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Game Connection Europe 2012 Winners Announced | PSNStores

Game Connection Europe 2012 Winners Announced

Posted by on December 8th, 2011 | 1 Comment | Tags:

If you didn’t know about the 2012 Game Connection Europe, I totally forgive you. It seems to have slipped under a great many radars, even though the event itself was seemingly supported by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, who provided the prizes for the winners. There were 4 big winners overall, so I’m going to provide you all with a little run down of who they were and what they won. I’m going to try and talk to them all over the coming months too, so watch this space.

Anyway, on with the winners. The Ultimate Prize for “Best Project 2012 was given to Mimimi Productions, a Munich based development studio started by a team of students in 2008. They won the award for their project Tink. In winning the award, they’re set to receive “valuable hardware and development support from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, including PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita development kits, alongside the significant extra visibility the award will bring”. I really recommend you watch the trailer for Tink, it looks pretty good, even in this early state.

 

There were two runners up, with those teams being invited by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to their London offices for a training day, which involves technical support, QA and PlayStation Network business. The two games were Orc Attack from Casual Brothers, and Walter from Blossom Minds. A visit to Blossom Minds’ web site reveals a company logo and a press release announcing their existence, but Casual Brothers have a couple of videos for Orc Attack on their YouTube page, so here’s a video of that.

 

In addition to these two main prizes, the special Sony Computer Entertainment Europe award was handed out to Facepalm Games for The Swapper. Their prize is hardware and development support, along with pre-certification support. All in all, it’s a pretty sweet deal for a new developer. The game itself seems pretty nifty, with the developer describing the title as “a story about treating human beings as objects. It features interesting puzzles and multiplayer based around never-before-seen game mechanics blended with an ambiguous storyline embedded directly into and told throughout the game.” So, that’s a slightly vague description, but the game itself looks pretty interesting.

 

So, there you have it. I’ll try and get in contact with each of these developers and find out their thoughts on the awards and the visibility they’re going to bring to them. Here’s the Press Release in full, in case I missed anything. Check out the trailers, and tell me what you think in the comments!

 

WINNERS OF SELECTED PROJECTS 2012 UNVEILED AT GAME CONNECTION EUROPE
Best unsigned game projects awarded by industry leaders including Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Paris, 7th December 2011 – After passionate presentations from the 15 hopefuls and much careful deliberation by the panel of industry experts, it’s with great pleasure that Game Connection can now unveil the final winners of Selected Projects 2012. The awards were presented today at Game Connection Europe, currently underway in Paris, France.
The ultimate prize of ‘Best Project 2012’ was awarded to  Mimimi Productions for their project Tink. The winners will receive valuable hardware and development support from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, including PlayStation®3 or PlayStation®Vita development kits, alongside the significant extra visibility the award will bring.
The two runners up are  Casual Brothers with Orc Attack and Blossom Minds with Walter. Both teams will be invited by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to their London offices for a training day (technical support, QA and PlayStation®Network business).
The special Sony Computer Entertainment Europe award was presented to  Facepalm Games for their project The Swapper.  As their prize, Facepalm Games will receive hardware and development support, plus pre-certification support.
“The standard of this year’s entries for Selected Projects has been phenomenal.  We’ve seen many brilliant ideas which prove beyond a doubt that innovation is alive and well in video games,” said Pierre Carde, creator of Game Connection. “I would like to extend my personal thanks to Sony Computer Entertainment and the entire panel of judges who have given their time and expertise so willingly in support of the initiative. Lastly of course, my congratulations go to the very deserving winners. I can’t wait to see their inspiring projects come to fruition.”
‘Selected Projects 2012’ supporting new talent
 
Each year at Game Connection Europe, over 250 individual game projects are presented to key global publishing and distribution decision makers. Prior to the 2010 launch of the ‘Selected Projects’ initiative, Game Connection ran the ‘Level Up’ program, and has clocked up ten years of supporting innovative emerging businesses.  Success stories to date have included Playdead and Bulkypix.
The ‘Selected Projects’ initiative gives developers an opportunity to lift their project above the crowd, be seen by the right people, and increase their chances of making the most valuable connections in an increasingly complex and competitive games market.
For more details on each of the 15 titles and to decide which you think deserves to win the ultimate title of ‘Best Project 2012’, visithttp://bit.ly/twcQ4E