Organizers of the 2008 Develop Conference & Expo in the UK have announced the finalists for its accompanying Develop Industry Excellence Awards, with nominations led by Rockstar Games (
Grand Theft Auto IV) and Ninja Theory (
Heavenly Sword) with five nominations each.
Now in its sixth year, the final awards ceremony will be held in Brighton on Wednesday, July 30th in front of an expected audience of 500 developers and publishers. The awards themselves are voted for by a panel of 100 industry experts, with two additional awards for Development Legend and Grand Prix decided by the Develop editorial team.
As usual the nominations are focused on British and European developers with Scottish developer Rockstar North picking up four nominations for Visual Arts, Audio Accomplishment, Technical Innovation and Best In-house Developer.
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge are nominated in five categories: Best New IP, Visual Arts, Audio accomplishment, Technical Innovation and Best Independent Developer. Frontier Development (
LostWinds) and Criterion Games (
Burnout Paradise) also both have three nominations each.
"This year's finalists showcase the massive amount of games development talent found in Europe," said Michael French, editor of Develop. "Be it digitally-distributed games, MMOs, first-person shooters or action-adventures, there's no area of the industry that hasn’t been bolstered by Europe’s diverse sector of games development companies in the past year. 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 full list of nominees follows:
CATEGORY: CREATIVITY
Best New IP
LostWinds (Frontier Developments)
Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
Crysis (Crytek)
World in Conflict (Massive)
Viking: Battle for Asgard (Creative Assembly)
Overlord (Triumph)
Best Use of a Licence
Ferrari Challenge (Eutechnyx)
The Darkness (Starbreeze)
Sega Superstar Tennis (Sumo Digital)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage)
Lego IndianaJones (Travellers’ Tales)
Metal Gear Solid Mobile (Ideaworks3D)
Visual Arts
Rockstar North (
Grand Theft Auto IV)
Crytek (
Crysis)
London Studio (
SingStar PS3 UI
Frontier Developments (
LostWinds)
Criterion Games (
Burnout Paradise)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (
Heavenly Sword)
Audio Accomplishment
London Studio (
SingStar PS3)
Rockstar North (
Grand Theft Auto IV)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (
Heavenly Sword)
Sumo Digital (
Sega Superstars Tennis)
Codemasters Studios (
Race Driver: GRID)
Criterion Games (
Burnout Paradise)
Publishing Hero
Codemasters
Nintendo
Sega
LucasArts
Gamecock
1C & 505 Games
CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES
Tools Provider
Hansoft
Epic Games
Sony & SN Systems
Havok
NaturalMotion
IDV
Technical Innovation
Rockstar North/NaturalMotion/Image Metrics (
Grand Theft Auto IV)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (
Heavenly Sword)
Ideaworks3D (Airplay)
SCEE R&D Team (PhyreEngine)
Geomerics (Enlighten)
Creative Outsourcing
Axis Animation
Side UK
Richard Jacques Studios
Outsource Media UK
The Audio Guys
Nimrod Productions
Services
Testronic Labs
Partnertrans UK
Babel Media
Audiomotion
U-Trax
Recruitment Company
Specialmove
Day One Search
Aardvark Swift
Amiqus
OPM
Games:Edu New Talent Award
Abertay University & Dare to be Digital
Rare
Microsoft
Blitz
University of Derby
Hull University
CATEGORY: STUDIOS
Best New UK/European Studio
Finblade
Konami Paris
Oxygen Studios
Rockstar London
Doublesix
Best Mobile Studio
Progressive Media
Ideaworks3D
Digital Chocolate Finland/Sumea
Distinctive Developments
Business Development
Zoë Mode
Rebellion
Realtime Worlds
Team 17
NaturalMotion
Best Independent Developer
Rebellion
Jagex
CCP
Frontier
Splash Damage
Ninja Theory
Best In-house Developer
Rockstar North
Codemasters Studios
Criterion Games
Sports Interactive
London Studio
Bizarre Creations
