Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival Announces Winners; Pocketwatch
Games' Cooperative Adventure Caper, Monaco, Steals the Show, Along With the
$20,000 Grand Prize

    


    
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<p><span class="xn-location">SAN FRANCISCO</span>, <span class="xn-chron">March 11</span> /CNW/ -- Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper, <span class="xn-location">Monaco</span>, was the big winner at the Twelfth Annual Independent Games Festival, which was hosted by the Game Developers Conference (GDC) at the Moscone Convention Center in <span class="xn-location">San Francisco</span>. <span class="xn-location">Monaco</span> received the top award at the ceremony, earning the <span class="xn-money">$20,000</span> Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design.</p>
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<p>Other IGF award recipients for 2010, as judged by over 170 industry veterans, independent developers and indie-friendly journalists, also include PLAYDEAD's starkly beautiful silhouetted platformer, LIMBO, which won the awards for Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence. Closure Team's puzzle platformer, Closure, earned the award for Excellence in Audio.</p>
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<p>Noted independent developer Cactus received the inaugural Nuovo Award for its abstract visual puzzle game, Tuning. The Nuovo Award honors "abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which advances the medium and the way we think about games," and was judged by a separate, smaller juried panel of notable game and art world figures, including previous IGF Innovation/Nuovo Award winner <span class="xn-person">Jason Rohrer</span> (Passage), Area/Code's <span class="xn-person">Frank Lantz</span>, N+ co-creator Mare Sheppard, EA division head and art-game creator <span class="xn-person">Rod Humble</span>, and more.</p>
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<p>The IGF was established in 1998 by UBM TechWeb Game Network to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, in the same way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. The IGF offer finalists both global exposure and over <span class="xn-money">$50,000</span> in cash prizes to each year's winners.</p>
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<p>Previous breakout IGF award-winners include titles such as Braid, Audiosurf, Castle Crashers, and World of Goo, and this year's awards saw 301 Main Competition entries from all over the world, coupled with the record-breaking number of IGF Student Showcase entries and IGF Mobile entries, for a total of nearly 650 entries. S2 Games' Heroes Of Newerth won the Audience Award, after receiving the largest share of thousands of public votes cast at IGF.com in recent weeks.</p>
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<p>To ensure the highest-quality judging for the IGF, more than 170 leading indie and mainstream game industry figures -- from 2D Boy's <span class="xn-person">Ron Carmel</span> through Spore's Soren Johnson to ThatGameCompany's <span class="xn-person">Kellee Santiago</span> and beyond -- were recruited to choose finalists via a carefully constructed empirical process.</p>
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<p>Finally, the award for the Best Student Game went to Ragtime Games' shifting-tile puzzle platformer Continuity, IGF Mobile Best Game was awarded to Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret Of <span class="xn-person">Bryce Manor</span>, and download partner Direct2Drive's <span class="xn-money">$10,000</span> D2D Vision Award was won by Press Play's Max & The Magic Marker.</p>
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<p>"This year sees an impressive array of visually arresting, emotionally challenging and fun games," said Simon Carless, IGF chairman. "And after extensive, in-depth playthroughs from a panel of influential games industry figures, the cream of the crop were chosen to receive honors at the IGF. We're extremely proud of the record number of amazing entries this year, and very grateful for the independent teams who put their hearts and souls into creating captivating, addictive and original gameplay experiences."</p>
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<p>The IGF awarded the following games in each category of the main competition -- each received a cash prize of <span class="xn-money">$2,500</span> as well as sponsor-related prizes, apart from the Grand Prize of <span class="xn-money">$20,000</span> and D2D Vision's <span class="xn-money">$10,000</span> award.</p>
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    Seumas McNally Grand Prize
    Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
    
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    Innovation (Nuovo) Award
    Tuning, by Cactus
    
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    Excellence in Visual Art
    LIMBO, by PLAYDEAD
    
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    Excellence in Audio
    Closure, by Closure Team
    
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    Technical Excellence
    LIMBO, by PLAYDEAD
    
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    Excellence in Design
    Monaco, by Pocketwatch Games
    
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    Student Showcase Award
    Continuity, by Ragtime Games
    
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    IGF Mobile Best Game:
    Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor
    
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    Audience Award
    Heroes Of Newerth, by S2 Games
    
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    D2D Vision Award
    Max & The Magic Marker, by Press Play


    
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<p>For more information about the IGF, the finalists and the winners, please visit <a href="http://www.igf.com/">http://www.igf.com/</a>.</p>
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    About the UBM TechWeb Game Network
    
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<p>A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, the UBM TechWeb Game Network - formerly known as the Think Services Game Group - offers market-defining content, and drives community through its award winning lineup of print, online, event and research products and services. These include the Game Developers Conference®, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com and network of sites, the Game Advertising Online ad network, the Game Developers Conference® Online, the Game Developers Conference(TM) <span class="xn-location">Europe</span>, the Game Developers Conference(TM) <span class="xn-location">China</span>, the Game Developers Conference(TM) <span class="xn-location">Canada</span>, Game Developer Magazine, Game Developer Research, the Game Career Seminars and GameCareerGuide.com, the Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards.</p>
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    About UBM TechWeb, a division of United Business Media
    
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<p>UBM TechWeb, the global leader in technology media and professional information, enables people and organizations to harness the transformative power of technology. Through its core businesses - media solutions, marketing services and professional information - UBM TechWeb produces the most respected and consumed brands, applications and services in the technology market. More than 14.5 million business and technology professionals (CIOs, IT and IT Support managers, Web & Digital professionals, Software and Game developers, Government decision makers, and Telecom providers) actively participate in UBM TechWeb's communities. UBM TechWeb brands includes: global face-to-face events such as Interop, Game Developers Conference (GDC), Web 2.0, Black Hat and VoiceCon; large-scale online networks such as InformationWeek, Light Reading and Gamasutra; research, training, and certification services, including HDI, Pyramid Research, and InformationWeek Analytics; and market-leading magazines such as InformationWeek and Wall Street & Technology. UBM TechWeb is part of UBM, a global provider of media and information services for professional B2B communities and markets.</p>
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    Contact:  Brian Rubin / Sibel Sunar
              fortyseven communications
              212.391.4707 / 323.658.1200
               [email protected] /
               [email protected]
    
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              Ben Veechai / Mellisa Andrade
              UBM TechWeb Game Network
              [phone] / [phone]
               [email protected] /
               [email protected]





    

For further information: Brian Rubin, [phone], [email protected], or Sibel Sunar, [phone], [email protected], both of fortyseven communications for UBM TechWeb Game Network; or Ben Veechai, [phone], [email protected], or Mellisa Andrade, [phone], [email protected], both of UBM TechWeb Game Network Web Site: http://www.igf.com/