GameCity launches "Turner Prize" of industry awards

GameCity has launched a new award for videogames, the GameCity Prize, which it hopes will be the " Turner / Booker / Mercury Prize" of the industry.

"I'm bored of the debate of whether games are 'art' or not - the question isn't 'if' they're interesting, but 'how' and 'why'," explained GameCity director Iain Simons.

"The GameCity Prize is about videogames gaining cultural confidence and expressing their value in something other than financial terms. If games are worth almost £3 billion a year in the UK - then surely they're worth thinking about too."

Portal 2, Limbo and Minecraft are among the finalists that will be judged by a panel made up of specialists from fields out the industry. Writer and comedian Charlie Higson, Tom Watson MP, Blur's Dave Rowntree and actress Frances Barber are all part of the jury.

"I'm not a huge video game player - yet - but as an artist I'm very interested in all forms of cultural expression," said Barber.

"I'm thrilled to have this opportunity in the GameCity Prize to discover what the World of videogames might hold for me, what kind of worlds, characters and emotions they can create. I can't wait to start playing."

The GameCity Prize award ceremony will take place on October 29 in Nottingham, the final day of the GameCity Festival.