UK Gives Props to Games

Is everyone ready for the red carpet? Well you should be, as a gaming award show has been announced in England helping to propel the gaming industry to center stage. The London Games Festival sponsored by The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA), along with the London Development Agency and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). Beginning October 2 and running for a week, the event will include the London Games Summit and the Content Market. More events geared towards gamers are expected to be announced soon.

The grand finale to the week is The British Academy Video Games Awards. This show will showcase the “artistic and creative innovation within video games.” The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has raised its view of the video game industry. Now games are considered to be a “third arm” of the organization, thus equaling games with television and film in their eyes.

BAFTA chairman Duncan Kenworthy in a statement said, “Video games constitute a hugely significant, new, moving-image art form that sits alongside film and television in its power to entertain and educate, and the Academy is determined to encourage its development. The British Academy Video Games Awards are a key part of our strategy to define, articulate, and reward excellence in the sector, to the benefit of those who create games and those who play them.”