Tenth Annual Independent Games Festival Awards $20,000 Grand Prize to Kloonigames' Crayon Physics DeluxePRNewswire SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Crayon Physics Deluxe, Kloonigames' 2D physics puzzle game that allows players to experience what it would be like to transform drawings into physical objects, was named the winner of the $20,000 Seumas McNallly Grand Prize at the 10th Annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) Awards, presented at a ceremony this evening at CMP's 2008 Game Developers Conference (GDC). Other major winners at the IGF ceremony included physics-based puzzle action game, 2D Boy's World of Goo, which won the awards for both Design Innovation and Technical Excellence, and Audiosurf by Invisible Handlebar which won the $2,500 Audience Award, after receiving the largest share of more than 3,500 votes cast online over the past two months at IGF.com. The IGF awards have been described as the Sundance Festival of the videogame industry, and offer both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash prizes to the developers of the winning games. Other award recipients included One Ton Ghost's comical treasure-seeking adventure Iron Dukes, which took the award for Best Web Browser Game, Kokoromi's Fez, which won for Excellence in Visual Art for its presentation of a 2D character exploring a 3D world, Invisible Handlebar's Audiosurf, a game that lets players experience their songs in real time, in full color, and in 3D, and which took the prize for Excellence in Audio, and, winner for Best Student Game, Synaesthete, a music-driven arcade-style shooter developed by students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology. Another notable award given at the IGF ceremony was The Gleemax Award for Strategic Gameplay ("The Gleemie"), presented by IGF Platinum Sponsor, Gleemax™, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.'s community for gamers. Three games were awarded "The Gleemie" prize package, which consisted of a custom designed trophy accompanied by a tiered prize package. (1st - $5,000, 2nd - $3,000, 3rd - $2,000). "As the video game industry grows bigger by the day, it becomes even more important to give a voice to the independent developer," said Simon Carless, chairman, IGF. "This year's Independent Games Festival winners are showcasing how important independent games are -- both as an artistic movement and as accessible titles that are really damn fun to play." The IGF awarded the following games in each category in the main competition -- each received a cash prize of $2,500 as well as sponsor-related prizes, and the Grand Prize winner was awarded $20,000. Seumas McNally Grand Prize: Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Kloonigames Best Web Browser Game: Iron Dukes, by One Ton Ghost Design Innovation Award: World Of Goo, by 2D Boy Excellence in Visual Art: Fez, by Kokoromi Excellence in Audio: Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar Technical Excellence: World Of Goo, by 2D Boy Best Student Game: Synaesthete, by DigiPen Institute of Technology Audience Award: Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar Gleemie Awards: -- First Place: Desktop Power Defense, by Handdrawngames -- Second Place: Skyrates, by Team Skyrates -- Third Place: Quadradius, by Quadradius 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 the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. With a record-breaking 173 entries from all over the world, the 2008 IGF reflects how global the game development community has become. The IGF jury included journalists from MTV News, Kotaku, Newsweek, Wired, and Joystiq; the creators of previous IGF winners Aquaria, Braid, Flow, and N; and veterans from across the game industry. The 10th annual Independent Games Festival was supported by: platinum sponsor Wizards of the Coast/Gleemax; Silver Sponsors Sony and Microsoft; and Student Showcase Platinum Sponsor DigiPen. For more information about the IGF, the finalists and the winners, please visit http://www.igf.com/. About the Game Developers Conference (http://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 SOURCE: CMP CONTACT: Sibel Sunar, sibel@fortyseven.com, or Brian Rubin, Web site: http://www.cmp.com/ |