BRITISH GAMES DEVELOPERS SHOW STRENGTH AT ANNUAL INDUSTRY ‘OSCARS’

Thursday 1st September 2005, London/00.01am... Last night saw the cream of UK and European video and computer games developers pack out Kensington's Royal Garden Hotel for the third annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Big winners on the night included Traveller's Tales, the creators of the number one games smash Lego Star Wars, whilst Creative Assembly collected the overall Grand Prix Award for its development of the hugely successful Total War franchise.

Traveller's Tales picked up three awards: Most Improved Studio, Independent Developer and - this year's new category - Best Use Of A License for the endearing Lego Star Wars.

Morpheme scooped two prizes: the Mobile Games Studio and the Innovation category. While Babel Media and Sports Interactive's Football Manager won an award apiece, for Services and Outsourcing and New PC IP respectively.

Following its recent successful acquisition of Eidos and for its work with numerous European developers, acclaimed publisher SCi picked up the Publishing Hero award.

Renowned industry veteran, David Braben picked up the prestigious Development Legend Award. In 1982, whilst studying at University, David first displayed his business acumen by co-creating the first genuine 3D game, Elite - at a time when the potential of video games was unknown - which went onto to sell 1,000,000 units. He went on to found independent developer, Frontier Developments.

Stuart Dinsey, managing director of Intent Media, which publishes trade monthly Develop, said: "The British and European games development community remains a creative powerhouse of ambition and opportunity. The Develop Industry Excellence Awards pay homage to the people who are driving the future of interactive entertainment. Their work is enjoyed by millions across the world and it is only right that the unsung heroes of entertainment are recognized with these prestigious awards. Well done to all the winners and congratulations to David Braben for everything he has achieved in games over three decades and to the winners of the Grand Prix Award, Creative Assembly."

Once again the night was a sell out success and more than 350 members of the development community descended on London to watch the event which was hosted by award winning TV and radio broadcaster and journalist, Krishnan Guru Murthy.

The 18 categories and winners in full are:

STUDIOS CATEGORY - Sponsored by EA Partners

NEW UK/EUROPEAN STUDIO (DEBUT TITLE)

Winner: Juice Games

MOST IMPROVED STUDIO

Traveller's Tales

MOBILE GAMES STUDIO

Morpheme

HANDHELD GAMES STUDIO

SCE Studio Liverpool

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CATEGORY

NEW CONSOLE IP - Sponsored by Infinium Labs Corporation

Fable (Big Blue Box/Lionhead)

NEW PC IP

Football Manager (Sports Interactive)

BEST USE OF A LICENCE

Lego Star Wars (Traveller's Tales)

INNOVATION, SERVICES & TECHNOLOGY CATEGORY

BEST USE OF ONLINE - Sponsored by NCsoft

Digital Illusions (Battlefield 2)

ART & SOUND

Criterion Studios (Burnout 3: Takedown)

INNOVATION

Morpheme (Bluetooth Biplanes)

TOOLS PROVIDER

Havok

SERVICES AND OUTSOURCING

Babel Media

RECRUITMENT COMPANY

Datascope

INDUSTRY LEADERS CATEGORY - Sponsored by ATI Technologies GmbH

PUBLISHING HERO

SCi

IN-HOUSE DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Rockstar North

INDEPENDENT DEVELOPER

Traveller's Tales

DEVELOPMENT LEGEND

David Braben

GRAND PRIX AWARD

Creative Assembly

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards were designed to seek excellence in every facet of the UK and European development business, from new start-up studios to multi-team in-house developers, as well as tools providers, service providers and publishers. Judged in secret by a jury of 50 independent industry experts they single out those companies who keep this part of the globe at the very forefront of game development.

Develop magazine is the international monthly for games programmers, artists, musicians and producers. It is published by Intent Media.

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards are managed and produced by Intent Media and Barrington Harvey.

For further information visit www.mcvuk.com or contact:

KATHRYN HUMPHREY

BARRINGTON HARVEY

Tel: 01462 456780

Email: Kathryn@bhpr.co.uk

Issued by: Barrington Harvey, Troopers Yard, Bancroft, Hitchin SG5 1JW