EUROPEAN VIDEOGAMES DEVELOPERS CELEBRATED AT 4TH ANNUAL
INDUSTRY 'OSCARS'
Bizarre Creations, Criterion and Sony rewarded for formidable
talent at Develop Industry Excellence Awards
Thursday 13 July 2006/...Last night, over 400 leading figures
from the UK and European computer and video games development
community gathered at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton for the
biggest night in the development community's calendar, the
Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Winners on the night
included Sony which walked away with awards in three
categories. Criterion received the In-house Development Team
for its dedicated console work and Bizarre Creations, the
highly regarded development team based in North West England
took home two awards including the coveted Grand Prix. The
development community in the UK and Europe is highly regarded
across the world. Its creative talent and expertise produce
many of the world's most popular games. Bizarre Creations'
output for Xbox 360 brought it recognition for Best Use Of
Online thanks to the success of Geometry Wars 2. The title
plays to the strengths of Microsoft's Live Arcade. The judges
also regarded its work on the automotive tour-de-force Project
Gotham Racing 3 which led the developer to scoop the biggest
award of the night - the Grand Prix Award. Sony Computer
Entertainment Europe picked up both the Innovation and New
Console IP awards for its collaboration with Relentless on the
phenomenal quiz game, Buzz. Additionally, Sony found itself
named as the Publishing Hero of the Year. Criterion gained
further approval from the development community, receiving
awards for Art & Sound and for the Best In-House
Development Team. Stuart Dinsey, Publisher of Develop Magazine
and Managing Director of Intent Media, said: "The games
development community is perhaps one of the world's great
unsung creative industries. The Develop Industry Excellence
Awards marks the time of year when the people who are at the
creative coal-face of the business are recognised for just how
remarkable they are. Congratulations to all the winners, and
indeed to everyone who entered." The 18 categories and winners
in full are: STUDIOS CATEGORY sponsored by nVIDIA NEW
UK/EUROPEAN STUDIO BIGBIG STUDIOS MOST IMPROVED STUDIO
REBELLION MOBILE GAMES STUDIO sponsored by Nokia Ngage GAMELOFT
HANDHELD GAMES STUDIO ROCKSTAR LEEDS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
CATEGORY NEW CONSOLE IP BUZZ (SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT
EUROPE EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT/RELENTLESS) NEW PC IP FAHRENHEIT
(QUANTIC DREAM) BEST USE OF A LICENCE KING KONG (UBISOFT)
INNOVATION, SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY COMPANY BEST USE OF ONLINE
BIZARRE CREATIONS (GEOMETRY WARS: RETRO EVOLVED) ART &
SOUND CRITERION (BURNOUT REVENGE/BLACK) INNOVATION SONY
COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT/RELENTLESS
(BUZZ CONTROLLERS) TOOLS PROVIDER NATURALMOTION SERVICES &
OUTSOURCING SIDE UK RECRUITMENT COMPANY OPM RESPONSE INDUSTRY
LEADERS CATEGORY PUBLISHING HERO SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT
EUROPE IN-HOUSE DEVELOPMENT TEAM CRITERION INDEPENDENT
DEVELOPER TRAVELLER'S TALES DEVELOPMENT LEGEND CHARLES CECIL
THE GRAND PRIX AWARD BIZARRE CREATIONS The Develop Industry
Excellence Awards 2006 are sponsored by Nokia and nVIDIA. The
Develop Industry Excellence Awards were designed to seek
excellence in every facet of the UK and European development
business, from new start-up studios to multi-team in-house
developers, as well as tools providers, service providers and
publishers. Judged in secret by a jury of 50 independent
industry experts they single out those companies who keep this
part of the globe at the very forefront of game development.
Develop magazine is the international monthly for games
programmers, artists, musicians and producers. It is published
by Intent Media. The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are
managed by Intent Media and Barrington Harvey. PRESS CONTACT:
KATHRYN HUMPHREY BARRINGTON HARVEY TEL: +44 (0)1462 456780 FAX:
+44 (0)14562 456781 Kathryn.Humphrey@bhpr.co.uk Issued by:
Barrington Harvey, Troopers Yard, Bancroft, Hitchin SG5 1JW
