GameCity Squared

September 23rd, 2009. Nottingham, UK. GameCity Squared and the National Videogame Archive are proud to announce a celebration of 25 years of the seminal Space-Trading videogame, Elite.

Bringing together makers, publishers, fans, players, origamists and novellists in a unique event exploring the impact and legacy of this most cherished of British videogame, My Life with Elite will be a series of events essential for anyone who cares about videogames and British Creative Industries.

We are also delighted to announce that Lord David Puttnam will be introducing the event, reflecting on the impact and influence of British creative work throughout the world over the last 25 years from his unique position.

Of course, following the producer of The Killing Fields and Chariots of Fire is no mean feat but fortunately the National Videogame Archive has a plan. Blasting off from Lave Station with just 100 credits, our mission is to guide the audience through the nooks, crannies, black holes and distant planets of Elite’s epic world. To help us out, we have contributions from ALL of the key players in the game’s creation. All live and all together for the first time.

David Braben, co-creator of Elite and chairman of Frontier Developments commented, “I look forward to meeting everyone. This should be a fantastic and fun celebration.”

"I'm very happy with how Elite turned out, even twenty five years later”, said Ian Bell co-creator of the game. “We treated the player with respect and pursued the game aesthetic rather than the commercial wisdom of the time. I'm looking forward to looking back at Elite , what it was and what it meant, at Game City 2009. See you there, Commander."

The public centre-piece of the event is a reconstruction of the 'lost origami' models - originally intended to be provided as a pack-in feature within the Commodore 64 game packaging. GameCity is ecstatic to be working with the original Origami artist, Mark Bolitho, to offer the public the chance to recreate their own Elite starship - and help in the creation of our hangar-sized Origami Universe within the GameCity event arena on Nottingham’s Old Market Square. Thousands of Cobras, Vipers and even Thargoids will be on-hand to be built and hung within the Elite Paper Universe. Exclusive, never before seen Origami plans will be being made available at GameCity.org/elite25 beginning today with ‘Escape Pod’, along with video tutorials from the artist.

The day will close with acclaimed Science-Fiction author Robert Holdstock reading from ‘The Dark Wheel’ within the Origami Universe, accompanied by the Nottingham Trent University Orchestra performing Strauss’ ‘The Blue Danube’. Holdstock commented, "I'm delighted to have been invited to attend the Elite day, and look forward to meeting quite a few people who actually made it to Elite status (I was always killed very, very quickly indeed) and to meeting Ian and David again. Here's to a fun day!"

GameCity and the National Videogame Archive invites everyone who loves videogames to contribute and attend this remarkable event, part of a series of awesome happenings at GameCity Squared this October.

GameCity runs from 27 - 31 October, 2009. www.gamecity.org

Media enquiries to: Alison Beasley,Lincoln Beasley PR.

E: alison@lincolnbeasley.co.uk M: +44 (0)7966 449130

About GameCity

GameCity is the UK's best-loved gaming event, attracting international speakers like Alexei Pajitnov, creator of Tetris and Keita Takahashi, the man behind the Katamari Damacy phenomenon, as well as exclusive game premieres, debates in Indian restaurants and amazing music events. A five-day festival which takes gaming out into the streets, shops and cinemas of Nottingham, it's about finding out what a videogame festival could be.

About Nottingham Trent University

Nottingham Trent University is lead partner and supporter of Nottingham's annual GameCity festival. Its Centre for Contemporary Play brings together inter-disciplinary projects and expertise from across the university, encouraging knowledge transfer and partnerships with the gaming industry. http://www.ntu.ac.uk/