London Games Festival Promises Fringe Focus

The first London Games Festival, set for October 2nd through 7th of this year and promising to be "a cultural celebration of interactive entertainment," has announced plans to "look beyond the mainstream to new audiences and new content", alongside industry events such as GDC London and the London Games Summit. The so-called "Fringe" of the festival will be made up of a number of activities covering "independent game development and distribution, participatory community play, the future of game design, artists' games, live action role-play, augmented reality games, interactive storytelling and more," and will involve "performance, exhibitions, master classes and seminars, participatory workshops and, of course, opportunities to play." Some of the already announced events include "Sense of Play," a day-long symposium headed by University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham, debating the nature of computer game design, a day-long concept design workshop called "Jump Start," and "PlayTime!" an exhibition to "demonstrate how emerging web and mobile technologies are changing opportunities for serious and not-so-serious play." The London Games Festival and Fringe is both a consumer and trade event, and is supported by the London Development Agency's Creative London, TIGA, ELSPA, Bafta, 01zero-one and a range of developers, publishers, retailers, media and education institutions.