CMP Game Group Announces Winners For Independent Games Festival Mobile
Creative Spirit and Innovative Design Rule the Day at Inaugural Event
SAN FRANCISCO - Feb . 20, 2008 - CMP Game Group has announced the winners of the inaugural Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile awards. IGF Mobile is the sister event to the Independent Games Festival, held at the 2008 Game Developers Conference, taking place February 18-22 at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center. The IGF Mobile showcases innovation in handheld and cell phone gaming, including the Sony PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo DS platforms, in addition to mobile handsets.
Among the winners for this first-of-its-kind event are KnowledgeWhere's PhoneTag Elite, winner of the Innovation in Augmented Design Award, Presented by NVIDIA. PhoneTag Elite is an elaborate version of "hide-and-seek," using the GPS built into the user's cell phone. Capybara Games' Critter Crunch, winner of both the IGF Mobile Best Game and Audio Achievement awards, takes on the puzzle genre with refined graphics, animation and addictive gameplay.
The finalists for the IGF Mobile Competition will be showcasing their games at the IGF Mobile Pavilion alongside the tenth annual IGF Main Competition and Student Showcase, taking place February 20-22, 2008. All finalists will be featured in playable form within the special pavilion on the Game Developers Conference 2008 show floor.
Out of a distinguished field of 20 nominees, from an overall field of 50 entries, the following winners were selected:
IGF Mobile Best Game:
Critter Crunch
Innovation in Mobile Game Design:
EGO
Innovation in Augmented Design - Presented by NVIDIA:
PhoneTag Elite
Achievement in Art:
Kodo
Technical Achievement:
Steam Iron: The Fallen
Audio Achievement:
Critter Crunch
"When the IGF first opened 10 years ago, few could have seen the impact that the festival would have on the future of gaming," said Mathew Kumar, IGF Mobile Content Director, "Years later, we're seeing the explosion of the downloadable content and online distribution, and with it, IGF-alums-turned-mainstream titles like Fl0w, N+ and Everyday Shooter have become commercial hits. We've now seen that the mobile IGF has further ignited this same drive for innovation, creativity and craftsmanship. We congratulate all the winners, as well as the talented developers behind all the amazing nominees and entries."
Platinum and Founding Sponsor for the IGF Mobile competition is NVIDIA. Renowned for creating industry-changing products, NVIDIA enhances mobile entertainment with the NVIDIA GoForce family of multimedia enabled applications processors for mobile devices. NVIDIA is unique in that it dedicates more resource than any other company in the world to the games development and publishing community. Learn more about NVIDIA at www.nvidia.com.
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 Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. IGF Mobile likewise serves as a venue to highlight the bourgeoning talents of the mobile and handheld game industry, rewarding and recognizing the innovation and advancement of the space.
For more information on the Independent Games Festival Mobile, please visit www.igfmobile.com. The official website for the Game Developers Conference is available at www.gdconf.com.
About the Game Developers Conference ( 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
Contact: Sibel Sunar/Brian Rubin
fortyseven communications
(323) 658-1200
sibel@fortyseven.com / brian@fortyseven.com
Loria Ryan
CMP Game Group
(415) 947-6287
lryan@cmp.com