2009 Independent Games Festival

SAN FRANCISCO — Mar. 04, 2009 — Organizers of the Independent Games Festival (IGF) have launched the IGF Audience Award voting website. Visitors can download and play 15 of the Main Competition finalist games and vote for their favorite independent game. Online voting will continue through March 20th, and the winner will be awarded the $2,500 prize at the IGF awards ceremony on the same evening that the voting closes, along with the winners of a total of $50,000 in prizes as part of the IGF Main and Student Competitions. The full list of finalist games for download and voting is available at http://www.igf.com/audience.php.

In addition to digital download, all finalist games will be playable at the IGF Pavilion, March 25-27, on the Game Developers Conference (GDC) Expo floor. Finalists were chosen from a record 226 entries and represent the growth of the independent games movement with innovative games of excellent quality, across various platforms. GDC, Think Services Game Group’s annual conference dedicated to the art, science and business of games, takes place Mar. 23-27, 2009 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco.

The games with eligible demos or full versions on PC, XBLA, XNA Community Games or PSN are: Retro/Grade, Dyson, Brainpipe, The Maw, IncrediBots, Osmos, Musaic Box, Cortex Command, CarneyVale Showtime, Coil, The Graveyard, PixelJunk Eden, Mightier, You Have To Burn The Rope, and Between.

“The Audience Award is always one of my favorite categories, as such a big part of the independent movement is about giving the public a voice,” said Simon Carless, IGF chairman. “With the quality of the finalist games that have been nominated this year, we hope to have a record amount of votes on the website.”

Mountain Dew's Green Label Gaming is the 2009 Platinum Sponsor, alongside Microsoft’s XNA division and Sony as the Gold and Silver Sponsors respectively, and DigiPen Institute Of Technology is the Platinum Student Showcase Sponsor.

The IGF was established in 1998 by the CMP Game Group (now Think Services) to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, in the way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. For more information on the Independent Games Festival and to register for GDC, please visit www.gdconf.com.

About the Independent Games Festival

The Independent Games Festival was established in 1998 by the Think Services Game Group to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, in the way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. For more information on the Independent Games Festival and to register for GDC, please visit www.gdconf.com.

About the Game Developers Conference ( 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 Think Services Game Group, a division of Think Services.

About the Think Services Game Group

A core provider of essential information to the professional game industry, 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 Game Developer Magazine, Game Developer Research, the Webby Award-winning Gamasutra.com, GameCareerGuide.com, WorldsInMotion.biz, GameSetWatch.com, GamesOnDeck.com, SeriousGamesSource.com, the Game Developers Conference®, the Austin Game Developers Conference®, the Paris Game Developers Conference®, GDC Mobile, the Game Career Seminars, the Independent Games Festival and Summit, and the Game Developers Choice Awards. For more information, please visit: http://www.tsgamegroup.com.

About United Business Media Limited

United Business Media Limited (UBM) is a global media and marketing services company that informs markets and brings the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print, and with the information they need to do business successfully. UBM serves professional and commercial communities, from IT professionals to doctors, from journalists to jewelry dealers, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. UBM employs more than 6,500 people in more than 30 countries. UBM's businesses operating in the US include CMPMedica, Commonwealth Business Media, Everything Channel, PR Newswire, RISI, TechInsights, TechWeb and Think Services. UBM is listed on the London Stock Exchange (UBM.L) and has a market capitalization of $1.6 billion. For more information, please visit: www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

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