From this Spring we have been lucky enough to become an official part of the organisational team of Gamecity, the international festival of videogame design and culture. The festival has been running for 4 years now, and this year proves to be the biggest yet. I have been working closely with Geri McCabe, James Newman, Margaret Robertson and Iain Simons this year in the design and development of a showstopping programme of invited speakers, public events and other curiosities. You can follow the action over at http://www.gamecity.org, and if you want to get hold of me in particular in relation to any of this year’s events, just drop me a line at david@gamecity.org.
Oh, and if you didn’t know already, Parappa the Rapper designer Masaya Matsuura is headlining our event this year…
FAQ
When is GameCity happening?
The dates for 2009 are 27-31 October. We’re currently just emerging from pre-production scoping of what we can do this year. Suffice to say, things are looking good.
How do I get involved?
There are lots of ways you can do this, some of which you might be better thinking of than us. Here’s the obvious ways though…. If you’re a Developer, we’d LOVE you to come and talk about your work. The starting point for GameCity is that videogames are interesting, compelling and valuable things – if you agree and would like to think of interesting, compelling, entertaining and valuable ways to explore them – then get in touch immediately.
If you’re a publisher, we’d REALLY LOVE you to give the public the chance to play your stuff. Tens of Thousands of people are going to be visiting GameCity and we want to make sure they have the best possible experience. In particular, we’re committed to finding new and brilliant ways to give people access to videogames. If you’re interested in helping us think up ways to get everyone excited – get in touch NOW!
If you’re a student, perhaps you’d like to WORK on the festival? This year is going to be bigger than ever and we’re going to need lots of help. INTERNSHIPS will also be available in a number of areas and will be announced soon.
Also – maybe you’re ‘just’ someone who’s interested in games and has something to say about them? This year we’re going to be opening the show out to accommodate a much wider programme. If you know what GameCity is missing, then LET US KNOW!
How do I find out more about the festival?
The history of the festival is going to be here very soon. In the meantime, the flickr pool is a good place to start.
Who runs GameCity?
A very small team of dedicated, charismatic and attractive people. GameCity is a project of Nottingham Trent University, based within the newly established Centre for Contemporary Play. You might have heard of another one of our projects, the National Videogame Archive.