotaku, MTV News, and
more.
World of Goo and Audiosurf were both nominated for three prizes,
including the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize category; other multiple
nominees include 2D/3D platform title Fez, physics-heavy steampunk flying
combat title Hammerfall, and Guitar Hero controller-using action game Fret
Nice. Other notable nominees for the 10th Annual IGF Awards include stylish
2D pixel action title Noitu Love 2: Devolution, design-nominated
bird-watching casual title Snapshot Adventures: Secret Of Bird Island, and
evocative art-game The Path.
In addition, an initial set of sponsors for the 2008 Independent Games
Festival have been announced. Wizards of the Coast’s Gleemax.com is 2008
Platinum Sponsor, alongside Sony and Microsoft as Silver Sponsors and
DigiPen as Platinum Student Showcase Sponsor.
The finalists will compete for more than $50,000 in prizes, including a
$2,500 Audience Award determined by fan votes online at IGF.com. Nominated
games will be exhibited at the IGF Pavilion, February 20-22, and announced
at the IGF Awards Ceremony on February 20, at CMP’s Game Developers
Conference (GDC). GDC, the world’s largest industry-only event dedicated to
the advancement of interactive entertainment, takes place February 18-22,
2008 at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center.
This year GDC features two additional events geared to the independent
games community: IGF Mobile, with $20,000 in prizes awarded during GDC
Mobile, celebrating the innovation of games for cellphones and other mobile
devices including Sony’s Playstation Portable and the Nintendo DS; and the
Independent Games Summit, now in its second year as a two-day subsummit of
GDC where notable independent creators gather to discuss the business and
art of indie game creation. Information on these events and more is
available at http://www.gdconf.com.
“We’re delighted to see the propulsive growth of independent games,
with a record number of entries this year and so many innovative,
alternative titles of such high quality,” said Simon Carless, IGF chairman.
“We congratulate all of our nominees and hope that, like their predecessors
before them, their work and these games inspire more and more developers to
join the independent game community.”
The finalists for the 2007 Independent Games Festival are:
Seumas McNally Grand Prize:
* Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar, LLC
* Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Kloonigames
* Hammerfall, by GKosh
* Noitu Love 2: Devolution, by Konjak
* World of Goo, by 2D Boy, LLC
Best Web Browser Game:
* Globulos.com, by GlobZ
* Iron Dukes, by One Ton Ghost
* Tri-Achnid, by TriAchnid Inc
Design Innovation Award:
* Battleships Forever, by WYRDSYM Games
* Fez, by Kokoromi
* Fret Nice, by Bits & Pieces Interactive
* Snapshot Adventures: Secret Of Bird Island, by Large Animal Games
* World Of Goo, by 2D Boy, LLC
Excellence in Visual Art:
* Clean Asia!, by Cactus?
* Fez, by Kokoromi
* Hammerfall, by GKosh
* Synaesthete, by DigiPen Institute of Technology
* The Path, by Tale of Tales
Excellence in Audio:
* Cinnamon Beats, by Secret Exit
* Fret Nice, by Bits & Pieces Interactive
* Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar, LLC
* Clean Asia!, by Cactus?
* OokiBloks, by Studio Work3 / Hermit Games
Technical Excellence:
* World of Goo, by 2D Boy, LLC
* Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar, LLC
* Goo!, by PillowFort
* Axiom: Overdrive, by Reflexive Entertainment
* Gumboy Tournament, by CINEMAX, s.r.o.
The IGF was established in 1998 by the CMP Game Group to encourage
innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game
developers, in the way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the
independent film community. A separate set of finalists, for the Student
Showcase award, will be announced December 17.
For more information on the Independent Games Festival and to register
for GDC, please visit http://www.gdconf.com.
About the Game Developers Conference (http://www.gdconf.com)
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the world’s largest
professionals-only game industry event. Presented every spring in San
Francisco, it is the essential forum for learning, inspiration, and
networking for the creators of computer, console, handheld, mobile, and
online games. The GDC attracts over 16,000 attendees, and is the primary
forum where programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio
professionals, business decision-makers and others involved in the
development of interactive games gather to exchange ideas and shape the
future of the industry. The GDC is produced by the CMP Game Group, a
division of CMP.
About CMP
CMP (http://www.cmp.com/) is a media and marketing solutions company
serving the technology industry. With the leading online, event and print
brands in all technology market categories, and with services and tools
that reach beyond traditional advertising, CMP shapes and influences the
technology industry worldwide. CMP publishes highly respected media brands
such as TechWeb, InformationWeek, ChannelWeb, CRN, EE Times and TechOnline;
produces major industry events such as Interop, Web 2.0 Expo, XChange, Game
Developer Conference and the Embedded Systems Conferences; and provides
business information and marketing services such as the International
Customer Management Institute, Semiconductor Insights and Second Life
consulting for technology marketers. CMP is a subsidiary of United Business
Media (http://www.unitedbusinessmedia.com/), a global provider of news
distribution and specialist information services with a market
capitalization of more than $3 billion. For more CMP news, go to
cmp.com/news
SOURCE Independent Games Festival
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