14 DAY TRIAL // An international jury of experts has chosen the 26 nominees for this year's International Mobile Games Awards. These awards spotlight the most innovative and creative mobile games around the world.
The nominees have been chosen from hundreds of entries, and offer features including multiplayer connectivity, social networking, augmented and mixed reality, GPS, Bluetooth, accelerometers and touchscreens. The awards will take place next February during the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona.
The 26 games have been nominated in five different categories and two games have received a double nomination: Ghost Wire, by Different Game (Sweden), nominated in both the Excellence in Gameplay and the Real World Games categories and Real Racer by Firemint (Australia) nominated in both the Excellence in 3D and the Excellence in Connectivity categories.
There are two titles listed as Secret Title below, as IMGA didn't receive permission from the publishers of two nominated games to announce their titles before their official launch. Still, they will soon be announced in a separate release.
Best Casual Game
Pancake Flips (Maxence Delaval -France) Tropical Towers (RealNetworks -USA) iBubble Boom (Zed -Spain) Gear Wager (iGameStudio -India) Kissing Frenzy (Tequila Mobile -Poland).
Excellence in Connectivity
Real Racing by Firemint (Australia) Melokey, by C4M (France) and Jadestone (Sweden) Combat Pillows by Sleepteam (Czech Republic) Cubic Republic by IKS (Poland) Party Island Bowling 2-in-1 by Digital Chocolate (USA) Gamevil's Pro Baseball 2009 by Gamevil (South Korea).
Excellence in 3D
Real Racing by Firemint (Australia) Kroll by Digital Legends (Spain) Kodo Evolved by Tommy Palm (Sweden) Zen Bound by Secrit Exit (Finland) BioShock by India Games (India) Galaxy on Fire 2 by Fishlabs (Germany).
Excellence in Gameplay
Ghostwire by A Different Game (Sweden) Chokkan Game by Taito (Japan) Edge by Mobigame (France) Secret Title by AirPlay Secret Title by Nokia.
Best Real World Game
Kurai: The Dark Monolith by Antonio Garcia (Spain) Aikon Ghost Hunter by Jon Hayward (Australia) Ghostwire by A Different Game (Sweden) FastFoot-Challenge by Urban Team (Germany) Move Ya! by T+1 Solutions (Estonia) Kweekies by Int13 (France).
The nominated developers must submit a finished game or a playable demo until the end of January 2009. Before February 16, the IMGA jury will meet again to select the winners in each category and the Grand Prix winner.
A panel of Mobile Operators will select the winner of the Operators’ Choice Award and a public vote via web and WAP will determine the winner of the People’s Choice Award.
On February 18, the Awards will be presented to the winners during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
