GameCity5

GameCity5

Nottingham, 31/08/10 – GameCity, the World’s best-loved videogames festival, today announced several of the headline acts and events from its highly anticipated festival, GameCity5, taking place this year from October 26-30 in Nottingham. The announcements were made during the G5 Summit at GameCityNights Episode 7 at Antenna. GameCity is part of Nottingham Trent University’s Centre for Contemporary Play initiative and celebrates the wider cultural aspects of play in all its forms.

Celebrating five amazing years, each better than the last, GameCity returns with GameCity5 and a challenge to help change the world. Partnering with EA and the Primary Care Trust (PCT), GameCity will be working to help bring the Decade of Better Health initiative to attendees with the UK’s first public play of EA’s Sports Active 2.

The GameCity5 arena will be split into two sections, with the World’s best health club on one side and the other playing host to several amazing, currently secret, upcoming games in a series of lounges created to provide a relaxed setting. Over the course of the festival, a celebrated illustrator will decorate each lounge in their own unique visual style, with Keita Takahashi, Sarah McIntyre, Mark Wigan, Rex Crowle, Tom Brown and Daniel Gray lending their talents.

The following are just some of the events taking place during the World’s best-loved festival, and more will be announced in the run up.

James Hannigan in concert & conversation – World-renowned British composer James Hannigan will be performing a dazzling retrospective concert of his work for fans of all ages. Accompanied by the Pinewood choir, the event will end on a magical note with the soundtrack from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows The Game being played in a World-first exclusive.

Gamesblog Breakfast – The early bird frags the worm. Start your day the best way possible with a series of early morning discussions served with a hearty breakfast to help kick-start flagging brains into action. Hosted by the brilliant Guardian Gamesblog correspondent Keith Stuart and featuring a different super secret guest every morning, a broad range of videogames topics will be discussed over a full English. Not to be missed.

Adam Saltsman - The creator of Canabalt and Gravity Hook will defy the laws of science in a Herculean feat of endurance. Children will donate character designs and plot ideas to the intrepid games designer, who will then work for (almost) 72 hours straight to create an original game using as many of the suggestions possible, with people able to watch the creative process and play the final game.

OneNightLeft – Award winning videogame podcast OneLifeLeft, fronted by Ste Curran, Simon Byron and Anne Scantlebury, will be on hand to guide partygoers through the night into the early hours, filling the short gap between GameCity events with the very best music at one of Nottingham’s most upbeat venues.

OneLaughLeft – Not content with headlining one event, the OneLifeLeft team return to host an evening of comedy, some of it about games, most of it about life, as some of the UK’s best comedians take to the stage and split the sides of any and all GameCity-goers.

Pac Man Lyon/tea party – Celebrating 30 years of Pac Man, videogame’s most iconic single coloured character has been invited to host a day of fun with a city wide rendition of his classic game followed by an amazing tea party. Fans will get the chance to navigate the streets of Nottingham using GPS to play the World’s largest game of Pac Man, followed by an afternoon of tea and scones at a delightful venue.

Stop motion – The brilliantly talented Spite Your Face Productions are returning this year for more stop-motion antics. The team will lead another stop-motion workshop as children and parents get the opportunity to create their own movies.

LEGO – A festival favourite of grown-ups and children alike, Warner Bros. will be bringing the amazing LEGO Universe for fans to play ahead of its release, as well as more LEGO bricks than you can shake a stick of LEGO at.

Bafta keynote – A regular feature in the GameCity line up, this year’s keynote delivery is soon to be announced, but previous speakers include Parappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, Noby Noby Boy visionary and playground pioneer Keita Takahashi and Media Molecule’s Alex Evans.

This is just a small number of the dozens of events happening during the GameCity festival, which takes place from October 26-30. Featuring some of the biggest and best known names in videogames alongside a rich and diverse cast of up-and-coming independent developers, this week long celebration of gaming culture is one not to be missed.

Previous events and milestones in the GameCity festival lifecycle include Richard Jacques’ piano rendition of classic Sega tunes, Masaya Matsuura leading a kazoo orchestra, creating the World’s best LEGO rock event in Brickstock and smashing a World Record with more than 2000 zombies dancing to Thriller in Nottingham’s Market Square.

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NOTES TO EDITOR

Follow all the latest GameCity news on our website, www.gamecity.org

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*GameCityNights is a series of after-dark monthly events that brings together developers, students and players in a celebration and exploration of videogame culture - with prizes. Every month a brilliant headline speaker will be making their way to Nottingham to share their thoughts, passions and give a unique insight into their work.

GameCity is what a videogame festival should be.

The Centre for Contemporary Play is a research centre based at Nottingham Trent University which pioneers innovative thinking through new partnerships. Since 2008 it has worked with a variety of leading organisations from the commercial and public sector to deliver major research and inclusion projects. These include the ITAG conference, the GameCity videogame festival and the National Videogame Archive - a unique collaboration with the National Media Museum.

Driven by leading thinking at NTU, the Centre for Contemporary Play continues to create radical and innovative projects in the academic and public engagement space.

Gamecity’s aim is to bring together developers and the public to explore and celebrate videogames and videogames culture, with a particular focus on students. We attract the best speakers in the world, offer up-and-coming artists and developers a platform for their games and create totally unique events.

Some of GameCity’s greatest hits include a world-record breaking zombie gathering, Keita Takahashi designing a children’s playground and Masaya Matsuura, Lorne Lanning, Alexey Pajitnov and Media Molecule having headlined.

We’ve worked alongside some of the most prominent names in gaming, including; Warner Bros, TTGames, Crytek, Activision, Namco Bandai, SCEE, Xbox, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Freestyle Games, David Braben, Media Molecule, Splash Damage, Harmonix, Rare, Denki, Monumental Games, Midway, Zoe Mode, ThatGameCompany, Nana-on-Sha and lots more.

Going way beyond just playing games, GameCity offers other new ways for people to interact with videogame culture. Art exhibitions, director commentaries, playground building, live recreations of videogames, gigs, gong-shows, three World Records, arcade trails, club nights – nothing is off limits for this most radical of videogame festivals.

Don’t just take our word for it, see what others have said after working with us,

GameCity looks poised to become our industry’s ?rst Sundance. A truly unique approach for hosting a game festival that seems long overdue.

Lorne Lanning, Oddworld Inhabitants

GameCity is unique. Any games festival that can reunite industry legends, lead to a Japanese game developer designing a playground, and evoke religious sentiments in a shopping centre is doing something very right for sure.

Edge Magazine

The year’s most inventively programmed new arts festival

The Times