Independent Games Festival announces 2009 award nominees

Click me to see this year's IGF nominees.

With consoles opening their doors to digital distribution, indie gaming has exploded in recent years. One look at 2008's IGF winners shows a number of highly recognizable, widely available titles: Crayon Physics Deluxe, World of Goo, Audiosurf, and Desktop Tower Defense. Publishers are always on the lookout for the "next big thing." They'll be keeping an eye out on this year's IGF nominees.

There are many categories to compete in, but only one game can be crowned with the ultimate prize -- the Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Find out more about the candidates here.

Seumas McNally Grand Prize:

• Blueberry Garden

• Osmos

• Carneyvale Showtime

• Night Game

• Dyson

Excellence in Visual Art:

• Cletus Clay

• FEIST

• Machinarium

• PixelJunk Eden

• Zeno Clash

Excellence in Audio:

• Blueberry Garden

• BrainPipe

• Musaic Box

• PixelJunk Eden

• Retro/Grade

Excellence in Design:

• Musaic Box

• Night Game

• Osmos

• Retro/Grade

• Snapshot

Innovation Award:

• Between

• Coil

• The Graveyard

• Mightier

• You Have To Burn The Rope

Technical Excellence:

• Cortex Command

• IncrediBots

• The Maw

• Osmos

• PixelJunk Eden

Finalist games will be playable at the Game Developer Conference, and nearly $50,000 worth of prizes will be handed out. Winners will be announced on stage at the prestigious Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 25, 2009.