Develop Awards finalists revealed

One-man teams and giant 200-strong studios will battle it out for 21 accolades at July’s Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

The finalists for the popular summer awards show for European games developers are today unveiled (see full list, below), and over 80 companies from across Europe are competing.

Indie developers, outsourcers, in-house teams and technology firms will vie for awards like Best New IP, Technical Achievements and Visual Arts at the event which takes place at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in Brighton.

Sony leads the charge with nine nominations for its various teams in Europe, from R&D Research to its XDev publishing support team in Liverpool.

Elsewhere there are five nominations for Split/Second and its developer Black Rock, plus four apiece for Heavy Rain/Quantic Dream and Batman: Arkham Asylum/Rocksteady. Other key nominees include Unity, Channel 4, Bizarre Creations, Bigpoint, Realtime Worlds and Remedy.

Four new awards have been added for 2010: Best New Download IP, Micro Studio, Visual Outsourcer and Audio Outsourcer.

The Develop Awards seek to developers of all shapes and sizes – from tiny teams you may not have heard of yet, such as Hello Games and Distractionware (both nominated for Best New Download IP and Micro Studio) and industry giants like Sega or Microsoft (vying for Publishing Hero).

Now the finalists are named, an expert panel of 100 games development execs will vote on who they think should win.

We will name all the winners – plus the recipients of the Development Legend and Grand Prix awards, special prizes are chosen by Develop after soundings from the industry.

Early bird rates on tickets and tables are still open – but only until June 7th – with discounts as big as 500 on tables and 25 per cent on seats.

To book your place at the event contact Kathryn.Humphrey@intentmedia.co.uk, or call 01992 535 646.

Top comic Rufus Hound will host this year’s event, and Autodesk has already signed up as Exclusive Drins Sponsor. Realtime UK has signed as Event Partner. Babel Media is the sponsor of the Development Legend prize.

There are a number of promotional possibilities at the event that include category and award sponsorship. Contact Katie.Rawlings@intentmedia.co.uk for more information on how you can get involved.

DEVELOP AWARDS 2010: FINALISTS

CREATIVITY

Best New IP
Blur (Bizarre Creations)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Alan Wake (Remedy)
EyePet (SCE London Studio)
Backbreaker (NaturalMotion Games)
APB (Realtime Worlds)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)

Best New Download IP
Angry Birds (Rovio)
VVVVVV (Distractionware)
Chime (Zoe Mode)
Machinariam (Amanita Design)
Orbital (BitForge)
Blue Toad Murder Files (Relentless Software)
Joe Danger (Hello Games)

Best Use of a Licence or IP
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
Metro 2033 (4A Games)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Climax)
Doctor Who: The Adventure Games (Sumo Digital / Revolution Software)
LittleBigPlanet PSP (SCE Cambridge)
Aliens vs Predator (Rebellion)

Visual Arts
Machinarium (Amanita Design)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)
Alan Wake (Remedy)
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
EyePet (SCE London Studio)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)

Audio Accomplishment
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (EA DICE)
Blur (Bizarre Creations)
DJ Hero (FreeStyleGames)
Operation Flashpoint 2: Dragon Rising (Codemasters)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories (Climax)
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Rocksteady Studios)

Publishing Hero
Sega
Sony XDev
Bigpoint
Microsoft
Channel 4
BBC

TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES

Technical Innovation
Heavy Rain (Quantic Dream)
Sony Augmented Reality (EyePet/Invizimals)
Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
Uniter (Bigpoint)
Split/Second (Black Rock Studio)
Hustle Kings (Voo Foo Studios)

Tools Provider
Autodesk
Scaleform
Havok
Hansoft
SCE (R&D/SN Systems/PlayStation Home)
Audiokinetic
Dolby

Engine
Unity Engine (Unity Technologies)
Unreal Engine (Epic Games)
Gamebryo Lightspeed
CryEngine (Crytek)
Vision Game Engine (Trinigy)

Services
Babel Media
Audiomotion
Catalyst Outsourcing
Testology
Universally Speaking
Testronic Labs

Audio Outsourcer
Outsource Media UK
Side
Richard Jacques Studios
Nimrod Productions
Media Mill
The Audio Guys
High Score Productions

Visual Outsourcer
Spov
Axis Animation
Image Metrics
Realtime UK
Imagination Studios

Recruitment Company
SpecialMove
Natural Selection
Amiqus
OPM
Aardvark Swift
Handle Recruitment

STUDIOS

Best New Studio
Lightning Fish Games
VooFoo Studios
Hello Games
Six to Start
Wonderland Software
Slightly Mad Studios
NaturalMotion Games

Micro Studio
Startfruit Games
Mobigame
Amanita Design
Binary Tweed
Hello Games
Tag Games
Distractionware

Handheld Studio
Rovio
Rockstar Leeds
Novarama Technology
SCE Cambridge
Ideaworks Game Studios
Digital Goldfish

Business Development
Avalanche Studios
Sony XDev
Eutechnyx
Blitz 1UP
X2 Games – Exient
NDreams

In-House Studio
Rocksteady Studios
Bizarre Creations
Black Rock Studio
SCE London Studio
Sports Interactive
The Creative Assembly
Codemasters

Independent Studio
Realtime Worlds
Quantic Dream
Sumo Digital
Remedy
Jagex Games Studio
Red Lynx

SPECIAL RECOGNITION
Development Legend, sponsored by Babel Media

Grand Prix

There are no finalists for these prizes – they are special awards given by Develop to a key individual and top company that has innovated, supported the games industry, and helped drive its growth within the last year and their lifetimes. The winners are chosen after soundings from the games industry.