Nintendo Claims Victory at MCV Awards

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The fifth annual MCV Industry Excellence Awards took place last night in central London, as over 600 top executives from the computer and video games industry attended a lavish ceremony.

Hosted by broadcaster Iain Lee, and followed with a performance by comedian Al Murray, the Awards celebrated the business’s finest achievements across three key areas: Retail, People & Industry and Marketing, in the period from March 3rd 2006 to March 2nd 2007.

Nintendo scooped three individual Awards and one joint accolade, making it the clear winner on the night.

Other highlights included Activision’s Guitar Hero as New Games Brand, GAME as Specialist Retailer and Blizzard Entertainment as Unsung Hero. Travellers Tales were crowned best UK Development Team, whilst Gears of War (Microsoft) was judged to be the industry’s best marketing campaign.

The MCV Industry Excellence Awards are voted for by a panel of 90 industry judges, making them a real reflection of what the business regards as the finest example of its work.

In addition a special Grand Prix Award was bestowed on the company felt by MCV to have contributed the most to the business over the previous 12 months.

This was awarded to Nintendo in recognition of its trailblazing 12 months, completing a triumphant night for the innovative publisher and hardware manufacturer.

“The MCV Industry Excellence Awards continue to go from strength to strength, cementing their position as the business’s most valued accolades,” says Stuart Dinsey, managing director of Intent Media, publisher of MCV. “It was a hotly-contested year, with the industry continuing to grow, prosper and innovate – so this year’s winners should be thrilled to triumph in such a competitive year. Our congratulations go out to those that picked up MCV Industry Excellence Awards, along with all the finalists who contributed so much to the business over the past 12 months.”

The event is sponsored by Microsoft Xbox360, Nintendo, NVidia, IGA, System 3, Sennheiser, Gem and Kiss FM, Disney Interactive Studios, Gamer.tv Creative and Mice Domino.

MCV Industry Excellence Awards 2007 Winners in full:

RETAIL
Independent Retailer
Winner: e-Play
Finalists: Chips, Grainger Games, Playtime Multimedia, Ninja Games

Entertainment Retailer
Winner: HMV
Finalists: Woolworths, Virgin, Asda, Tesco

Specialist Games Retailer
Winner: GAME
Finalists: Chips, Gamestation, Gamestop, CEX

Online Retailer
Winner: Play
Finalists: Amazon, GAME, Gameseek, Shopto.com

Star Store (in association with field marketing agency Channel Advantage, commissioned by MCV)
Winner: Gamestation (Birmingham New Street)
Finalists: Playtime Multimedia (Doncaster), Chips (Orpington), GAME (Braehead, Glasgow), HMV (Oxford Street, London)

Special Recognition Award (voted for by the MCV Retail Advisory Board)
Margaret Pearson – Centersoft

PEOPLE & INDUSTRY
UK Development Team
Winner: Travellers Tales
Finalists: Real Time Worlds, Evolution Studios, Rare, Rockstar Leeds

Distribution Team
Winner: Koch/Nindie
Finalists: Gem, Centresoft, Just, EUK

Unsung Hero
Winner: Blizzard Entertainment
Finalists: Capcom, Square Enix, Mastertronic/Blast, Koch/Nindie.com

Sales Team
Winner: THQ
Finalists: Nintendo/Koch, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Microsoft/Gem

Games Publisher
Winner: Nintendo
Finalists: Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Sega, THQ

PR & MARKETING
PR Team
Winner: Nintendo/Cake
Finalists: Microsoft/Red/Edelman, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts/Shine Communications, Sega/Kazoo

New Games Brand
Winner: Guitar Hero (Activision)
Finalists: Brain Training (Nintendo), Gears of War (Microsoft), Just Cause (Eidos), Dead Rising (Capcom)

Trade Marketing Team
Winner: Ubisoft
Finalists: Sony Computer Entertainment, Vivendi Universal Games, Nintendo,
Sega

Marketing Team
Winner: Nintendo
Finalists: Microsoft, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, THQ

Game Campaign
Winner: Gears of War (Microsoft)
Finalists: Wii Sports (Nintendo), Brain Training (Nintendo), FIFA 07 (Electronic Arts), Pro Evo 6 (Konami)

Grand Prix Award
Nintendo