Third Annual Independent Games Festival Mobile Announces Finalists

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2010 Independent Games Festival Mobile (IGF Mobile), an event that celebrates innovation in games for Apple's iPhone, other cell phone and smartphone operating systems (OS), Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation Portable, and other handheld devices, has named the finalists for its third annual competition, with a host of outstanding portable titles showcased this year.

This year's IGF Mobile marks a record number of entries with 170 titles submitted for the competition, up nearly 65 percent from last year's total, which itself was double over the previous year.  The finalists for IGF Mobile will compete for $5,000 in prizes, including specialized awards for art, design, audio, technical prowess, and iPhone game creation, as well as the IGF Mobile Best Game award.  

Some of the notable titles nominated for this year's IGF Mobile Awards include iPhone games such as double nominee, Tiger Style's Spider: The Secret Of Bryce Manor, downloadable games for Nintendo's DSi including Powerhead Games' Glow Artisan, and promising titles from a host of worldwide indie developers, from England's Studio FungFung through Finland's Secret Exit and beyond.

This year, overall winners in each category will be announced on Feb. 8, 2010, with the category winners receiving $500 in prizes, a place as an overall IGF Mobile Best Game finalist, and the opportunity to showcase their mobile game at the IGF Pavilion during Game Developers Conference 2010 in San Francisco this March.  

In addition, all finalists for 2010's IGF Mobile competition -- whether category winners or not -- will receive one All-Access pass to attend GDC 2010 and attend the multiple mobile-specific Summits there, including the GDC Mobile/Handheld Summit and the iPhone Games Summit.  (The IGF Mobile judges have also named three games in each category as 'honorable mentions' which -- while not quite making it to become a finalist this year -- are commended as some of the most intriguing and high quality independent mobile games of the year.)

The full list of finalists and honorable mentions for the 2010 IGF Mobile competition are:

IGF Mobile Best Game

Finalists will comprise the winners of the five above categories, to be announced on Monday, February 8th.

Beyond the awards and cash prizes for the IGF Mobile winners, previous finalists have also been showcased prominently on Apple's App Store. A special store section highlighted the IGF-nominated iPhone games from 2009's IGF Mobile Competition, which included acclaimed titles such as Fieldrunners, Real Racing, Zen Bound and Galcon.  Previous year's winners are now finding success on console platforms, including 2009's IGF Mobile "Next Great Mobile Game" winner, Reflection, which has been signed by Konami to be distributed on Nintendo's DSi.

"With the explosive growth in the mobile games market, and the exciting prospects for emerging mobile platforms and smartphone OSes, it's great to see this year's IGF Mobile finalists revealed," said Simon Carless, chairman of the IGF. "With smartphone platforms rapidly maturing, we're going to see a plethora of high quality independent creations over the next few years, and we sincerely hope that IGF Mobile has become one of the best venues to check out these inspiring titles."

The Independent Games Festival itself was established in 1998 to recognize the best independent game developers, much the way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community.  The creation of IGF Mobile in 2007 was the direct response to the maturing of the mobile game industry and the desire to similarly recognize and reward those driving the advancement of the space.

For more information on the Independent Games Festival Mobile finalists, visit www.igfmobile.com; and to register for GDC, please visit www.gdconf.com.

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