The second-annual Independent Games Festival Mobile (IGF Mobile), a sister event to the main IGF competition, took place yesterday at GDC 2009. The event showcased independently developed handheld games for virtually all mobile devices, including cell phones, Apple's iPhone, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and Windows Mobile devices. IGF Mobile, designed to celebrate innovation in games for handheld devices, has named the finalists for the competition's "Next Great Mobile Game" category, presented by IGF Mobile's Platinum and Founding Sponsor Nvidia.
The annual event recognizes entries that offer unique and groundbreaking mobile gaming concepts in at least prototype form. The finalists gave a presentation and demonstration of their concept and game during the IGF Mobile ceremony held last night during GDC. The audience voted and a winner was selected. (Find out the result at www.cgw.com or www.igfmobile.com.)
The finalists for the 2009 IGF Mobile "Next Great Mobile Game" competition are:
Depict (VillaVanilla) – iPhone
FastFoot Challenge (Urban Team) – J2ME
Picopoke (Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab) – Photo/Internet-capable Mobile Handsets
Rhythm of War (SME Dynamic Systems Ltd) – Sony PSP
Reflection (Team Reflection – University of Southern California) – Nintendo DS
As well as receiving $2000 of the IGF Mobile's $30,000 prize pool, the winner of the IGF Mobile's "Next Great Mobile Game" earns a spot in the IGF Mobile's pavilion (adjoining the main IGF Pavilion) in which to demonstrate a playable version of their game, alongside the finalists of the main IGF Mobile competition.