DEVELOP AWARDS 2011: Kinect and Move face off

A showdown between Sony and Microsoft’s motion control technologies will take place at this year’s Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

Both Kinect and PlayStation Move have been nominated for Technical Innovation, along with five other technologies, in what is proving to be one of the most highly competitive categories of the night.

An expert panel of 100 games development execs from around the world will decide who goes home with the honour at the July 20th event.

Also nominated, and clearly with a great chance of winning, is Epic Games for its widely-applauded expansion of the Unreal Engine across mobile and tablet platforms.

Razor, Sony’s software development environment for the NGP, has also entered the fray. Kinect Sports by Rare is also nominated, along with Havok Mobile, and the AI breakthrough at Microsoft Research Cambridge for Path of Go.

All nominated technologies have been developed or co-developed in Europe, or have been an important tool for studios in the continent. Microsoft Research Cambridge helped create key technologies for Kinect, while PlayStation Move was co-built at SCEE Vision R&D, User Testing Team and its Creative Development Group.

Now in its ninth year, the Develop Awards is the only event on the games industry calendar to recognise the creative and commercial innovations made by European games developers.

The ceremony takes place on July 20th at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Brighton.

Contact Kathryn.Humphrey@intentmedia.co.uk or call 01992 535 646 to attend.

The event is sponsored by Crytek (Platinum Sponsor), Amiqus and Supermassive Games (Gold Sponsors), OPM Jobs (Table Gift Partner), Babel Media (Development Legend Award Partner) and Gamecity Hamburg (Event Partner).

Contact Alex.Boucher@intentmedia.co.uk or call 01992 535 646 for more information on sponsorship opportunities.