The time has come once again when the industry gathers to talk all things game development. Along with that, for the third year, is the Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile, the premiere venue that celebrates creativity and innovation on handheld platforms, has opened submissions for its third annual festival, with the overall winner awarded at the IGF Awards Ceremony, which precedes the Game Developers Choice Awards on March 11th, 2010. Both the IGF Awards Ceremony and the Game Developers Choice Awards are part of the 2010 Game Developers Conference (GDC10), which takes place in San Francisco’s Moscone Center in March.

Now in its third year, IGF Mobile has blossomed into a major showcase of the handheld form. Last year’s IGF Mobile ’Next Great Mobile Game’ winner Reflection has been signed by Konami for Nintendo DSi, and Apple’s App Store created a special Store section just to highlight the IGF-nominated iPhone games from 2009’s IGF Mobile competition.

This year’s competition will again feature independently-developed handheld games for all mobile devices including Apple’s iPhone, other cellphone and smartphone OSes, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, and other handheld devices. IGF Mobile submissions are now being accepted at http://www.igfmobile.com/ through December 1, 2009; finalists will be announced in January 2010, and will each receive one pass to attend the 2010 Game Developers Conference.

Finalists will compete for $5,000 in prizes, including notable awards for design, art, and technology innovation in mobile game development. This year, winners in each category –with the exception of ’Best Game’, will be announced before the show, on February 8th, 2010. Each category winner will receive $500 in spending money to come to the 2010 Game Developers Conference in March 2010 and showcase their mobile game.

The five category winners will exhibit their games in a special area of the main IGF Pavilion, the winners will then compete for the coveted IGF Mobile Best Game award, worth $2,500. The prize is presented on stage during the main Independent Games Festival Awards, preceding the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony on March 11th, 2010. In addition, the winners in each category can take part in an IGF Mobile Finalist Showcase at GDC10, a session during which the five IGF Mobile main prize finalists will present their mobile games to the audience.

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent developers working on mobile platforms, including game development for cell phones, iPhone, PSP, DS, and other handheld devices. The important dates for IGF Mobile in 2009-2010 are as follows:

September 28th, 2009 Submissions Open

December 1st, 2009 Submission Deadline

January 22nd, 2010 IGF Mobile Finalists Announced

February 8th, 2010 Category Winners Pre-Announced

March 9-13th, 2010 Game Developer’s Conference 2010

March 11th, 2010 IGF Awards Ceremony

For a complete list of IGF Mobile 2010 information, please visit http://www.igfmobile.com/