News
30 July 2007Videogame 'All-Stars' head North
The cream of UK videogame development will head to Gateshead next month for a conference celebrating the greatest, most creative studios in the UK industry.'Industry All-Stars', organised by North East games network Codeworks GameHorizon in association with leading industry magazine Develop, will feature a series of inspirational talks from the makers of some of the most outstanding videogames produced in the UK during 2007.
'Industry All-Stars' is GameHorizon’s last major event of 2007 and aims to end the year on a positive note, celebrating some of the best UK talent. An audience of around 100 are expected to attend the conference, which will take place at the stunning Sage Gateshead on the banks of the River Tyne on Tuesday 4th September, from 1-6pm.
The studios supplying speakers for this half-day showcase of exceptional talent were chosen from the nominees for this year's Develop Industry Excellence awards, and were singled out from this impressive list for 'pushing the boundaries of creativity' and 'showing outstanding achievement'.
The conference will be chaired by Chris Lee, commercial director of FreeStyleGames – the company behind break-dancing game B-oy, which recently picked up a Develop award for 'Audio Accomplishment' amongst other nominations.
Chris will open the event with his ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ about UK games development. Echoing his comments in a recent issue of Develop, Chris says: "Take one look at Bizarre Creations, Relentless, Climax, Blitz, Travelers Tales, RealTime Worlds, Eurocom, Free Radical, Media Molecule, Team 17, Rebellion, Ninja Theory, Sumo, Kuju (the list goes on...) and you'll see that independent development is a pretty good place to be right now.”
“In terms of independent versus in-house, and UK versus the rest of the world, we're actually punching well above our weight."
Chris will follow his opening talk on the industry with a session about his own company. He adds: "We're very fortunate at FreeStyle to be working with the most creative, fun and talented group of people I've seen in one company. I'm sure several independent studio heads would say the same thing about their teams, and I've no doubt they're right.
"The future of FreeStyle and other independent studios looks in very good shape. At GameHorizon's Industry All-Stars I'll be speaking in more detail about why the UK's games industry has so many reasons to be cheerful."
For more details on the latest All-Star line-up visit www.gamehorizon.net/allstars
Nina Cliff, business development manager at GameHorizon, says: "The UK is a great place to make games and, without exception, this year the UK's studios have turned out some truly outstanding titles and pushed the boundaries of creativity.
"For our last big conference this year we wanted to end on a high note, so chose an All-Star theme to celebrate all that is good about UK game development."
Tickets for GameHorizon Industry All-Stars cost £75 +VAT. To book your place, go to www.gamehorizon.net/allstars
Voice of the sector
“It's great to see what Codeworks has been able to achieve in terms of urban regeneration, enveloped in this environment of creativity - it really is amazing.”
Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class
- © The Centre of Excellence in Digital Technology and Media Limited 2004 - 2010. All Rights Reserved.
-
