Game Connection America 2015: Development Awards - Nominees Revealed
Microsoft Studios, Bandai Namco Games, SCEE & Michael Meyers PR to award the prestigious Game Connection Development Awards
San Francisco, CA, USA – February 12, 2015 – Game Connection today unveiled the list of yet unsigned or highly original game projects nominated for the prestigious Development Awards 2015 – formerly known as “Game Connection Selected Projects”. Out of more than 170 applicants for 10 categories, the jury had a hard choice picking the nominees. The Development Awards will take place Tuesday, March 3rd at 10:00 AM at the AMC Theater – METREON.
Twenty-four different game projects from 15 countries are competing for the prizes. Competition will be fierce as for the first time ever, indie teams will square off against projects from large studios such as Square Enix Montreal or Bigpoint. Leading the list of nominations is Canadian Square Enix Montreal with its mobile game Hitman GO, who are up for the award in five of ten categories. Four nominations went to the puzzle adventure PC game Shadow Puppeteer from the Norwegian Sarepta Studio, the Shoot-Em-Up PC game Astebreed published by Japanese Active Gaming Media and upcoming mobile action adventure game Epic of Kings, developed by the US-based studio Dead Mage.
At the Game Development Award ceremony, each of the finalists will be presented to all the publishers, distributors, buyers, and media, providing each studio with a unique opportunity to showcase their project to a large number of potential partners. Previous winners include Loading Human from Untold Games, Contrast from Compulsion Games, Badland from Frogmind, Limbo from PlayDead and Izle from Area Effect, which won three awards at Game Connection Europe last October.
The Game Connection Development Awards 2015 are given out in partnership with Microsoft Studios, Bandai Namco Games, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Michael Meyers Public Relations. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday, March 3rd at 10.00am at the AMC Theater on the 2nd floor of the Metreon. Nominees and winners will also showcase their projects on the expo floor of Game Connection America on the 5th floor at City View – METREON.
List of nominations http://www.game-connection.com/development-awards
Best Console / PC Hardcore (Microsoft Studios)
• Hand of Fate by Defiant Development (Australia)
• Typoman by Brainseed Factory (Germany)
• Hue by Mudvark (United Kingdom)
• Shadow Puppeteer by Sarepta Studio AS (Norway)
• Astebreed by Active Gaming Media, Inc. (Japan)
Best Mobile / Tablets
• Hitman GO by Square Enix Montréal (Canada)
• Epic of Kings by Dead Mage (United States)
• Papercade by Hololabs (Canada)
• Piano City by Room 8 Studio (Ukraine)
• Raids of Glory by Nitro Games Ltd. (Finland)
Best Desktop / Downloadable
• Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders by MICROIDS - Anuman Interactive (France)
• My Night Job by Webcore Games (Brazil)
• The Dead Flowers Case by Mando Productions (France)
• Shards of War by Bigpoint (Germany)
• DUR by ZHdK (Switzerland)
Best Casual Game
• Hitman GO by Square Enix Montréal (Canada)
• Piano City by Room 8 Studio (Ukraine)
• Puny Stupid Humans by GORANGE LLC (United States) & SteelMonkey (Ukraine)
• Sequenced by Apelab (Switzerland)
• Typoman by Brainseed Factory (Germany)
Best Social Game
• Shadow Puppeteer by Sarepta Studio AS (Norway)
• Papercade by Hololabs (Canada)
• Raids of Glory by Nitro Games Ltd. (Finland)
• Monzo by MADFINGER Games (Czech republic)
• LyteShot by LyteShot, Inc. (United States)
Best Hardcore Game
• Astebreed by Active Gaming Media, Inc. (Japan)
• Epic of Kings by Dead Mage (United States)
• First Strike by Blindflug Studios (Switzerland)
• Hue by Mudvark (United Kingdom)
• Medusa's Labyrinth by Guru Games (Sweden)
Excellence in Art
• Monzo by MADFINGER Games (Czech Republic)
• Epic of Kings by Dead Mage (United States)
• Hitman GO by Square Enix Montréal (Canada)
• Astebreed by Active Gaming Media, Inc. (Japan)
• Raids of Glory by Nitro Games Ltd. (Finland)
Excellence in Story & StoryTelling
• The Perils of Man by IF Games (Switzerland)
• Blues & Bullets by A Crowd of Monsters (Spain)
• Hitman GO by Square Enix Montréal (Canada)
• Epic of Kings by Dead Mage (United States)
• Shadow Puppeteer by Sarepta Studio AS (Norway)
Most Promising IP (SCEE)
• Hitman GO by Square Enix Montréal (Canada)
• Typoman by Brainseed Factory (Germany)
• Mutant Football League by Digital Dreams Entertainment LLC (United States)
• Shadow Puppeteer by Sarepta Studio AS (Norway)
• Astebreed by Active Gaming Media, Inc. (Japan)
Most Creative & Original Project (Bandai Namco)
• Papercade by Hololabs (Canada)
• Sequenced by Apelab (Switzerland)
• LyteShot by LyteShot Inc. (United States)
• Puny Stupid Humans by GORANGE LLC (United States) & SteelMonkey (Ukraine)
• First Strike by Blindflug Studios (Switzerland)
For further details on the nominated projects, visit the nominees’ page:
www.game-connection.com/development-awards.
Jury
The Development Awards are made possible thanks to the outstanding efforts of its Jury, a board of well-known and trusted industry professionals. For each competition, being part of the Jury includes the commitment to review each and every project submitted. Game Connection extends a very special thanks to:
• Levi Buchanan, Director of Sales, Chillingo
• Vincent Dondaine, Co-Founder, Bulkypix
• Sarita Churchill-Viramontez, Business Development Manager, Microsoft Studios
• Katie Morgan, Executive Vice President, Reverb Publishing
• Jack Chun, Global Business Development Manager, LINE Corporation
• Jere Makiniemi, Head of Developer Relations, Rovio Entertainment
• Samuel Gatté, Publishing & Product Support Director, NAMCO BANDAI Games
• Jennie Sue, Developer Relations Manager, DeNA
• Kyu Lee, President, GAMEVIL USA Inc.
• Stephen Lee, Executive Director and Head of Publishing, 6waves
• Bob Loya, Sr. Director, External Development, Activision
• Casey Lee, Head of Com2us USA Inc., Com2Us
• Tatiana Timoshenko, Director of Licensing, G5 Entertainment
• Déborah Papiernik, EMEA Business Development Director, Ubisoft Entertainment
• James Batchelor, Editor, Develop Online
• Jim Ying, VP, Games Publishing, Tango
• Neil Haldar, VP, Business Development, GREE International
• Careen Yapp, VP of Business Development and Account Management, GAIKAI
• Guy Richards, Production Manager Third Party Relations, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
For more information on Game Connection America, please visit: http://www.game-connection.com/
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