Game Connection Announces Indie Assistance Contest Winners

Industry business convention Game Connection has announced the winners of its Level Up program, which is designed to promote the success of new developers and service providers with small budgets. Through the program, announced earlier this year, the five winners will attend the latest Game Connection conference, being held in France this December, at no cost. In addition to the waiver of the €3,000 ($4,170) conference fee, the selected developers will receive the opportunity to present their game or service at the conference to buyers like Activision, Capcom and Nintendo, among other industry leaders. The five winners are: French developer AGE Studio for a historical PC strategy game; Philippines-based Anino Mobile for a Nintendo DS real-time strategy game with multiplayer features; French developer Arkedo for a DS arcade game; American developer Big Rooster for an unannounced espionage multiplatform title, and Croatian developer Ocean Media, with a 2D arcade puzzler for DS and PC. A total of 48 companies representing 17 different countries applied to this first edition of the Level Up program. Participating companies had to explain what makes their game or service original and innovative, and how it can help the video game industry evolve. The winners were selected by Game Connection’s staff and advisory board, and their demonstrations will take place at the convention scheduled for December 4-6, 2007 in Lyon, France.