News
GameCityPrize 2012 kicks off with BFI London debate
May 9th, in the year of our Lord 2012: It’s a question that has
been often asked - but later this month a panel will finally and
conclusively decide “What’s the point of videogames?”
“What’s the point of videogames?” is an industry-facing event
taking place at 6:30pm (for a 7:00pm start) at the BFI
Southbank, London, on Wednesday 16th May 2012
Chaired by Lord David Puttnam, the panel will comprise comedian
and author Charlie Higson, industry luminary Ian Livingstone
OBE, Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway, broadcaster and
former director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Ekow
Eshun, and Helen Lewis-Hasteley of the New Statesman.
Following the debate, Nottingham GameCity festival director Iain
Simons will unveil the jury for GameCityPrize 2012 – as the
deliberations about this prestigious and unique award gets
underway for a second year.
The GameCity Prize is an award of international importance; one
that’s contemporary, esteemed and provocative - creating an
annual benchmark for one of the most significant cultural forms
of our age and providing a mainstream entry point into videogame
culture. It’s the Turner / Booker / Mercury Prize of the
videogame world that sparks conversations about which game
should have won, and ignites a broader, ongoing conversation
about the role that gaming plays in 21st century culture.
There is no videogame award like it, and on 16th May 2012,
attendees to the event will glimpse the start of this year’s
extraordinary journey.
“What’s the point of videogames is about exploring why – if? -
it's valuable for videogames to take part in the broader
cultural conversation, and what they have to add to it,” says
Iain Simons, Festival director of GameCity at Nottingham Trent
University.
“There has never been a panel discussing videogames quite like
it – which is the point. The debate will underline the point of
the GameCityPrize, which is about pushing games into more mature
mainstream cultural acceptance.”
Will they actually be able to answer the question? Will there be
adaquate representation of all sides of the debate? Will
Video Game Lies