MCV AWARDS ’09: The Finalists are announced

The Finalists of the MCV Industry Excellence Awards have been announced – and now the countdown begins to the big event on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery London.

With almost 40 companies in the running, Electronic Arts leads the way with seven finalists slots, whilst HMV, Activision, Microsoft and Nintendo boast five each.

GAME, Ubisoft and CHIPS have a chance in four categories. New names are featured too, such as The Hut, Lovefilm, Bethesda, Gameplayer, Rising Star, D3P, Media Molecule and Music Box Leisure.

Most awards are based on team, apart from the MCV Retail Advisory Board Special Recognition accolade, which rewards an individual for service to the games retail sector. The RAB Finalists this year are Darren Bowen (Ubisoft), Andy Yates (Nintendo), John Clark (Sega), Mark Howsen (Sony Computer Entertainment) and Jonathan Grimes (Microsoft).

"The MCV Awards continue to be fought over by an exciting mix of large and small companies, established companies, established players and newcomers," said MCV publisher Stuart Dinsey.

"The winners will be decided by a 100-strong Judging Panel, so there is all to play for on the night."

The full list of Finalists are:-

RETAIL AWARDS

Retail Innovation
HMV Gamerbase
HMV Re/Play
Play.com Live
Lovefilm Rental
CHIPS accessories

Store Manager
Rupert Banning-Lover, HMV Birmingham Fort
Richard Pascoe, CHIPS Hereford
Martin Tuckwood, Asda Derby
Mike Barnes/Pearl Robinson, GAME Oxford Street
Gary Noakes, Gameplayer

High Street Retailer
HMV
GAME
Gamestation
CHIPS
Asda

Star Store
GAME Oxford Street
HMV Liverpool One
Gamestation Birmingham New Street
CHIPS Dudley
Asda Derby

Online Retailer
Game.co.uk
Shopto.net
Play.com
Amazon
Gameseek
The Hut

PEOPLE AND INDUSTRY AWARDS

Sales Team
Activision Blizzard
Sega
EA
Ubisoft
Microsoft
Nintendo

Sales Triumph
FFVII: Crisis Core (Square Enix)
Imagine range (Ubisoft)
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)
Cooking Mama 2 (505 Games)
Carnival Games (2K Games)
Ben 10 (D3P)

Games Publisher
Nintendo
EA
Ubisoft
Microsoft
Sega
Activision

Development Team
Lionhead
Blackrock Studios
Codemasters
Rockstar North
Media Molecule

Distribution Team
Koch Media
Gem
Centesoft
Advantage
Music Box Leisure

PR AND MARKETING AWARDS

New Game Brand
GRID (Codemasters)
Pure (Disney Interactive Studios)
Dead Space (EA)
Professor Layton and the Curious Village (Nintendo)
Little Big Planet (SCE)

PR Team
EA
Microsoft
Capcom
Nintendo/Red
SCE UK
Ubisoft

Game Campaign
Guitar Hero World Tour (Activision Blizzard)
GTA IV (Rockstar)
FIFA ’09 (EA)
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)
Wii Fit (Nintendo)
Call of Duty: World At War (Activision Blizzard)

Marketing Team
EA
Microsoft
Activision Blizzard
Sega
Nintendo

Marketing Innovation
FIFA ’09 TV ad (EA)
All Singing, All Dancing, All Disney campaign (DIS)
‘Home of Japanese Games’ campaign (Rising Star)
New Xbox Live Experience (Microsoft)
Online community campaign (SCE UK)

MCV RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL
RECOGNITION AWARD
Darren Bowen (Ubisoft)
Andy Yates (Nintendo)
John Clark (Sega)
Mark Howsen (SCE UK)
Jonathan Grimes (Microsoft)

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards ’09 are sponsored by Codemaster, Gem, Nintendo, Partnertrans, Koch Media and Atari Ghostbusters.

The Awards take place on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London. For tickets, contact Kathryn.Humphrey@bhpr.co.uk.