Oxfordshire, 28th September - GameShadow announces the first GameShadow Innovation in Games Awards. Fed up with ‘me too’ awards that reward marketing spend or those that just exist as industry-backslapping exercises, the team at GameShadow has put together a new awards initiative, based online, that focuses on the one thing that makes the games industry great: Innovation.

The mission of the GameShadow Innovation in Games Awards is to promote fun, innovative gameplay whether from games that are firmly in the public eye or those that have previously gone unnoticed, and to reward the respective developers - whether they are global publishers like Sony, Nintendo and Take 2, or small development teams crafting creative gems like Stickman Madness, N or Darwinia. There are 11 categories in total and include Best Script, Best Machinima Movie and Jaw Dropping Demo.

The composition of the judging panel reflects the high ambitions of the Awards. Experts have been drawn from all areas of the media industry, not just games, and include film director Neil Marshall, who wrote and directed Dog Soldiers and The Descent, artist Greg Staples, who has drawn iconic characters such as Batman and Judge Dredd, and journalist and scriptwriter Rhianna Pratchett.

More than 50 different titles have been nominated, of which a quarter are completely free. The judges are currently considering the nominees to determine the winner in each category. One category, the ATI CrossFire™ People’s Choice Award, is voted for by the public. Gamers should go to www.gameshadow.com/awards to vote and for the chance to win over £1,000 of top-of-the range hardware upgrades for their PC. This is where the public can finally decide once and for all whether Samorost, the Space Gnome, can beat Kratos, God of War, and all the other characters and games recognised by the Awards.

Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of casual games developer nDreams and former creative director of Eidos, said, “At E3 this year in-between the repetitive sequels and me-too titles, there were a handful of real gems. The awards team has undertaken a mammoth task to separate the wheat from the chaff, and identify all these games that will hopefully remind gamers why they fell in love with games in the first place.”

Charles Cecil, Managing Director of Revolution commented, “I’m so pleased to be part of the judging panel for these awards. Innovation is the life blood of any creative industry, and I hope that we will see new games and successful development studios grow, develop and get the recognition they deserve.”

“It’s been a real labour of love for us,” added Tony Treadwell, founder and COO of GameShadow. “As avid gamers, we’re delighted to be bringing some of the most innovative games to the attention of gamers everywhere. We encourage gamers everywhere to try out these fantastic titles and get voting.”

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