IGN.com announces its best of GamesCom awards

IGN.com staff pick the best from the world’s biggest games show
London, UK – 4th September 2009 – IGN.com, the UK’s leading videogame and film editorial website, today revealed its hotlist of games to watch from the recent GamesCom exhibition in Cologne, the world’s largest games show. As well as awards for the best games on each format and an overall game of the show, the categories also included nods to best publisher and best developer based on their showing at the August show, as well as a fiercely contested reader award voted for by members of the playing public at the show.

BioWare and EA’s Mass Effect 2, described by the team as, “a beautiful universe that we absolutely cannot wait to explore,” walked away with both the Best of Xbox 360 award and Overall Best Game of the Show. The Best of PlayStation 3 gong was handed to Sony Computer Entertainment’s own Heavy Rain. Developer Quantic Dreams’ thriller was praised as, “a game that touches on a truly personal level thanks to its relentless attention to detail.”

The winner of the Best of Wii award was Konami’s Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Of the latest in the celebrated horror series, IGN commented, “If the final game delivers half as much as developer Climax is suggesting, Shattered Memories has the potential to completely redefine the stagnant genre.” PC gamers were advised to keep an eye out for, “a game that offers an unparalleled sense of time and place,” when IGN.com awarded 2K Czech’s Mafia II with the Best of PC award.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks was in IGN.com’s view the most impressive title for DS as it promises more of, “the same mix of exploration and adventure that’s made Link one of videogaming’s most enduring icons, and it’s another feather in the DS’s distinguished cap.” Sony Cambridge was singled out for praise, as its handheld conversion of Little Big Planet became the winner of the Best of PSP award. The team felt the conversion would navigate the transition to handheld successfully by incorporating, “a stronger emphasis on imaginative level design and solo challenges.”

Gamescom ’09 will be remembered for numerous surprises, including the first showing of the PS3 Slim, Final Fantasy XIV and Gran Turismo 5, but it was the debut showing of Lionhead and Microsoft Studio’s Fable III which stuck most in the judges’ minds for the Biggest Surprise award. “Talk of a more ambitious, tactile experience should ensure that, when it comes to Fable III, there’re going to be a fair few more surprises in store,” commented IGN.com.

After recognising Mafia II as the most impressive PC game on show, developer 2K Czech was again rewarded, this time with the Best Developer award. In a similar vein, Sony Computer Entertainment was handed the Best Publisher award after a strong showing of the aforementioned Heavy Rain and Little Big Planet PSP as well as Gran Turismo 5, EyePet and Uncharted 2 amongst others.

The highly popular IGN.com Reader Award was eventually won by EA Sport’s FIFA 10. Visitors to Gamescom were encouraged to vote for the best game they had played at the show and a running total of the votes cast was displayed on the IGN.com stand with a number of leading titles exchanging the top place throughout the event.

The 2009 Best of Gamescom awards are the first of the new annual awards series to be repeated every year at the Cologne show. Alex Simmons, UK Editor-in-Chief of IGN.com, said, “We are going to work hard to make these the must-have awards for every Gamescom. The event provides a spectacular backdrop for publishers to showcase their titles and these awards will salute those titles that shine out ahead of the field. They’re designed to both help players in the halls find the very best games on display, but more importantly, they’ll help non attendees around the world see who is leading the field in the crucial run up to Christmas.”

The complete list of winners and nominees are as follows:

Best of Xbox 360:
WINNER – Mass Effect 2
Assassin’s Creed 2
Forza Motorsport 3
Halo 3 ODST
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Best of PlayStation 3:
WINNER – Heavy Rain
DJ Hero
God of War III
Gran Turismo 5
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Best of Wii:
WINNER – Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Dead Space: Extraction
Monster Hunter Tri
Red Steel 2
New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Best of PC:
WINNER – Mafia II
APB
Brink
Starcraft II
Star Wars: The Old Republic

Best of DS:
WINNER – The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
C.O.P. The Recruit
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story
Scribblenauts

Best of PSP:
WINNER – Little Big Planet
Dissidia Final Fantasy
Gran Turismo
MotorStorm Arctic Edge
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe

Biggest Surprise:
WINNER – Fable III officially unveiled
Final Fantasy XIV public appearance
Gran Turismo 5 playable on show floor
PS3 Slim and price cut official
PSP Minis revealed in full

Best Developer:
WINNER – 2K Czech
Blizzard Entertainment
FreeStyleGames
Realtime Worlds
Splash Damage

Best Publisher:
WINNER – Sony Computer Entertainment
Activision Blizzard
Microsoft
Square Enix
Ubisoft

Best Game of the Show:
WINNER – Mass Effect 2