Over 400 leading figures from the UK and European computer and video games development community gathered at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton for the biggest night in the development community's calendar, the Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Winners on the night included Sony which walked away with awards in three categories. Criterion received the In-house Development Team for its dedicated console work and Bizarre Creations, the highly regarded development team based in North West England took home two awards including the coveted Grand Prix.

The development community in the UK and Europe is highly regarded across the world. Its creative talent and expertise produce many of the world’s most popular games.

Bizarre Creations’ output for Xbox 360 brought it recognition for Best Use Of Online thanks to the success of Geometry Wars 2. The title plays to the strengths of Microsoft’s Live Arcade. The judges also regarded its work on the automotive tour-de-force Project Gotham Racing 3 which led the developer to scoop the biggest award of the night – the Grand Prix Award.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe picked up both the Innovation and New Console IP awards for its collaboration with Relentless on the phenomenal quiz game, Buzz. Additionally, Sony found itself named as the Publishing Hero of the Year.

Criterion gained further approval from the development community, receiving awards for Art & Sound and for the Best In-House Development Team.

Stuart Dinsey, Publisher of Develop Magazine and Managing Director of Intent Media, said: “The games development community is perhaps one of the world’s great unsung creative industries. The Develop Industry Excellence Awards marks the time of year when the people who are at the creative coal-face of the business are recognised for just how remarkable they are. Congratulations to all the winners, and indeed to everyone who entered.”


The 18 categories and winners in full are:

STUDIOS CATEGORY sponsored by nVIDIA

NEW UK/EUROPEAN STUDIO
BIGBIG STUDIOS

MOST IMPROVED STUDIO
REBELLION

MOBILE GAMES STUDIO sponsored by Nokia Ngage
GAMELOFT

HANDHELD GAMES STUDIO
ROCKSTAR LEEDS

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CATEGORY

NEW CONSOLE IP
BUZZ (SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT/RELENTLESS)

NEW PC IP
FAHRENHEIT (QUANTIC DREAM)

BEST USE OF A LICENCE
KING KONG (UBISOFT)

INNOVATION, SERVICES AND TECHNOLOGY COMPANY

BEST USE OF ONLINE
BIZARRE CREATIONS (GEOMETRY WARS: RETRO EVOLVED)

ART & SOUND
CRITERION (BURNOUT REVENGE/BLACK)

INNOVATION
SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT/RELENTLESS (BUZZ CONTROLLERS)

TOOLS PROVIDER
NATURALMOTION

SERVICES & OUTSOURCING
SIDE UK

RECRUITMENT COMPANY
OPM RESPONSE

INDUSTRY LEADERS CATEGORY

PUBLISHING HERO
SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT EUROPE

IN-HOUSE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
CRITERION

INDEPENDENT DEVELOPER
TRAVELLER'S TALES

DEVELOPMENT LEGEND
CHARLES CECIL

THE GRAND PRIX AWARD
BIZARRE CREATIONS

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2006 are sponsored by Nokia and nVIDIA.