The founders of Activision will receive the First Penguin Award and developer Doug Church will be honored with the IGDA Award for Community Contribution.
The first award, called "The First Penguin Award", will be presented to the founders of Activision. The award acknowledges developers who have taken risks to break new ground in the game industry. This year's recipients David Crane, Larry Kaplan, Jim Levy, Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead will be honored for establishing the first third-party developer of video game software.
The second award, "The IGDA Award for Community Contribution" will be given to Doug Church of Eidos. The award honors developers who have made significant efforts in building community, sharing knowledge and advancing the art form of interactive entertainment. Church, the technical director of Eidos, will be acknowledged for his "team focus, his efforts to build community and to improve the industry over the past 12 years". Church is credited with programming, production and/or design on
Deus Ex,
Flight Unlimited,
Flight Unlimited II,
Frequency,
System Shock,
Thief: The Dark Project,
Thief II,
Ultima Underworld, and
Ultima Underworld 2.
