INTERNATIONAL GAMES STUDENTS WELCOMED TO DUNDEE
YOU ARE INVITED TO SEND A PHOTOGRAPHER/JOURNALIST/CAMERA CREW TO THE CITY CHAMBERS, CITY SQUARE, DUNDEE, AT 11:00 HRS, ON TUESDAY 21ST JUNE 2005
International students from across Asia, who have travelled to Scotland for the prestigious games competition, Dare to be Digital, will be officially welcomed to Dundee this morning (Tuesday 21st June) by the city's Lord Provost.
The eight students, who will meet with the Lord Provost, John Letford, at the Dundee City Chambers, represent seven countries which are taking part in the Dare competition for the first time - from Singapore, Soh Yu Ming, from Hong Kong, Brian Hui, from Tawain, Chien-lin Tang, from Malaysia, Khor Eng Chien, Malaysia, from Thailand, Pitpong Guntawong, from India, Anirudh Roy Popli, while both Kai Chen and Jianye Ye both represent China.
Kicking off last week, Dare to be Digital is a competition open to students from Universities and Art Colleges and is based at the University of Abertay Dundee, which runs the competition in partnership with Scottish Enterprise Tayside and Dundee City Council.
The eight scholarship places were awarded to the talented programming and computer art graduates with support and funding from the Scottish Executive as part of its "Fresh Talent" initiative which enabled Dare to go global for 2005.
"It is a pleasure to welcome these students to Dundee for the Dare to be Digital competition," said Lord Provost, John Letford. "I am sure they will be warmly welcomed into their teams and will make an excellent contribution to this pioneering electronic entertainment event.
"I am pleased that Dundee's reputation as a centre of computer games excellence is spreading so far and wide. We have a tremendous amount of expertise based in the city and the Dare to be Digital competition is an exciting way to encourage and develop new talent."
The international students will each join one of the eight teams taking part in the competition, which were chosen from a series of interviews that took place across the UK and Ireland. A record number of students entered Dare to be Digital 2005, with 39 teams prepared to fight it out in a games competition hailed by industry bible, Develop, as "the closest you can get to commercial game development."
Teams to make it through to Dare 2005 submitted a concept for a new and original computer game or educational entertainment product. Judges were not only looking for the most creative ideas, but those that fulfilled the greatest market potential. Receiving help from industry specialists and a project fee of £1700, the teams will have just over two months to present a finished digital prototype and business sales document which can be pitched to investors.
The eight teams - which will work from Dundee and have access to the cutting edge facilities at Abertay University - will be paid on a weekly basis and supported by experienced industry specialists, who will offer technical, creative and business advice, mentors who are inaccessible to any student outside the Dare project.
New sponsors on board for 2005 include Electronic Arts and Develop - the international trade publication for creators of interactive entertainment software. With its growing reputation for producing some of the most promising talent entering the games sector, the competition continues to receive invaluable support from, Microsoft, NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), BBC Scotland Interactive and NCR.
The competition started on June 13th and continues until August 19th 2005
Stephanie Robertson
T: 01333 451 122
M: 07919 447 231