Game Developer Announces 2006 Front Line Award Winners

The CMP Game Group’s Game Developer magazine has announced the winners of the ninth annual Front Line Awards, recognizing the year’s best in tools for game development. The winners will be profiled in the January 2007 issue of the magazine, which will be available on newsstands January 17. The competition honors excellence and innovation in hardware and software for programming, art, audio and game components. Winners were chosen for their ability to advance the art of game creation by crafting more efficient and effective tools. Winners in each category include the following: Books - ShaderX4: Advanced Rendering Techniques edited by Wolfgang Engel (Charles River Media) Middleware - AI.implant by Engenuity Technologies Inc. Art Tools - Modo 202 by Luxology Audio Tools - Wwise 2006.2.1 by Audiokinetic Hardware - PhysX by Ageia and BFG Technologies Programming Tools - Perforce version 2006.1 by Perforce Software Engines - Unreal Engine 3 by Epic Games Inc. In addition to the Front Line Award category winners, each year, one product is inducted into the Front Line Awards Hall of Fame. The inductee is chosen for its outstanding contribution to the game development industry for five years or more. This year’s honor was presented to Microsoft's Visual Studio. "Game Developer heartily congratulates the winners of the 2006 Front Line Awards," said Simon Carless, Editor-In-Chief of Game Developer. "These tools represent the most innovative, user-friendly, and useful products from behind the scenes of the world's best video games and we are proud to give them a bit of the glory they deserve." Nominations were open to all new products and new versions of products related to game development released before Sept. 1, 2006. Products are nominated by Game Developer’s readers and other industry professionals. A distinguished panel of leading game developers specializing in each of the competition’s categories helped select finalists and winners based on their products’ level of utility, innovation, value and ease of use. For more information about The 2006 Front Line Awards and winners, please visit the official Game Developer Front Line Awards website. Further magazine details and subscription information is available on Game Developer's website.