GameCity

GameCity is an independent organisation based in Nottingham, UK, which has worked since 2006 with the support of Nottingham Trent University to bring videogames to the widest possible audiences. This has been done through the internationally renowned GameCity Festival, described as the "Sundance of the video games world",^[1] the GameCity Prize, and most recently the National Videogame Arcade.

National Videogame Arcade

In March 2015, GameCity opened the UK's first permanent cultural centre for videogames.^[2] Located in the centre of Nottingham, the National Videogame Arcade is "a place where the whole family can discover videogames, play videogames and make videogames".^[3] Spread across five floors, the NVA has three floors of playable galleries showcasing games both old and new, and exploring videogame culture through unique interactive exhibits.^[4] Alongside this, the NVA further features a floor dedicated to education and the National Curriculum, allowing students a hands-on experience of game-making through a variety of workshops.

GameCity 1 (2006)

The GameCity Festival has run annually in Nottingham since 2006. At the first event, Lorne Lanning announced the production of his feature film Citizen Siege and Richard Jacques performed a candle-lit piano recital of hit SEGA tunes.

GameCity 2 (2007)

At the 2007 festival the first playable prototype of Nobi Nobi Boy was shown by Keita Takahashi.

GameCity 3 (2008)

Gamecity 3 was held over Halloween 2008. To coincide with this, GameCity arranged a successful world record attempt at the largest number of people to dress as zombies in one place. The record was set to 1227 people, although even more 'unregistered zombies' were present at the attempt.^[5] Also during the 2008 event, the National Videogame Archive for the UK was launched with the Save the Videogame campaign.^[6][7] This was led by the recording of the first public Director Commentary event, with Martin Hollis and David Doak playing Goldeneye 64 live.

GameCity Squared (2009)

GameCity Squared took place from the 27th to the 31st of October, 2009.^[8] Events in 2009 included: Brickstock (a LEGO Rock Band celebration); Elite: Paper Universe - which celebrated 25 years of Elite by bringing together David Braben, Ian Bell, Robert Holdstock and others involved in its creation; Crysis: LIVE - a large scale re-enactment of Crysis; and various industry talks from Jagex and Masaya Matsuura. The final location of the Keita Takahashi-designed playground was also revealed as being Woodthorpe Grange Park in Nottingham.^[9]

GameCity 5 (2010)

GameCity 5 took place from the 26th to the 30th of October, 2010.

GameCity 6 (2011)

GameCity 6 took place from the 26th to the 29th of October, 2011. Highlights included a keynote from Richard Lemarchand, Robin Hunicke staging a live play-through of Journey and Eric Chahi curating an entire day of the event. The final day of the festival staged a takeover event to celebrate the anniversary of The Legend of Zelda.

GameCity 7 (2012)

GameCity 7 took place in Nottingham from the 20th to the 27th October 2012. There were several events held over the 8 day festival, including keynotes from Leigh Alexander, Phil Fish, Adam Saltsman, Ed Stern and many more.

The festival also has the first UK showing of the LEGO: Lord of the Rings game, demonstrated by LEGO's Creative Director Jonathan Smith.

A World Record was broken on the final day of the festival, as GameCity attempted to host the World's Largest Practical Science experiment. 292 people participated in the event, succeeding the previous record of 276.^[10]

GameCity 8 (2013)

GameCity 8 took place in Nottingham from the 19th to the 26th October 2013.

GameCity 9 (2014)

GameCity 9 took place in Nottingham from the 25th October to the 1st November 2014.

GameCity Prize

The GameCity Prize was announced on 15 September 2011.^[11] It is awarded for a game's "accomplishments and contribution to popular culture".

Minecraft won the first GameCity Prize in 2011.

The 2012 award went to Journey (made by thatgamecompany), with special acknowledgements to FEZ as runner-up. Lord Puttnam chaired the 2012 Jury and was joined by Charlie Higson, Dave Gibbons, Jo Whiley, Louise Brealey, Samira Ahmed, Lucy Kellaway, Ekow Eshun, and Wayne Hemingway.

Industry attendance

Each year, GameCity hosts talks and presentations from leading individuals and companies working in the games industry. Previous events have included talks from Free Radical (now Crytek UK), Media Molecule, Bizarre Creations, TT Games, Splash Damage, Torpex Games, Harmonix Music Systems, Sony London Studio, Midway Newcastle, Anthill Games, Jonathan Blow, Alexey Pajitnov, Amanita Design, David Braben, Martin Hollis, David Doak, Zoë Quinn, and Monumental Games.

World Records

GameCity currently holds two world records, one of them being the Largest Practical Science Lesson, set on 27 October 2012.

Bright new future for National Game Arcade follow Administration with 40 jobs saved

The National Videogame Arcade in Nottingham, sadly fell into cash flow difficulties earlier this year despite an increase in its footfall. An eleventh hour investment by a director-led consortium, led by director Iain Simons, saved all 40 jobs at the increasingly popular tourist attraction and museum. The cash flow difficulties led to the destination being taken into administration, Wilson Field’s Andy Wood and Lisa Hogg were appointed as joint administrators on 19th August 2016. ^[12]

References

External links

• National Videogame Arcade - GameCity