IGF and GDC award winners announced @ Gaming Target

Written by Jason Cisarano on March 08, 2007

News: Show the games some love

The 2007 game Developer's Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, and one of the highlights so far was the awards show for the Independent Games Festival and Game Developer's Choice awards. It's not quite the Oscars, but developers showed up in droves to support the games that their peers have been working on for the past year.

Independent Games Festival Winners
The IGF recognizes independent game designers, that is, folks who spend their own time and money to develop their projects. Some are students, some are independents and none of them have a big producer behind them, but they certainly love what they do.

Grand Prize: Aquaria

Technical Excellence: Bang! Howdy

Excellence in Visual Art: Castle Crashers

Best Web Browser Game: Samorost 2

Design Innovation Award: Everyday Shooter

Excellence in Audio: Everyday Shooter

Best Mod: Weekday Warrior

Best Student Game: Toblo

Game Developer's Choice Awards
GDCA winners are chosen by the developers themselves and recognize many of the best commercial games from the past year. High points of the show were the appearances of Alexey Pajitnov, developer of Tetris, and Shigeru Miyamoto, driving force behind so many Nintendo projects, including the Wii and everything Mario and Zelda. Both recieved warm standing ovations from the crowd.

Innovation: Line Rider (PC), Okami (PS2), Wii Sports (Wii)

New Studio: Iron Lore Entertainment

Writing: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (GC, Wii)

Game Design: Wii Sports (Wii)

Maverick: Greg Costikyan

Audio: Guitar Hero II (PS2)

Character Design: Okami (PS2)

First Penguin: Alexey Pajitnov

Technology: Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Visual Arts: Gears of War (Xbox 360)

Community Contribution: George "The Fatman" Sanger

Lifetime Achievement: Shigeru Miyamoto

Best Game: Gears of War (Xbox 360)