GDC: Minecraft wins top IGF award

Minecraft took top honors at this year's Independent Games Festival awards, snagging both the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game,...

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Minecraft took top honors at this year's Independent Games Festival awards, snagging both the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, and the Audience Award selected by the community.

Other notable recipients include BIT.TRIP RUNNER for Excellence in Visual Art, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent for Excellence in Audio, Technical Excellence, and the Direct2Drive Vision Award.

"This year's record number of entrants were some of the highest quality we've yet seen in the festival" said chairman Brandon Boyer in the announcement. "Congratulations to all the winners, who continue to raise the bar for what independent games can achieve."

This is the 13th year for the IGF awards, which has previously honored indie hits like Braid and World of Goo. Check out the full list of this year's winners below:

    Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($20,000)

      Minecraft, by Mojang

    Nuovo Award ($5,000)

      Nidhogg, by Messhof

    Excellence in Visual Art ($2,500)

      BIT.TRIP RUNNER, by Gaijin Games

    Excellence in Audio ($2,500)

      Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games

    Excellence in Design ($2,500)

      Desktop Dungeons, by QCF Design

    Best Student Game ($2,500)

      FRACT, by University of Montreal

    Technical Excellence ($2,500)

      Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games

    Best Mobile Game ($2,500)

      Helsing's Fire, Ratloop

    Audience Award ($2,500)

      Minecraft, by Mojang

    Direct2Drive Vision Award ($10,000)

      Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games

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  • reply
    March 3, 2011 12:30 PM

    Comment on GDC: Minecraft wins top IGF award, by Steve Watts.

    • reply
      March 3, 2011 1:14 PM

      I remember when Seumas McNally passed away. Neat to see they named an award after him.

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      March 3, 2011 1:17 PM

      Am I the only person who has not tried Minecraft yet?

      I personally don't see what all the hubbub's about.

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        March 3, 2011 1:19 PM

        Did it occur to you that those two statements might be related?

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        March 3, 2011 1:39 PM

        I haven't tried it. From what everyone says, it's Lego's for grown ups. I haven't moved on from single player story driven games yet to give it a try.

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        March 3, 2011 1:44 PM

        Until you play it, you're really unable to make any judgment on it that doesn't make you look like a fool.

        For $13 or whatever it's down to now, you really can't go wrong and there's enough time suck whether you like the SP offerings, or if you wish to delve into the MP shenanigans.

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        March 3, 2011 1:47 PM

        Ok, Yogi Berra

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        March 3, 2011 2:17 PM

        There's just a good balance of self-reliance and freedom in the Survival mode. you have to do shit to make other shit, but it's also generally easy enough to do anything that you feel like you're always having fun. Then there are monsters to make you genuinely on edge because one or two slip ups near them and you're in trouble. If that doesn't make any sense it's because you have to play the game it's too different to sum up.

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        March 6, 2011 4:06 AM

        There are at least two or maybe even three other who haven't no need to worry. To find out what the hubbub is about, you gotta give it a run though.

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      March 3, 2011 1:48 PM

      Glad to see Minecraft get some more awards, and also thrilled to see Amnesia take some. Personally, I think they're the two best games of 2010.

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      March 3, 2011 5:07 PM

      It's cool Minecraft won something - but I feel bad for everyone else because $22.5k is nothing to Notch. That's not even enough to fuel his jetpack for a month!

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