MOBILE NEWS
IMGA award nominees are announced
25 games for only five awards... |
The nominees for the annual International Mobile Game Awards have finally been announced, with five contenders in each of the five categories vying for their respective win.
Of the 25 contenders, only three are from a UK-based studio. The Crystal Maze, from Scotland's Dynamo Games, is competing for the Best Licensed IP award, Championship Manager 2008 (also from Dynamo Games) is looking to snag the Best Gameplay gong, while Ideaworks3D's Metal Gear Solid Mobile has its sights set on the Best 3D category.
Many of the titles nominated are games that we haven't been able to play yet due to their (current) lack of a European release. The most interesting include the aforementioned Metal Gear Solid Mobile, Chess a moment from Japan's G-Mode (which is competing for Best Connectivity), and the quaintly titled Mr Ice Cream from New Zealand's Pixelthis, which is aiming to be crowned Best Casual Game.
We're pretty excited to see how this all pans out and are sure to report back on the winners as soon as the ceremony has been held.
In the meantime, check out the 25 nominees in full:
Best Casual Game
Dip (Animo Mobile)
Doggy Spanish (Com2us)
Mr Ice Cream (Pixelthis)
The Gridleys (Ziggurat Interactive)
Treasure Arm (Tequila Mobile)
Best IP Licensed
The Crystal Maze (Dynamo Games)
Office Games 2 (Indiagames)
Rounders Poker (Nazara Technologies)
Ratatouille: Cheese Rush (Universomo)
Furby Island (LemonQuest)
Best 3D
Metal Gear Solid Mobile (Ideaworks3D)
WRC 3D (Firemint)
Prey Mobile 3D (Machineworks Northwest)
7 Days (Dingoo Games)
ONE Sequel (Digital Legends)
Best Connectivity
Tropictos (Iks Mobile)
Chess a moment (G-Mode)
The Truth (IM Animal Studio)
Mobile Touch Stratego (TNO)
Pass it On! (W30)
Best Gameplay
Championship Manager 2008 (Dynamo Games)
Ninja Strike (EyeSight Mobile Technologies)
Ghosts in the Machine (Animo Mobile)
Dirk Spanner and the Fallen Idol (JadeStone)
Hooked On: Creatures of the Deep (Infinite Dreams)
Joined:
Nov 2006
Post count:
572
These awards don't seem fair. CM 2008 mobile will no doubt be a good game but isn't out yet. Whereas Blades and Magic 3D is a very good game and isn't even on the list.
Is Prey mobile out yet either in the the US? Not impressed
Joined:
Oct 2007
Post count:
105
I'm sure the guys at the IMGA have seen or played the games before they made their choices or maybe the developers didn't enter their games into the competition.
Would have been good to see some more UK companies in that list
Joined:
Sep 2005
Post count:
276
Hey guys, I think the awards are for unpublished games only - last year it was even more conceptual.
Joined:
Jul 2005
Post count:
15122
The bear is spot on.
We were actually on the judging panel for this one and flew out to Marseille to spend an entire day looking through hundreds of games (tough job!)
The IMGA awards are all about innovation in mobile games and focus on titles that aren't yet commercially available. They're also international, hence the number of strong entries from the Far East.
Apparently Blades and Magic was nominated last year hence the no show this time round. Winners will be announced in February at 3GSM and again we'll be on the panel, so expect to hear about it here first!
Joined:
Nov 2006
Post count:
572
Ah that makes sense then Chris. Thanks for explaining things.
