nicksmith February 26, 2009 Entertainment, Industry 14 views Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

The industry’s most successful individuals, companies and brands are
today revealed, as magazine publisher Intent Media unveils the
finalists for this year’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards.

Taking place on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London,
this year’s MCV Industry Excellence Awards will be the most
hotly-contested ever, with 17 accolades up for grabs, across a diverse
range of categories covering the entire industry.

Voted for by a
panel of opinion formers and leaders within the games business, the MCV
Industry Excellence Awards will once again see the entire interactive
entertainment industry gathered under one roof to celebrate the highs
of the previous 12 months.

Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft,
Sega and Activision will battle it out for the Games Publisher Award,
whilst individual titles Guitar Hero World Tour, GTA IV, FIFA 09,
Fallout 3, Wii Fit and Call of Duty: World At War compete for Game
Campaign.

NEW retail and marketing categories are being
introduced to the MCV Industry Excellence Awards this year. Every
retailer, whatever size or product specialism, can now compete for all
five prizes. There is also a greater focus on rewarding shop floor
staff.

The final categories for the 2009 event are: High Street
Retailer; Online Retailer; Star Store; Store Manager of the Year and
Retail Innovation – which see HMV, GAME, Amazon and Play compete
alongside independent and non-specialist retailers for the very first
time.

“These categories demonstrate the diversity of games
retail and give everyone selling games to the public a chance to share
in the success of their company or their own store,” comments MCV
publisher and Intent Media Managing Director Stuart Dinsey.

“We
have also responded to requests from the industry to introduce a Store
Manager of the Year award, which we know will be fiercely contested.”

The
MCV Industry Excellence Awards are a highlight in the gaming calendar,
with over 600 of the business’s top executives attending.

“More
and more people attend the MCV Industry Excellence Awards every year,”
continues Stuart Dinsey, “which is a real testament to their relevance.
Lobbying for this year’s event has been fiercer than ever – so the
finalists can feel particularly proud of themselves. Our esteemed panel
of industry experts, bosses and bigwigs will now retire to consider
their votes, with the winners revealed on April 23rd. It’s going to be
a raucous night, made even more special with the help of our fantastic
sponsors – and I can’t wait to see the games industry live it up there
once again.”

Sponsors of the MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2009 are Nintendo, Codemasters, Gem, Koch Media, Atari and Partnertrans.

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards nominations in full:

RETAIL CATEGORY

Retail Innovation
HMV Gamerbase
HMV Re/Play
Play.com Live
Lovefilm rental
CHIPS accessories

Store Manager
Rupert Banning-Lover – HMV Birmingham Fort
Richard Pascoe – Chips Hereford
Martin Tuckwood – Asda Derby
Mike Barnes/Pearl Robinson – GAME Oxford Street
Gary Noakes – Gameplayer

High Street Retailer
HMV
GAME
Gamestation
Chips
Asda

Star Store
GAME Oxford Street
HMV Liverpool One
Gamestation Birmingham New Street
Chips Dudley
Asda Derby

Online Retailer
Game.co.uk
Shopto.net
Play.com
Amazon
Gameseek
The Hut

PEOPLE&INDUSTRY CATEGORY

Sales Team
Activision Blizzard
Sega
EA
Ubisoft
Microsoft
Nintendo

Sales Triumph
Crisis Core – Square Enix
Imagine range – Ubisoft
Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks
Cooking Mama 2 – 505 Games
Carnival Games – 2K Games
Ben 10 – D3P

Games Publisher
Nintendo
EA
Ubisoft
Microsoft
Sega
Activision

Development Team
Lionhead
Blackrock Studios
Codemasters
Rockstar North
Media Molecule

Distribution Team
Koch
Gem
Centresoft
Advantage
Music Box Leisure

PR & MARKETING CATEGORY

New Game Brand
GRID – Codemasters
Pure – Disney Interactive Studios
Dead Space – EA
Professor Layton – Nintendo
Little Big Planet – SCE

PR Team
EA
Microsoft
Capcom
Nintendo/Red
Sony
Ubisoft

Game Campaign
Guitar Hero World Tour – Activision Blizzard
GTA IV – Rockstar
FIFA – EA
Fallout 3 – Bethesda Softworks
Wii Fit – Nintendo
Call Of Duty: World at War – Activision Blizzard

Marketing Team
EA
Microsoft
Activision Blizzard
Sega
Nintendo

Marketing Innovation
FIFA 4 min ad
All Singing, All Dancing, All Disney campaign
Rising Star Home of Japanese Games
MS New Xbox Live Experience
Sony online community work

RETAIL ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL RECOGNITION
Darren Bowen – Ubisoft
Andy Yates – Nintendo
John Clark – Sega
Mark Howson – SCE UK
Jonathan Grimes – Microsoft

The MCV Awards 2009 take place on Thursday April 23rd at The Brewery, Chiswell Street, London.