IGF Audience Award

[Annette]

The Independent Games Festival Audience Award voting for this year's competition is open on GameSpot. Please go HERE to vote for one of the 19 finalists in the main competition, including our beloved Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space from Digital Eel.

The annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) celebrates the achievements of independent game developers. Similar to the film industry's Sundance Film Festival, the IGF serves as a showcase for quality games that are created without the financial backing of a major publisher. The festival is hosted by the CMP Game Group, which is also well known for its production of Game Developer magazine, Gamasutra.com, and the Game Developers Conference (GDC), all of which are great resources serving the needs of game developers worldwide...

The 2006 IGF received 118 entrants. The field has been whittled down to 19 finalists in the Main Competition category. Six awards, ranging from Innovation in Visual Arts to the Audience Award, are bestowed upon games in this category...

In collaboration with the IGF, GameSpot is hosting the voting for the 2006 Audience Award. Check out the 19 finalists in the Main Competition category, and cast your votes today!

You may vote only once for one game in the Main Competition category. In order to vote, you must be a registered member of GameSpot. If you are not already a member, please take a moment to sign up for your free membership...

Winners will be announced at the IGF Awards Show at the GDC on March 22, 2006, and on GameSpot following the awards ceremony. The GDC is March 20-24 at the San Jose Convention Center.

Please support indie game development by casting your vote today. And congratulations to Digital Eel and all 19 finalists!

[Annette]

News Release For Immediate Release


Weird Worlds' Awesome Aural Achievement!
Digital Eel Snags The IGF 2006 Innovation In Audio Award!


Hampstead, NC, 24 March 2005

On Wednesday, March 22nd, in San Jose, California, the Seventh Annual Independent
Games Festival awards were presented. Digital Eel's Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite
Space had been nominated in three categories: the Seumas McNally Grand Prize,
Innovation in Audio, and the Audience Award. Among all three categories was an
amazing array of talent and superb games.

Digital Eel snagged the Innovation in Audio award, a category they're quite familiar with
as they also won the Innovation in Audio award in 2004 for their title, Dr. Blob's
Organism. Shrapnel Games would like to congratulate Digital Eel (the fine folks of Eel
consisting of Rich Carlson, Iikka Ker�nen, and Bill "Phosphorus" Sears) on this most
excellent achievement! Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is very deserving of this
honor, and we're quite pleased to see it recognized. Be sure to catch Spike TV's weekly
gaming show, GameHead, for coverage of the IGF 2006 awards and to see the Eel on the
tube April 7th! (Check your local cable listing for time and channel.)

Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space is published by Shrapnel Games and is available
either as a download or a physical copy shipped directly to your door. If you want to find
out exactly why Weird Worlds is one of the most-talked about games of recent times
there's no better place than to start with the demo, which can be found here:

www.shrapnelgames.com/digital_eel/weird_worlds/6.htm

The demo allows players to play a full ten-year pirate mission (in the full retail game you
can choose between science, pirate, and military missions for your career, each one
pursuing different goals) on a small map. While there is much more to see in the full
game the demo is a great sampling, and a heck of a lot of fun by itself. Try it today!

Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space the full, retail game is mixture of turn-based
strategy, role-playing elements, real-time tactical battles, and lots of surprises. Captains
exploring the mysterious Sector Prime will encounter a dizzying array of aliens (both
friend, foe, and in between), artifacts, environmental mysteries, followers, swap meets,
rogues, and much, much more. Every game is different, and with the ease of modding
Weird Worlds, gamers can easily continue to experience new adventures years down the
starlane.

To order Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space please visit our e-store at:

www.gamersfront.com/xcart/

For more information on this title, or any of our other great titles covering a spectrum of
subject matter, please go to www.shrapnelgames.com. There you'll find all the latest
Shrapnel Games news, free demos, and more.

[NTJedi]

Since this Independent Games Festival Audience Award voting and event has finished... can we have this removed as a sticky... especially since it's not 'Dominions' related ?

[majama]

Right Jedi. its unnecessary topic here

[Gandalf Parker]

Not really. Not as long as people bypass the Shrapnel pages and come directly to the forum. Like many subjects, beware of what you complain about since the replacement might be worse.

[capnq]

Not as long as people bypass the Shrapnel pages and come directly to the forum.

This rationale makes no sense whatsoever. Anyone who's linking directly to the Dominions II forum, rather than navigating through the forum listings page, isn't going to care about Weird Worlds winning an award. This thread is an off-topic waste of bandwidth everywhere except the Shrapnel General, Forum Bar & Grill, and Weird Worlds forums. Spamming your own boards seems like bad form.

[Saxon]

Shrapnel is paying for the bandwidth, they are paying the bulk of the costs for developing Dom III and they are taking the risks of making great games. If they want to advertise a bit on their own forums, it is their right. That they chose to do it in a non-invasive way that the users have a choice to ignore shows a lot of class.

Those of us who are forum members, may or may not have bought a game from them, and we do not pay for using the forums. It is our privilege to be using the boards. We should occasionally remember that and act with appropriate grace.