GameCityNights

Nottingham, 11th June, 2010 – GameCity, the World’s best-loved videogames festival, today announced Keita Takahashi will headline GameCityNights, Season 1, Episode 5. The event will take place on Friday, June 25th at Antenna in Nottingham. Doors open at 6pm, presentations start at 7:30pm. The event is strictly 18+, so ID may be required, and entry costs £3.

Providing the antithesis to the football fever epidemic currently sweeping the nation, leaving untold masses shouting at their televisions, GameCityNights will be an evening of games filled fun. Headlining the always-exciting event, Keita Takahashi has traveled around the World to talk to fans about Noby Noby Boy on the iphone, becoming a playground visionary and the life of a truly innovative games designer.

GameCity Director Iain Simons said, “He's the best friend a festival could ask for and we're really looking forward to Keita coming back again in 2010. Anyone who's ever seen one his presentations will know that the one thing you can be sure of is that you don't know what you're going to get. It's going to be a great evening."

With the evening turning excitement levels up to 11, some of the more regular features return – a cheap bar, amazing food and the right-of-passage moment for all aspiring GameCitizens, the Quiz of Doom. Awaiting the lucky winners are all manner of prizes brought from Japan by Keita himself exclusively for the quiz, as well as a bundle of goodies from the GameCity treasure chest.

Keita Takahashi said, “I look forward to playing with Norah the dog in Woodthorpe park!”

Who is Norah the dog? Has Keita really traveled more than 5000 miles to play with a pooch? Why is Noby Noby Boy on the iPhone listed under the Productivity section in the app store? Find the answers to all these questions and more on the night!

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NOTES TO EDITOR

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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, Jagex, Rare, Denki, Monumental Games, Midway, Introversion, 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 work 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