Over 500 executives from the game development inustry gathered two days ago at Develop Magazine’s "Industry Excellence Awards" to honour the visionaries behind the year’s best games.

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.

Whilst the winners and the finalists will undoubtedly grab the headlines, everyone involved in games development should be applauded for continuing to broaden the market and those playing our games.

Here’s to another fantastic 12 months.

The winners in full:

New Console IP
MotorStorm (Evolution/SCEE External Development)

New Handheld IP
Crush (Zoe Mode)

Best Use of a Licence
Lego Star Wars II (Traveller's Tales)

Visual Arts
Rare (Viva Pinata)

Audio Accomplishment
FreeStyle (B-Boy)

Publishing Hero
Sega

Innovation
Real Time Worlds (Crackdown)

Tools Provider
Havok

Best Use of Online
Eden Studios (Test Drive Unlimited)

Services&Outsourcing
Babel Media

Recruitment Company
Datascope

New UK Studio
Realtime Worlds

Handheld Studio
Rockstar Leeds

Business Development
Blitz

Independent Developer
Traveller's Tales

In-house Developer
Ubisoft France

Development Legend
Ian Hetherington

Grand Prix
Sony

The Develop Industry Excellence Awards were designed to seek excellence in every facet of the UK and European development business, from new start-up studios to multi-team in-house developers, as well as tools providers, service providers and publishers.

Judged in secret by a jury of almost 100 independent industry experts they single out those companies who keep this part of the globe at the very forefront of game development.