Videogame education festival returns to Sheffield for its 6th Year
2nd June 2016
Games Britannia, one of the UK's longest running videogame education festivals, will once again return to Sheffield Hallam University this month.
The festival, which includes workshops and exhibitions, brings creativity and technology together, providing schools, colleges and students with activities led by games industry experts and the University's academics. The line-up of events kicks off with Hallam hosting the regional Game Republic Student Showcase competition in the Cantor Building on Thursday 2nd June. The public event provides an inter-university showcase of the best student work in computer game subject areas from across the region. This year it will be judged by industry professionals from Dubit Ltd, Revolution Software and Sumo Digital. Jamie Sefton, director of Game Republic, said -The standard of student work improves year on year, and the showcase provides a fantastic opportunity for talented students from all of our partner universities to get noticed by regional games companies. Dr Jake Habgood, senior lecturer in software and games development and organiser of Games Britannia, said: "Games Britannia has always provided hands-on workshops for local schools, but it's been brilliant to be able to incorporate several regional and national events into the programme this year, making it one of the most jam-packed schedules yet! "In addition to the showcase competition, we have The Prince's Trust Get Started with Games Design course with Sumo-Digital; the Games@SHU student show; and the start of Tranzfuser - a new government funded talent programme for games graduates, with Hallam acting as the South Yorkshire hub. "This year's schools workshops incorporate a range of exciting technology including Playstation 4 programming, motion capture and even some virtual reality (VR) demonstrations. "Our reputation as a leading centre for videogame education continues to grow, with our partnership with PlayStation®First, Sony Interactive Entertainment's Academic Game Development Programme, which also saw us recently launch the first ever PS4 game designed by students, Piecefall, in the USA." Games Britannia, which has been running annually since 2011, is part of the wider Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) Degree Show; one of the biggest student exhibitions in the north, showcasing outstanding work by SIA's talented artists, makers, designers, photographers and filmmakers. For more information, please visit www.gamesbritannia.com
