U.K. Contest Asks ‘How Will New Games Look?’

A new game design competition in the east of England is asking students for their ideas about how future video games might look. Run by the Film and Digital Media Exchange (FDMX) the contest is now in its second year. Called The Next Next-Gen, the competition is designed to uncover talented students from the wide range of academic courses in game development, animation, and multimedia in the region. It is also meant to raise positive attention about the game industry for offering respectable and stable careers. The contests states it is “looking for the best ideas for what a game might look like by the time we get to PlayStation 4, 5, or even 6. “We encourage games, graphics, art and design students, freelancers, professionals and hobbyists from across the region to send in their images, designs, and explanations ... Your entry can be in the form of drawings, animation, digital stills or any other creative form you can think of.” Game industry professionals will weigh in and judge the competition; and prizes will consist of consoles and software from FDMX, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, and the regional screen agency Screen East. Organizers of the contest say a major exhibition of the final work will be displayed in Cambridge. For more details FDMX’s web site.