GAMES MEDIA AWARDS WINNERS REVEALED
Eurogamer biggest winner, bagging three awards; Games™ scoops "Magazine of the Year"; Gary Penn celebrated as Games Media Legend
00:01, Friday 12th October 2007
The inaugural Games Media Awards were held at the Soho Revue Bar, London, last night as over 250 games journalists and industry professionals gathered to honour the very best in games editorial.
Created specifically to reward the very highest standards in games journalism, the awards, organised by MCV publisher Intent Media, covered three key areas - specialist print, specialist online and mainstream media. They also honoured one of the sector's true pioneers.
Eurogamer scooped best website for News, Reviews and Features, and an individual award for the site's Tom Bramwell, who won Best Writer in Specialist Digital Media. The BBC's Darren Waters was crowned best Games Writer on a Mainstream Website, The Guardian's Steve Boxer was named Games Writer on a National Newspaper, whilst FHM's games coverage bagged Simon Munk an Award. Johnny Minkley claimed the Best Broadcast on Mainstream TV or Radio honour for his sterling features on Radio One's Jo Whiley show.
In the specialist press print category, the official magazines cleaned up in their respective fields, whilst Imagine Publishing's Games scooped the prestigious Overall Games Magazine. Kieron Gillen was named Best Writer on a Specialist Magazine.
The event drew to a close by honouring Gary Penn, who began a glittering career in games journalism back in 1985, on seminal videogame magazine Zzap! 64. Over the years, he was instrumental in the launches of The One, Amiga Power and PC Format (to name but a few), before leaving for a career in games development, pioneering new ways to play for such companies as Konami, Rockstar and Denki, where he currently works. Whilst his full time contribution to games journalism is sorely missed, his influence remains - indeed, it could be said that Gary Penn inspired many of this generation of games journalists to enter the profession.
"Last night's attendance and reception shows that the Games Media Awards were long overdue," says Stuart Dinsey, managing director, Intent Media, organiser of the Games Media Awards. "The press is the industry's mouthpiece, whose editorial, opinion and knowledge remains the best way of communicating direct to consumers. Without their passion, integrity and insight, the industry would not be where it is today, and it is only right that the sector sits in the spotlight at one annual awards event. Hopefully the evening will have inspired all within the field to compete for the accolades next year."
The Games Media Awards were voted for by a panel of over 75 industry experts. The event was kindly sponsored by Gold partners Microsoft, PlayStation, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Take 2 and Vivendi Games, and Silver partners are EA Sports, Koch Media, 1C, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, and System 3.
The Games Media Awards winners in full:
Specialist Games Media (Online)
Games Website - News
Winner: Eurogamer.net
Finalists: Gamespot.co.uk, Joystiq.com, Kotaku.com, Spong.com
Games Website - Reviews & Features
Winner: Eurogamer.net
Finalists: GamesRadar.co.uk, ComputerAndVideoGames.com, IGN (UK), Spong.com
Games Podcast
Winner: Gamespot
Finalists: Cheap Ass Gamer's CAGcast, Gamesweasel, One Life Left, PC Gamer
Non-Commercial Website or Blog
Winner: UK: Resistance
Finalists: Destructoid, Game Over, Yeah, Idle Thumbs, Wonderland
Writer in Specialist Digital Media
Winner: Tom Bramwell (Eurogamer.net)
Finalists: Alex Sassoon Coby (Gamespot), Andy Robinson (cvg.com), Gary Cutlack (UK R), Ryan King (oxm.co.uk)
Mainstream Media
Games Writer on a National Newspaper
Winner: Steve Boxer (The Guardian)
Finalists: Greg Howson (The Guardian), Jonathan Weinberg (The Sun), Nigel Kendall (The Times), Rebecca Armstrong (Independent)
Games Writer on a Lifestyle Magazine
Winner: Simon Munk (FHM)
Finalists: Chris Burke (Loaded), Daniel Booth (Nuts), Rob Waugh (Live Magazine), Tony Horgan (Stuff)
Games Writer on a Mainstream Website
Winner: Darren Waters (BBC)
Finalists: David Clack (FHM), David McComb (Empire Online), Mark Gilbert (News Of The World), Stephen Daultrey (Maxim)
Regional Games Column
Winner: Ewan Ross (Liverpool Echo)
Finalists: David Crookes (Bolton Evening News), Steve Lawson (Daily Record), Steve Wollaston (Midland Weekly Media), Steven Fox (Metro)
Best Broadcast on Mainstream TV or Radio
Winnner: Johnny Minkley (Radio One)
Finalists: Game On (BBC Five Live), Gamer.TV (Bravo), Matt Cuttle (Gamers), Re:Loaded (Channel M)
Specialist (Print)
PlayStation Magazine
Winner: Official PlayStation Magazine (Future)
Finalists: Play (Imagine), PSM3 (Future), PSU3 (Imagine), PSW (Future)
Multi-Format Magazine
Winner: Games
Finalists: GamesMaster (Future), Edge (Future), Retro Gamer (Imagine)
Xbox Magazine
Winner: Official Xbox 360 Magazine (Future)
Finalists: 360 (Imagine), 360 Gamer (Uncooked), X360 (Imagine), Xbox World 360 (Future)
Nintendo Magazine
Winner: Official Nintendo Magazine (Future)
Finalists: NGamer (Future), nRevolution (Imagine)
Best Writer on a Specialist Magazine
Winner: Kieron Gillen (PC Gamer, Future)
Finalists: Darren Jones (Retro Gamer, Imagine), Jon Blyth (PC Zone, Future), Martin Mathers (Official Nintendo Magazine, Future), Tony Mott (Edge, Future)
Overall Games Magazine
Winner: GamesTM
Games Media Legend
Sponsored by SYSTEM 3
Winner: Gary Penn