Independent Games Festival expanding focus to include handheld titles
As the Independent Games Festival enters its thirteenth year, chairman Brandon Boyer has announced a couple of significant changes to the awards format. This year, handheld games -- including those for DS, PSP and iPhone -- will be included in the main judging and be up for the same awards as non-portable titles. A new "Best Mobile Game" category is also being added to the IGF Awards suite; the separate IGF Mobile Awards of years past has, effectively, been rolled into the main ceremony. The next IGF Awards event is scheduled for March 2, 2011.
Additionally, the field for the IGF Nuovo Award, which is given to more "abstract" entries, is being widened from five to eight titles. Finally, judging will be overhauled: 170 IGF member judges will evaluate the initial entries, recommending them for specific categories, which will then be judged by smaller, more specialized panels to determine a winner for each award.
The Independent Games Festival runs from February 28 through March 4, 2011, during GDC 2011 in San Francisco. Submissions are now being accepted.
