Rockstar and Ninja Theory Lead Develop Award Nominations

The nominees for the Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2008 have been announced, with Ninja Theory and (shockingly) Rockstar leading the way.

Rockstar North has four nominations to its name, in the categories 'Visual Arts', 'Audio Accomplishment', 'Technical Innovation' and 'Best In-house Developer'. Rockstar's newest studio down in that London, meanwhile, is up for 'Best New UK/European Studio'.

Ninja Theory, the developer behind Heavenly Sword, is up for awards in 'Best New IP', 'Visual Arts', 'Audio Accomplishment', 'Technical Innovation', and 'Best Independent Developer'.

Criterion and Frontier Development, the developers behind Burnout Paradise and the WiiWare title Lost Winds, have also been shown favour with three nominations apiece.

The awards are set to take place down in Brighton alongside the Develop Conference on July 30th. Develop tells us that they will be voted on by a panel of “100 industry experts”. In addition to the 16 awards that will be voted on by said panel, two further awards will be decided by the Develop editorial team - 'Development Legend' and an overall 'Grand Prix'.

Michael French, editor of Develop, took the opportunity to crow about the European development scene, saying, "Be it digitally-distributed games, MMOs, first-person shooters or action-adventures, there's no area of the industry that hasn’t been bolstered by Europe’s diverse sector of games development companies in the past year. We wish all of the nominees the best of luck and look forward to seeing them on what's set to be a great night."

You can see the list of nominations in full below. Let us know your favourites in the Forum.

CREATIVITY

Best New IP
Lost Winds (Frontier Developments)
Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
Crysis (Crytek)
World in Conflict (Massive)
Viking: Battle for Asgard (Creative Assembly)
Overlord (Triumph)

Best Use of a Licence
Ferrari Challenge (Eutechnyx)
The Darkness (Starbreeze)
Sega Superstar Tennis (Sumo Digital)
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars (Splash Damage)
Lego Indiana Jones (Travellers’ Tales)
Metal Gear Solid Mobile (Ideaworks3D)

Visual Arts
Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV)
Crytek (Crysis)
London Studio (SingStar PS3)
Frontier Developments (Lost Winds)
Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword)

Audio Accomplishment
London Studio (SingStar PS3)
Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword)
Sumo Digital (Sega Superstars Tennis)
Codemasters Studios (Race Driver GRID)
Criterion Games (Burnout Paradise)

Publishing Hero
Codemasters
Nintendo
Sega
LucasArts
Gamecock
1C & 505 Games

TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES

Tools Provider
Hansoft
Epic Games
Sony & SN Systems
Havok
NaturalMotion
IDV

Technical Innovation
Rockstar North/NaturalMotion/Image Metrics (Grand Theft Auto IV)
Ninja Theory/SCEE Cambridge (Heavenly Sword)
Ideaworks3D (Airplay)
SCEE R&D Team (PhyreEngine)
Geomerics (Enlighten)

Creative Outsourcing
Axis Animation
Side UK
Richard Jacques Studios
Outsource Media UK
The Audio Guys
Nimrod Productions

Services
Testronic Labs
Partnertrans UK
Babel Media
Audiomotion
U-Trax

Recruitment Company
Specialmove
Day One Search
Aardvark Swift
Amiqus
OPM

Games:Edu New Talent Award
Abertay University & Dare to be Digital
Rare
Microsoft
Blitz
University of Derby
Hull University

STUDIOS

Best New UK/European Studio
Finblade
Konami Paris
Oxygen Studios
Rockstar London
Doublesix

Best Mobile Studio
Progressive Media
Ideaworks3D
Digital Chocolate Finland/Sumea
Distinctive Developments

Business Development
Zoë Mode
Rebellion
Realtime Worlds
Team 17
NaturalMotion

Best Independent Developer
Rebellion
Jagex
CCP
Frontier
Splash Damage
Ninja Theory

Best In-house Developer
Rockstar North
Codemasters Studios
Criterion Games
Sports Interactive
London Studio
Bizarre Creations

SPECIAL INDUSTRY RECOGNITION AWARDS

Development Legend

Grand Prix

Winners for these awards to be announced on the night