DEVELOP INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS FINALISTS REVEALED

Friday 8th June/... The finalists for this year's Develop Industry Excellence Awards have been revealed - with newcomers Realtime Worlds leading the pack with a staggering seven nominations, the most ever for one developer in the event's five-year history.

Held on Wednesday July 25th 2007 at the Hilton Metropole, Brighton, the Develop Industry Excellence Awards will honour those at the forefront of the development community - the creative geniuses behind the very best games our industry have to offer. Bringing together over 50 of the greatest development teams, it is the only event which honours the achievements of Europe's finest game creators.

Realtime Worlds' debut title Crackdown has been nominated in the New Console/PC IP category, with the studio itself picking up a further six nominations in the Visual Arts, Audio Accomplishment, Best Use of Online, Innovation, New UK/European Studio and Independent Developer categories.

Evolution Studios (MotorStorm), Rare (Viva Pinata), SCEE Studio Liverpool (Formula One Championship Edition) and Introversion (Defcon) boast three nominations each.

"The last 12 months have seen European developers literally raise their games," says Stuart Dinsey, managing director of Intent Media, publisher of Develop. "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. To be nominated for an award during this exceptional period is a real honour - and we congratulate all those teams involved."

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are voted for by a panel of almost 100 industry experts.

In addition to the 16 awards voted by the 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 Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2007 are kindly sponsored by Codemasters, NCsoft and Nvidia.

The event has sold out in since its launch in 2003 - please contact Kathryn Humphrey at BHPR on (01462 456780/Kathryn.humphrey@bhpr.co.uk) to book tables.

DEVELOP AWARDS: The finalists in full

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.