Develop 2008 Awards Finalists Revealed

Organizers of the 2008 Develop Conference & Expo in the UK have announced the finalists for its accompanying Develop Industry Excellence Awards, with nominations led by Rockstar Games (Grand Theft Auto IV) and Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword) with five nominations each. Now in its sixth year, the final awards ceremony will be held in Brighton on Wednesday, July 30th in front of an expected audience of 500 developers and publishers. The awards themselves are voted for by a panel of 100 industry experts, with two additional awards for Development Legend and Grand Prix decided by the Develop editorial team. As usual the nominations are focused on British and European developers with Scottish developer Rockstar North picking up four nominations for Visual Arts, Audio Accomplishment, Technical Innovation and Best In-house Developer. Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge are nominated in five categories: Best New IP, Visual Arts, Audio accomplishment, Technical Innovation and Best Independent Developer. Frontier Development (LostWinds) and Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise) also both have three nominations each. "This year's finalists showcase the massive amount of games development talent found in Europe," said Michael French, editor of Develop. "Be it digitally-distributed games, MMOs, first-person shooters or action-adventures, there's no area of the industry that hasn’t been bolstered by Europe’s diverse sector of games development companies in the past year. We wish all of the nominees the best of luck and look forward to seeing them on what's set to be a great night." The full list of nominees follows: CATEGORY: CREATIVITY Best New IP LostWinds (Frontier Developments) Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory) Crysis (Crytek) World in Conflict (Massive) Viking: Battle for Asgard (Creative Assembly) Overlord (Triumph) Best Use of a Licence Ferrari Challenge (Eutechnyx) The Darkness (Starbreeze) Sega Superstar Tennis (Sumo Digital) Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage) Lego IndianaJones (Travellers’ Tales) Metal Gear Solid Mobile (Ideaworks3D) Visual Arts Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV) Crytek (Crysis) London Studio (SingStar PS3 UI Frontier Developments (LostWinds) Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise) Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword) Audio Accomplishment London Studio (SingStar PS3) Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV) Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword) Sumo Digital (Sega Superstars Tennis) Codemasters Studios (Race Driver: GRID) Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise) Publishing Hero Codemasters Nintendo Sega LucasArts Gamecock 1C & 505 Games CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES Tools Provider Hansoft Epic Games Sony & SN Systems Havok NaturalMotion IDV Technical Innovation Rockstar North/NaturalMotion/Image Metrics (Grand Theft Auto IV) Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword) Ideaworks3D (Airplay) SCEE R&D Team (PhyreEngine) Geomerics (Enlighten) Creative Outsourcing Axis Animation Side UK Richard Jacques Studios Outsource Media UK The Audio Guys Nimrod Productions Services Testronic Labs Partnertrans UK Babel Media Audiomotion U-Trax Recruitment Company Specialmove Day One Search Aardvark Swift Amiqus OPM Games:Edu New Talent Award Abertay University & Dare to be Digital Rare Microsoft Blitz University of Derby Hull University CATEGORY: STUDIOS Best New UK/European Studio Finblade Konami Paris Oxygen Studios Rockstar London Doublesix Best Mobile Studio Progressive Media Ideaworks3D Digital Chocolate Finland/Sumea Distinctive Developments Business Development Zoë Mode Rebellion Realtime Worlds Team 17 NaturalMotion Best Independent Developer Rebellion Jagex CCP Frontier Splash Damage Ninja Theory Best In-house Developer Rockstar North Codemasters Studios Criterion Games Sports Interactive London Studio Bizarre Creations