Develop Awards finalists revealed

Held on Wednesday July 25th 2007 at the Hilton Metropole, Brighton, the Develop Industry Excellence Awards honour the best creative, technical and business minds in UK and European games development.

Newcomer Realtime Worlds and its debut game Crackdown leads the pack with the most nominations as a finalist for seven awards. Elsewhere, Evolution Studios (MotorStorm), Rare (Viva Pinata), SCEE Studio Liverpool (Formula One Championship Edition) and Introversion (Defcon) boast three nominations each.

Teams from continental Europe are out in force as well, with nominations for Eidos Hungary, Ubisoft’s French teams, Eden Studios, Kynogon, Denmark’s Deadine Games, Swedish Avalanche and EA DICE, Norway’s Opera, Russia’s GSC Game World, and German mobile outfit Fishlabs.

"In a period which has seen the launch of two home consoles, the continued improvement of Xbox 360 and PC software, and the mobile games market emerge as a genuine creative and commercial alternative to the more traditional games platforms, only the most excellent titles have any chance of standing out from the crowd," commented Stuart Dinsey publisher of Develop.

"To be nominated for an award during this exceptional period is a real honour – and we congratulate all those teams involved."

The awards are voted for by a panel of almost 100 industry experts. In addition to the 16 prizes judged by industry cognoscenti, two additional awards will be presented on the night – one to a Development Legend, and an overall Grand Prix, both decided by the magazine’s editorial team.

The full list of finalists is detailed below, and you can download our special guide to the awards here.

The event, which this year is sponsored by Codemasters, NCsoft and Nvidia, has sold out in since its launch in 2003. Please contact Kathryn Humphrey at BHPR on (01462 456780 or Kathryn.humphrey@bhpr.co.uk) to book tables.

DEVELOP AWARDS: The Finalists

CATEGORY: Creativity

New Console/PC IP
Just Cause (Avalanche)
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (GSC Game World)
Viva Pinata (Rare)
MotorStorm (Evolution, SCEE External Development)
Red Steel (Ubisoft France)

New Handheld/Mobile IP
Crush (Zoe Mode)
Zendoku (Zoonami)
B-Boy (FreeStyleGames, SCEE External Development)
Galaxy on Fire (Fishlabs)
Thrillville (Frontier)

Best Use of a Licence
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (Traveller’s Tales)
Burger King games (Blitz games)
The Fast and the Furious (Eutechnyx)
Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Climax)
Pirates of the Caribbean (Eurocom)

Visual Arts
Rare (Viva Pinata)
Realtime Worlds (Crackdown)
Evolution (MotorStorm)
SCEE Studio Liverpool (F1 Championship Edition)
Ubisoft France (Montpelier) (Rayman Raving Rabbids)

Audio Accomplishment
Eidos Hungary (Battlestations Midway)
Creative Assembly (Medieval II Total War)
Freestyle Games (B-Boy)
Introversion (Defcon)
Realtime Worlds (Crackdown)
Deadline Games (Chili Con Carnage)

Publishing Hero
Codemasters
Microsoft
Sony
Eidos
Sega

CATEGORY: Technology and Services

Best Use of Online
Introversion (Defcon)
Realtime Worlds (Crackdown)
Eden Studios (Test Drive Unlimited)
SCEE Studio Liverpool (F1 Championship Edition)
Opera (Wii/DS web browser Nintendo)

Innovation
SCEE Technology Group (SCE MultiStream audio engine)
Sumo Digital/Sheffield Hallam University (Super Rub-a-Dub water simulation)
Realtime Worlds (Crackdown)
Ideaworks3D (Airplay middleware)

Tools Provider
Kynogon
Havok
Autodesk
Epic Games
Perforce
NaturalMotion

Services & Outsourcing
Babel
Side UK
Audiomotion
Air Studios
Escape Studios
Image Metrics

Recruitment Company
Day One
Amiqus
OPM
Prospero
Datascope
Specialmove

CATEGORY: Studios

New UK/European Studio
FreeStyle Games
Avalanche
Shadow Light Games
Realtime Worlds
Zoonami
Cohort Studios

Handheld/Mobile Games Studio
Exient
Rebellion
Distinctive Developments
Rockstar Leeds
Rockpool Games
Full Fat

Business Development
Blitz
Relentless
Instinct
Kuju
Rebellion
EA UK

In-house Developer
Rockstar Leeds
SCEE Studio Liverpool
Ubisoft France
Rare
EA DICE

Independent Developer
Relentless
Traveller’s Tales
Evolution
Introversion
Sumo Digital
Realtime Worlds

SPECIAL INDUSTRY RECOGNITION AWARDS

Development Legend
Grand Prix
Winners for these awards to be announced on the night