Nominees For 9th International Mobile Gaming Awards Announced

The nominees for the 9th Annual International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) have just been announced. In total, 57 mobile games are nominated in six different categories, which have changed from last year. The nominees for Excellence in Innovation, which recognizes "games that utilize technology or gameplay in new and exciting ways," are:

Bad Piggies (Rovio Entertainment Ltd)

The Grading Game (mode of expression, LLC)

Knights of Pen & Paper (Behold Studios Jogos Eletronicos LTDA ME)

Zumbie (Jonatan Van Hove)

Arranger (Ayopa Games LLC)

Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo)

TAISO (Zacozaco)

The Room (Fireproof Games)

Spaceteam (Henry Smith)

Zombies, Run! (Six to Start)

The nominees for Excellence in Visuals, which recognizes "games that went above and beyond in the graphics department," are:

Sky Gamblers: Storm Raiders (Atypical Games) ARC Squadron (Psyonix)

Ravensword: Shadowlands (Crescent Moon Games) The Act (Chillingo Ltd)

Anomaly Korea (Chillingo Ltd)

Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Inc)

Lili (BitMonster, Inc)

The Room (Fireproof Games)

Horn (Phosphor Games)
Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)

As for Excellence in Gameplay, which celebrates "games whose core game mechanics kept us coming back for more and didn’t allow us to put the game down," the nominees are:

Spell Sword (Everplay)

Puzzle Craft (Chillingo Ltd)

Anomaly Korea (Chillingo Ltd)

Triple Town (Spry Fox, LLC)

Waking Mars (Tiger Style)

Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo)

Devil's Attorney (1337 Game Design AB)

Rayman Jungle Run (Ubisoft)

Angry Birds Star Wars (Rovio Entertainment Ltd)
Fairway Solitaire by Big Fish (Big Fish Games, Inc)

Acknowledged for Excellence in Storytelling, for their respective "stories that pulled us in beyond the gameplay itself," are:

Bastion (Warner Bros)

Hollywood Monsters (Bulkypix and Pendulo Studios)
GHOST TRICK: Phantom Detective (Capcom)

The Act (Chillingo Ltd)

Waking Mars (Tiger Style)

The Room (Fireproof Games)

Yesterday (Bulkypix)

Zombies, Run! (Six to Start)

Devil’s Attorney (1337 Game Design AB)

Walking Dead: The Game (Telltale Inc)

And for Best Social Game, which recognizes games that "we keep playing with our friends or through social networks," the nominees are:

Candy Crush Saga (King.com)

Quizboard (Planeto AB)

Happy Street (Godzilab)

Hero Academy (Robot Entertainment)

Clash of Clans (Supercell)

Letterpress - Word Game (atebits)

YOU DON’T KNOW JACK (Jellyvision Games, Inc)

Outwitters (One Man Left)

SongPop (FreshPlanet Inc)

Draw Something (OMGPOP)

Finally, for Best Serious Game, which celebrates "titles where a game was used to bring attention to a specific topic or brought gaming mechanics to an activity or learning process," the following are nominated:

Loop Raccord (Plural Games)

The Grading Game (mode of expression, LLC)

In a Permanent Save State (Mr Benjamin Poynter)

Equator (Tigerface games)

Zombies, Run! (Six to Start)

Battle of the Bulge (Shenandoah Studio)

DragonBox+ (WeWantToKnow AS)

That's quite an impressive collection of nominees right there, if I do say so myself. I'm especially delighted to see some of my favorites among the nominees, including The Act, Beat Sneak Bandit, and Letterpress. Aside from the awards in these six categories, the People's Choice award will also be given. As its name suggests, the People's Choice award will be determined through public voting, which is now open on the IMGA website. The winners, which will be awarded during the IMGA ceremony, will receive over 1 million euros worth of free television advertising across German. This is courtesy of ProSiebenSat.1 Games and its media partners. Since 2004, the IMGA ceremony had been held at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. But this year's IMGA will cross the Atlantic to be held instead in San Francisco on Mar. 28. Which games are you rooting for?