Killzone 2 Wins Inaugural Music Game Category At Prestigious Ivors

Guerrilla Games' first-person shooter Killzone 2 for PlayStation 3 won the inaugural video game category at the prestigious Ivor Novello music awards in the UK Thursday night. Joris de Man composed the music for the February 2009 video game, beating out other video game music nominees including Armin Elsaesser, composer of FluffyLogic's PSP tower defense game Savage Moon -- Waldgist and Richard Beddow, Walter Mair, Richard Birdsall, Lorenzo Piggici and Simon Ravn, composers for Sega and The Creative Assemby's Empire: Total War. It was the 55th year for the annual Ivors, which are named after the popular Welsh entertainer who died in 1951. The awards are judged and presented by fellow musicians, making the awards particularly noteworthy for winners. Ivors committee director Mark Fishlock commented, "The Ivors has always sought to reflect the ever-changing world of song-writing and composing. The video games market has matured beyond recognition and big budget orchestral scores are regularly being commissioned." At the awards, video game composers rubbed elbows with other artists including Lily Allen, who was the big winner with three awards, Bat for Lashes and Imogen Heap.