UK award success for Sony

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe was the big winner in this year's Develop Industry Excellence Awards, which took place last night at the Hilton Metropole in Brighton on the UK's south coast. It took home three awards, whilst other notable winners included Bizarre Creations and Criterion.

The event was attended by around 400 members of the UK and European development community, and more than 60 companies were nominated in four main categories for a total of 18 awards.

SCEE won the Publishing Hero award for its achievements throughout the past year, as well as two awards for Buzz! The Music Quiz--the first for New Console IP (intellectual property), and the second for Innovation in the Buzz! controllers.

Liverpool-based Bizarre Creations won two awards for their work on the Xbox 360--the Best Use of Online, which related to Geometry Wars 2 on Xbox Live Arcade, and the night's biggest accolade, the Grand Prix award for Project Gotham Racing 3.

Another UK studio, Criterion, also scooped two gongs in the ceremony. Best Art/Sound was awarded jointly for arcade racer Burnout Revenge and sumptuous shooter Black, and it took the Best In-House Development Team accolade as well.

In the Studio Category, BigBig won Best New UK/European Studio, Rebellion was named Most Improved Studio, and Gameloft won the Mobile Studio award. Rockstar Leeds took the Best Handheld Studio title, thanks in large part to the success of Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories on the PlayStation Portable.

More information on the awards can be found on the Develop Conference Web site.