GameCity5

Nottingham, 19/10/10 – GameCity, the world’s best-loved videogames festival, today announced the details of this year’s Vision Statement, to be delivered by Iain Simons. The Vision Statement, An Inconvenient Festival, will take place in the Council House Ballroom, from 12-2pm on Saturday 30 ^th. The Vision Statement is part of GameCity5, taking place throughout Nottingham from October 26-30 ^th.

Masaya Matsuura. Alexey Pajitnov. Lorne Lanning. Alex Evans. Keita Takahashi. This year, circumstance has forced Iain Simons, GameCity’s co-founder and Director, to join these esteemed names as he delivers this year’s Vision Statement, a chance to take stock and address a variety of issues within the games industry.

Over the last five years, GameCity has sought to marry the public interest with that of the videogame industry’s, working to better understand their continued interaction and occasional friction.

Answering the burning questions of today before they become the casual musings of tomorrow, Simons will deliver a unique insight into the games industry as a man operating at its edge, yet often privy to its inner workings. 

GameCity Director Iain Simons said, “It’s both an honour and a terrible, terrible burden to be delivering the vision statement this year. Quite honestly, I’d rather it was someone else, but none of them were available. That said, five years does seem like a good time to take a pause and reflect.”

Covering an expansive list of topics with a wealth of knowledge, the talk of the day will range from the topical, “Why does everybody hate videogames?” to the more personal, “Why couldn’t we call this a videogame festival at first?” and everything in between.

The Vision Statement is just one part of GameCity5, taking place throughout Nottingham, from October 26-30 ^th. The Vision Statement is free and open to anyone. To book a space at this limited capacity event, please go to my.gamecity.org to confirm your attendance.

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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