SHORTLIST FOR ‘GAME OF THE NORTH’ AT BIG CHIP AWARDS ANNOUNCED

Two North West companies have been shortlisted for the Game of the North Award at this year’s Big Chip Awards  – with one seeing two of its games in the running.

Connect2Media, based in Manchester city centre has been shortlisted by a special panel of judges for  “Go! Go! Rescue Squad!”  and “Guitar Hero Backstage Pass”.

Evolution Studios, from Runcorn, Cheshire, is the other agency shortlisted for its “MotorStorm: Pacific Rift” game.

The Game of the North Award celebrates the fact that some of the best games work in the UK is done in the North of England and entries were welcomed from anywhere in the North of England.

The games were handpicked by the panel of judges, including Ian Livingston OBE, founder of Games Workshop and creative director at Eidos plc. During his time as executive chairman at Eidos, Ian was instrumental in launching the Tomb Raider and Hitman video game franchises.

Enda Carey, who spearheads Northwest Vision and Media’s Games and Digital Content department and gaming expert Thayer Prime also joined the panel to select stand-alone electronic games working on any platform that demonstrated innovation, outstanding design and ‘playability’.

Go! Go! Rescue Squad available for PC, iPhone, Android, J2ME (Mobile), Blackberry and Windows Mobile, has been developed at Connect2Media’s Manchester development studio and sees the player taking on the role of a brave firefighter in order to save ‘Darwins’, the hapless inhabitants of the town. The game has a wide appeal combining compelling gameplay, original character and level design and gameplay mechanics in 64 puzzle packed levels over six themed districts.

Guitar Hero Backstage Pass, also by Connect2Media and available on J2ME and Java allows the player to promote their band, rehearse songs, and play shows. Gamers earn cash by playing through a range of venues to increase fame and it features traditional Guitar Hero® gameplay but with extra gaming features. Players can go online and get new music, download new guitars, and challenge rockers from across the world to become the ultimate rock star.

Evolution Studios’ Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, for Sony Playstation III, features off- road racing on a dangerous and unpredictable tropical island and has 8 differing vehicle classes, including the Monster Truck. There are 336 vehicles to unlock and race and 16 multi-route, multi-surface race tracks. It features four-player split screen play all in high definition.

Shaun Fensom, Chairman of Manchester Digital, the organisation behind the awards, said: “The judges had an extremely tough decision and we were grateful for the time given by this esteemed panel of experts.”

The Big Chip Awards will be announced at a glittering awards dinner on Thursday 18 June 2009 at the Palace Hotel, Manchester and will be hosted by presenter and former Celebrity Big Brother finalist Terry Christian.

It was announced last week that comedian, actor and musician Bill Bailey will be performing a short private set following his gig at the Palace Theatre in aid of SOS -the Sumatra Orangutan Society.

Tickets are still available for the event, which is being sponsored by Arts Council England, Business Link Northwest, Manchester Digital, Creative Manchester, Marketing Manchester, Melbourne, MIDAS, Montpelier, NWDA, and Orchard. For more information please contact Dara at Out There Events on 0161 214 5200 dara@outthereevents.com