MCV awards finalists named

Intent Media has unveiled the finalists for this year's MCV Industry Excellence Awards, set to take place on April 23 at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London.

The event will see 17 awards given out to a range of businesses within the games industry. This year's awards see the addition of new retail and marketing categories, including: High Street Retailer, Online Retailer, Star Store, Store Manager of the Year and Retail Innovation.

"These categories demonstrate the diversity of games retail and give everyone selling games to the public a chance to share in the success of their company or their own store," commented Stuart Dinsey, Intent Media's managing director.

"We have also responded to requests from the industry to introduce a Store Manager of the Year award, which we know will be fiercely contested."

Dinsey added: "More and more people attend the MCV Industry Excellence Awards every year, which is a real testament to their relevance. Lobbying for this year's event has been fiercer than ever – so the finalists can feel particularly proud of themselves."

"Our esteemed panel of industry experts, bosses and bigwigs will now retire to consider their votes, with the winners revealed on April 23rd. It's going to be a raucous night, made even more special with the help of our fantastic sponsors – and I can't wait to see the games industry live it up there once again."

Full list of nominees follows:

Retail Innovation

• HMV Gamerbase
• HMV Re/Play
• Play.com Live
• Lovefilm rental
• CHIPS accessories

Store Manager

• Rupert Banning-Lover – HMV Birmingham Fort
• Richard Pascoe – Chips Hereford
• Martin Tuckwood – Asda Derby
• Mike Barnes/Pearl Robinson – GAME Oxford Street
• Gary Noakes - Gameplayer

High Street Retailer

• HMV
• GAME
• Gamestation
• Chips
• Asda

Star Store

• GAME Oxford Street
• HMV Liverpool One
• Gamestation Birmingham New Street
• Chips Dudley
• Asda Derby

Online Retailer

• Game.co.uk
• Shopto.net
• Play.com
• Amazon
• Gameseek
• The Hut

Sales Team

• Activision Blizzard
• Sega
• EA
• Ubisoft
• Microsoft
• Nintendo

Sales Triumph

• Crisis Core – Square Enix
• Imagine range - Ubisoft
• Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks
• Cooking Mama 2 – 505 Games
• Carnival Games – 2K Games
• Ben 10 – D3P

Games Publisher

• Nintendo
• EA
• Ubisoft
• Microsoft
• Sega
• Activision

Development Team

• Lionhead
• Blackrock Studios
• Codemasters
• Rockstar North
• Media Molecule

Distribution Team

• Koch
• Gem
• Centresoft
• Advantage
• Music Box Leisure

New Game Brand

• GRID - Codemasters
• Pure – Disney Interactive Studios
• Dead Space - EA
• Professor Layton - Nintendo
• Little Big Planet - SCE

PR Team

• EA
• Microsoft
• Capcom
• Nintendo/Red
• Sony
• Ubisoft

Game Campaign

• Guitar Hero World Tour – Activision Blizzard
• GTA IV - Rockstar
• FIFA - EA
• Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks
• Wii Fit - Nintendo
• Call Of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard

Marketing Team

• EA
• Microsoft
• Activision Blizzard
• Sega
• Nintendo

Marketing Innovation

• FIFA 4 min ad
• All Singing, All Dancing, All Disney campaign
• Rising Star Home of Japanese Games
• MS New Xbox Live Experience
• Sony online community work

Retail Advisory Board Special Recognition

• Darren Bowen – Ubisoft
• Andy Yates – Nintendo
• John Clark – Sega
• Mark Howson – SCE UK
• Jonathan Grimes - Microsoft