Awards Round-up
It was a scintillating night at the London Hilton Hotel as the best talent from the games industry turned out for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards in 2009. Here's a round-up of the night's highlights...
BAFTA / James KennedyA host of stars turned up to present the Awards including genuine gaming fans - from Alex Zane and Charlie Brooker to Ralf Little, Noel Clarke and Jonathan Ross.
Host Dara O'Briain impressed guests with a 15-minute comedy set focused on gaming and this year's nominated titles.
View Red Carpet Arrivals Gallery
View Press Room Winners Gallery
Dara O'BriainBAFTA masks were presented in 15 categories.
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare from Infinity Ward/Activision picked up three Awards on the night, including Gameplay, Story & Character and the BAFTA Game of the Year Award , voted for by you, the public.
Nintendo's Super Mario Galaxy came away with the coveted Best Game Award.
BAFTA / James KennedyJonathan Ross was on hand at the end of the night to present industry legend Nolan Bushnell with the Academy's highest honour - the Fellowship. The man behind Atari's classic arcade game, Pong, received a standing ovation as he collected the Award on stage.
Find out more and send in your questions for Nolan Bushnell
We were Tweeting the winners as they were announced to our growing list of Followers on Twitter. Noel Clarke, Ralf Little and Charlie Brooker all contributed their personal thoughts.
Follow us today...
Read all comments Post your opinion
Awards Presenters Announced...
The list of presenters attending this year’s Video Games Awards has just been announced and there are some great names in the mix...
BAFTA / Richard KendalAmongst the celebrities presenting the famous BAFTA masks will be Alex Zane, Charlie Brooker, Danny Wallace and Ralf Little – all huge gaming fans.
After his stint presenting the Film Awards last month, Jonathan Ross will be joined by this year’s Orange Rising Star, Noel Clark (see picture, left).
TV presenters Konnie Huq and Kirsty Gallacher will be on hand give out masks and Barbara Follett MP will add an official flavour to proceedings (she’s the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries & Tourism).
Other names include Olympic Swimmer Mark Foster (presenting the Sports category) and Bond composer David Arnold (presenting the BAFTA for Original Score).
They’ll also be some legends from the games industry on hand to acknowledge the achievements of this year’s winners.
Make sure you join us on bafta.org for the latest updates on the winners – or follow our live updates on Twitter.
Click here to follow BAFTA...
Read all comments Post your opinion
Ringing the Changes...
We've just published the latest set of articles online from our quarterly Members' magazine, ACADEMY.
There's a great article by writer Ceri Thomas about the impact of the iPhone on the Video Games market. Here's a few highlights:
"Within the first three days that Apple’s application store was open for business, 10 million applications were downloaded. Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs described that as staggering...
"A sizeable chunk of those have been games [...] But who’s creating these games? According to Apple, just about anyone....
"Once a game is accepted onto the iPhone apps store, its quality is gauged by the ratings given by those who download it...
If you create something good, it’s going to get good ratings, and if it gets good ratings it’s going to get people buying it...
"The issue of how much it actually costs to develop a professional gaming application for the iPhone seems to be a 'how long is a piece of string?' question...
"All of which makes you wonder just how much money there is to be made from the business of gaming on the iPhone?"
Robert Cawston, Website Editor
Wednesday 4 March
Read all comments Post your opinion
Video Games Fellow's Lasting Legacy
At this year's Video Games Awards the Academy Fellowship is being awarded to Nolan Bushnell - a man whose impact on the video games industry cannot be understated. Play a version of his classic arcade game Pong and you'll begin to see why...
Electrical engineer, entrepreneur and founder of Atari inc, Nolan Bushnell is credited by many for kick-starting the video games revolution.
In 1972 he oversaw the release of what was to become one of the best-loved – and most-played – video games of all time: Pong. With its simple format and instantly accessible gameplay Pong was the first video game to achieve widespread popularity in both the arcade and home console markets.
Play a version of Pong
We've posted a version of Atari's classic arcade game online.
Play one or two player version but be careful - it's highly addictive!
Robert Cawston, Website Editor
Friday 20 February 2009
BAFTA Game of the year 2008
Voting is now open in the BAFTA Game of the year Award. Choose from ten top titles to cast your vote for the best game of the last twelve months.
Vote Now at www.baftagameaward.com
The Shortlist
|
|
|
|
|
Call of Duty 4 | Fallout 3 | Gears of | Grand Theft | Guitar Hero |
|
|
|
|
|
Left 4 Dead | LittleBigPlanet | Professor | Wii Fit | World of Warcraft |
Robert Cawston, Website Editor
Friday 13 January
Read all comments Post your opinion
Video Games Nominations
The full list of nominations for the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards in 2009 were announced today.
Up for the coveted Best Game award this year:
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Fable II
- Fallout 3
- Grand Theft Auto IV
- Rock Band
- Super Mario Galaxy
Rob Cawston, Website Editor
Tuesday 10 February
Read all comments Post your opinion
The awards are coming....
The GAME British Academy Video Games Awards will take place on Tuesday 10 March. Bring on the nominations...
Since 2003 the British Academy Video Games Awards have focused attention on the highest achievements in video games released in the UK each year in order to motivate and inspire those who make them and to educate and develop the tastes of those who play them. With a focus on creativity and innovation as opposed to commercial success alone, niche but highly creative work can be recognised and rewarded.
The Awards' 13 categories include Action & Adventure, Artistic Achievement, Casual, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Original Score, Sports, Strategy, Story & Character, Technical Achievement, Use of Audio and of course Best Game. The forthcoming Awards will also introduce a new Handheld category, encompassing games for mobiles phones, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and Nintendo GBA.
In addition, the Academy's highest honour, the Fellowship , will be given to an individual for their truly outstanding contribution to the games industry. Last year's recipient - and the Academy's very first Games Fellow - was The Sims and Spore creator Will Wright . Finally, a new Gift of the Academy Prize, for games or gaming technology worthy of special recognition, will be decided by the Academy's Video Games committee.
We are also delighted to be presenting once again the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award
in association with Dare to be Digital, supporting fresh new talent in the industry. View this year's nominations
.
Robert Cawston, 30 January 2009
YOUR COMMENTS
Greg, 18 March Post your comment