Student scores straight sets victory for future of mobile games

A Swedish PHD student defeated professional games makers to scoop the inaugural International Mobile Gaming Awards (iMG Awards), which were unveiled at a roof top ceremony in Barcelona yesterday.

In total 170 developers entered the iMG Awards to create innovative new mobile titles. But after extensive perusal from an expert judging panel (including our own Stuart Dredge), Anders Henrysson pipped them all to the $10,000 Grand Prix Award with his AR Tennis game. The experimental title turns two camera phones into virtual tennis rackets, and so transforms flat surfaces like a kitchen table into a veritable centre court.

Anders also waltzed off with an additional $2,500 for best technical achievement, while UK based independent developer Paul Carruther's one thumb puzzle game Monkey Pole Climb collected the $2,500 Best Gameplay Award, and Chinese developer VAKA Technologies was awarded the $2,500 Best Artwork prize for its game 3D World Warriors.

Although he couldn't make the award ceremony, Anders was apparently overjoyed, and he offered encouraging news for mobile gaming fans. "I'm thrilled at winning both of these awards," he said. "The prize money will be used to continue my research into mobile games development!"

Even better news for mobile gamers is that each winner will be supported by the iMG Award sponsors (NVIDIA, Autodesk, Nokia, Orange, Auchan and Belle-de-Mai Media Park in Marseilles) to make their games available for Pocket Gamers to buy – so watch this space for previews and reviews soon!

All the nominees and winners are listed below; more details of the awards can be found at www.imgawards.com.

The 20 IMG Award finals selected to enter the Grand Final: • Monkey Pole Climb – Independent (UK) • AR Tennis – NVIS (Sweden) & HITLABNZ (New Zealand) • Gold Teeth – Killa Producer from Streetmedia7 (Sweden) • Marblelous – independent (Portugal) • OceanFront – 3D Arts (Finland) • Crouching Spider – independent (Sweden) • Snap Happy – Hands On (UK) • Fight 'n' Fly – InstantCom (Croatia) • Bump to voice – Independent (France) • 3D World Warriors – Vaka (China) • The Band Quest – Independent (Switzerland) • Breakfast Club – Cube Interactive (Philippines) • Autopista RR – Amazing Games (Norway) • B-Boy Dance – Mobicle (South-Korea) • Day of Love – Genuine Games (Scotland) • Heli-Rescue – Mobile Amusements (UK) • Platform Rush – Independent (New Zealand) • Puzzle Cats – Miremare (Scotland) • Full Count Baseball – Independent (Czech Republic) • Foto Fighter – Fact Software (Germany)