Nominees announced for International Mobile Games Awards 2008

This year's International Mobile Games Awards are split up into five categories, with an overall Grand Prix prize winner and a People's Choice award also to be selected from the finalists. The nominees were chosen from hundreds of entries for offering excellence in multiplayer connectivity, social networking, augmented and mixed reality, GPS, Bluetooth, accelerometers and touchscreens.

"We are excited to see developers creating original concepts that push the boundaries of mobile gaming," commented Dr Mark Ollila, Nokia's director of games publishing.

The nominated developers have until the end of January 2009 to submit a finished game or a playable demo. On 16th February the IMGA jury will meet again to select the winners in each category and the Grand Prix winner. A panel of Mmobile operators will then select the winner of the Operators' Choice Award and a public vote via web and wap will determine the winner of the People's Choice Award.

"In this fifth edition I have recognised some of the ideas from previous IMGAs, but this time in a more playable version. The IMGA has seen mobile gaming move into 3D and 3G and it is now heading into an exciting new dimension with a whole new generation of games," says Maarten Noyons, CEO and founder of the International Mobile Gaming Awards.

Here at Pocket Gamer we're delighted to see that many of the games we've been making a fuss over lately have made their way into the top five of the IMGA categories, so let's take a look at which developers (an eclectic mix from all around the globe, this year) will now be feverishly working toward the number one spots:

Best Casual Game
Pancake Flips by Maxence Delaval (France)
Tropical Towers by RealNetworks (USA)
iBubble Boom by Zed (Spain)
Gear Wager by iGameStudio (India)
Kissing Frenzy by Tequila Mobile (Poland)

Excellence in Connectivity
Real Racing by Firemint (Australia)
Melokey, by C4M (France) and Jadestone (Sweden)
Combat Pillows by Sleepteam (Czech Republic)
Cubic Republic by IKS (Poland)
Party Island Bowling 2‐in‐1 by Digital Chocolate (USA)
Gamevil's Pro Baseball 2009 by Gamevil (South Korea)

Excellence in 3D
Real Racing by Firemint (Australia)
Kroll by Digital Legends (Spain)
Kodo Evolved by Tommy Palm, Sweden
Zen Bound by Secrit Exit (Finland)
BioShock by India Games (India)
Galaxy on Fire 2 by Fishlabs (Germany)

Excellence in Gameplay
Ghostwire by A Different Game (Sweden)
Chokkan Game by Taito (Japan)
Edge by Mobigame (France)
Untitled Game by AirPlay
Untitled Game by Nokia

Best Real World Game
Kurai: The Dark Monolith by Antonio Garcia (Spain)
Aikon Ghost Hunter by Jon Hayward (Australia)
Ghostwire by A Different Game (Sweden)
FastFoot‐Challenge by Urban Team (Germany)
Move Ya! by T+1 Solutions (Estonia)
Kweekies by Int13 (France)

Pocket Gamer will be covering the awards every step of the way, so be sure to hit the 'Track It!' button for more news as it's announced.