Celebrations all round at the home of fellow Dundonian coders Real Time Worlds today. Their first exclusive title for Xbox 360 yesterday won the top award for innovation at the Develop Conference currently being held in Brighton, UK.
Designed by coding legend David Jones, creator of Lemmings, Blood Money and the original GTA - Crackdown arrived on store displays earlier this year.
Microsoft’s decision to pack-in the Halo 3 beta invitation roused suspicion that Crackdown would be a sub-par release and therefore needed the invitation to assure high sales. This turned out not to be the case, as Crackdown became one of the best games of 2007, earning high review scores in most media outlets.
Other winners on the day included the team behind Test Drive Unlimited, for their use of online modes. Rare also took away an aware for their artistic efforts in another 360 exclusive, Viva Pinata.
Michael French, Editor of Develop Magazine had this to say…
“The fact that no one company dominated the awards this year shows what a diverse range of talent this industry boasts,”…
“It’s been a brilliant year for games, with new hardware allowing developers to really stretch their imagination with new ways to play - so competition for these prestigious awards has been fiercer than ever.”
I’ll admit, I was dubious about the quality of Crackdown. But having spent most of the last couple of weeks playing jumping around - I’m delighted to see Crackdown recognised as one of the best games so far this year.
t: . I like beating the **** out of gang members and driving like a madman.
