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Main Competition Finalists Chosen for Tenth Annual Independent Games Festival

Jury of Previous IGF Winners, Leading Game Journalists and Game Industry Veterans Select Finalists from Record Number of Entries to Compete for $50,000 in Prizes

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 04, 2007 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Independent Games Festival (IGF) has named the main competition finalists for its historic tenth annual set of awards, celebrating the most ground-breaking creations to come out of the independent game community this year.

From a record field of 173 entries, nominations were led by 2D Boy's physics construction game World of Goo and Invisible Handlebar's music-adapting puzzle racer Audiosurf. Games were adjudicated by a panel made up of the creators of previous IGF honorees Aquaria, Braid, Cloud and N; industry veterans from studios including Foundation 9, Crytek, Electronic Arts, Big Huge Games and Midway; and noted journalists from Newsweek, Games For Windows Magazine, Joystiq, Wired, Kotaku, MTV News, and more.

World of Goo and Audiosurf were both nominated for three prizes, including the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize category; other multiple nominees include 2D/3D platform title Fez, physics-heavy steampunk flying combat title Hammerfall, and Guitar Hero controller-using action game Fret Nice. Other notable nominees for the 10th Annual IGF Awards include stylish 2D pixel action title Noitu Love 2: Devolution, design-nominated bird-watching casual title Snapshot Adventures: Secret Of Bird Island, and evocative art-game The Path.

In addition, an initial set of sponsors for the 2008 Independent Games Festival have been announced. Wizards of the Coast's Gleemax.com is 2008 Platinum Sponsor, alongside Sony and Microsoft as Silver Sponsors and DigiPen as Platinum Student Showcase Sponsor.

The finalists will compete for more than $50,000 in prizes, including a $2,500 Audience Award determined by fan votes online at IGF.com. Nominated games will be exhibited at the IGF Pavilion, February 20-22, and announced at the IGF Awards Ceremony on February 20, at CMP's Game Developers Conference (GDC). GDC, the world's largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment, takes place February 18-22, 2008 at San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center.

This year GDC features two additional events geared to the independent games community: IGF Mobile, with $20,000 in prizes awarded during GDC Mobile, celebrating the innovation of games for cellphones and other mobile devices including Sony's Playstation Portable and the Nintendo DS; and the Independent Games Summit, now in its second year as a two-day subsummit of GDC where notable independent creators gather to discuss the business and art of indie game creation. Information on these events and more is available at http://www.gdconf.com.

"We're delighted to see the propulsive growth of independent games, with a record number of entries this year and so many innovative, alternative titles of such high quality," said Simon Carless, IGF chairman. "We congratulate all of our nominees and hope that, like their predecessors before them, their work and these games inspire more and more developers to join the independent game community."

The finalists for the 2007 Independent Games Festival are:

    Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

    * Audiosurf, by Invisible Handlebar, LLC

    * Crayon Physics Deluxe, by Kloonigames

    * Hammerfall, by GKosh

    * Noitu Love 2: Devolution, by Konjak

    * World of Goo, by 2D Boy, LLC

The IGF was established in 1998 by the CMP Game Group to encourage innovation in game development and to recognize the best independent game developers, in the way that the Sundance Film Festival honors the independent film community. A separate set of finalists, for the Student Showcase award, will be announced December 17.

For a full list of finalists, information on the Independent Games Festival and to register for GDC, please visit http://www.gdconf.com.