The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Video Games Awards has recently announced that it will hold off its annual awards ceremony and will continue in 2009 instead. The reason why the yearly prestigious event was called off wasn't on account of any bad weather though. You can find out the reason behind this in our full article after the jump.

So many gaming events, so little time: it's time once again for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) gaming awards, and the nominees for the awards up for grabs are revealed after a few months of deciding on which games should make it into the shortlist.

Not surprisingly, a Wii title managed to grab the most number of nominations, seven in all. Nintendo's Wii Sports was nominated for the awards for Best Game, Gameplay, and Innovation, just to name a few. Other games vying for the title of Best Game are Xbox 360's Bioshock, Gears of War, and Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, PC platform's Crysis, and a PlayStation 2 title Guitar Hero II.

43 game titles from different platforms will go neck to neck in grabbing all 13 titles. Wish your favorite games (which made it into the shortlist) best of luck!

Check the Read link for the complete list of nominations!

 

The London Games Festival, a significant success last year, will be returning for a repeat performance with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) as its primary focus this year. The event will begin October 22, 2007, reports Games Industry, and will continue for four more days to October 26, with an invite to all gamers from MMOs and PCs to consoles and handhelds.

Aside from several game-related forums which tackle legal issues and corporate opportunities, a Video Games Live concert will also be held at the Royal Albert Hall, while the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) plans to discuss the perception of gaming. The Science Museum will also host a study of immersion in video games, and the London Game Career Fair will be offering aspiring game developers a chance to enter the UK game development scene.

It appears that the Europe will be celebrating more than just an Oktoberfest come late fall (or early winter) as the GameCity Interactive Entertainment Festival, or simply the GameCity Festival, will also be partially coinciding with the London Games Festival, on October 24-28, 2007, in Nottingham, England. More details on these two events, including participating companies and studios, as they come in.

 

Known for his genius behind Katamari Damacy (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable), Namco Bandai's Keita Takahashi was recently selected by GameCity to offer his personal and creative insight to anything under the videogame industry sun at the next GameCity Annual Interactive Entertainment Festival on October 27, 2007.

The event, sponsored by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), will have former artist Takahashi taking the inspirational helm at the Vision Statement portion, sharing his game creation ideas and experiences to gamers - and not just game developers.

Back in 2006, Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning gave his own speech on an optimistic future for video games - a speech well-received by critics in the gaming media and gaming community alike. Like yesteryear, GameCity will be focusing on gaming as a societal and cultural phenomenon, celebrating its uniqueness in the entertainment industry all over the UK.

The festival doesn't happen in a single venue; it occurs over several various locations - schools, restaurants, cinemas, market squares and cafes among a few - all over.

Attendees at the event can expect regionally prominent game companies, such as Free Radical Design (HAZE), Mode 7 (Determinance), Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE - Formula One Championship Edition), Travellers Tales (BIONICLES Heroes), and Frontier (RollerCoaster Tycoon 3) to join a growing list of no-nonsense names in a unanimous gaming celebration come October 24, 2007 at Nottingham, England.

The envelopes have been opened. Pop those champagne corks. And if you got any running bets on this, we'd like a 10% cut for being the people who bring the good news to you guys (Kidding!). These are the proud winners of the British Academy Video Game Awards, the prime examples of innovation, graphic design, gameplay, sound and soundtrack, and good ol' overall pawnage (If you want to see the list of nominees, you can check it out here).

Which brings us to our next shout-out: American Oscar Academy! When will it be your  turn to do something like this?! You hear us gamers? Do you hear us?!

Fat chance that they'd listen to us. Or not. Oh, well. Winners and the post-awards party at the full article!

As London Games Festival kicked off, one of the most anticipated event in this week-long celebration is the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Video Games Awards. For all of you who are not aware, BAFTA is a British organization that has been hosting annual awards shows for film, television, children's film and television, and interactive media since it was founded in 1947. And video games is a category which was first presented in 2003. It aims to highlight the development of the contemporary art form of video games.

For this year, BAFTA Video Games Awards will host yet another memorable event for the gaming world, which is studded with famous faces and character - both from the real and virtual world. Vernon Kay will host the event. Personalities from television, music and media like Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran, John Culshaw, Andy Serkis, Angelica Bell, and Alexander Armstrong, to name a few, will be the attendees and presenters. In addition, the real-life model of famous video games like Lara Croft of Tomb Raider, Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, and the Star Wars storm troopers will join the celebration.

BAFTA Video Games Awards will commence in red carpet this October 5 at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH. Check out the list of nominees here.

We've previously introduced to you guys the London Games Festival, we've told you what it's designed for, what it's about, the goals of the thing, and so on, but now that the event is getting closer, we think that we better start giving you guys some more details regarding the London event. Here's just some of the public events that attendees can look forward to as the First London Games Festival opens its doors to guests by October 2.

October 5 to 7, HMV Games Showcase, 12:00-6:00pm
HMV - Oxford Circus 150 Oxford Street, London Z1D 1DJ
The London Games Festival 2006 kicks off here. This stage of the event will bring together well-known figures from the world of video games throughout the week and the event will feature celebrities (gaming and real world celebrities) competing against each other in a series of high profile tournaments, with the winners crowned the kings of the gaming world.

October 2 to October 7, at HMV main stage, Oxford Street, 7:00-9:30pm
October 3, Lizard's Lair, Visit London 2 More London, Riverside, London SE1 2RR
This event is free but it requires you to pre-register. The Lizard's Lair is open to anyone who has a great idea for a video game and wants the chance to pitch it to the top people in the industry. So if you want to sell your idea to people from Eidos or other such developers, this is the place to be.

October 5, The BAFTA Video Games Awards, 6:30pm-1:00am
The Roundhouse Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1 8EH
The special thing about this event is that this is the first time that the winners of the Video Game Categories will get to sit side by side with the winners of more socially-recognized events. A definite elevation of status in the field of electronic entertainment don't you think?

October 6 to October 8, World Series of Video Games, 10:00am-10:00pm
London Trocadero 7 - 14 Coventry Street, London, W1D 7DH
Free if you've registered, otherwise a fee of £1 will be charged at the door. The event basically features professional gaming tournaments in Counter-Strike 1.6, Quake 4 and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. Attendees of the event can compete in these tournaments or watch the world's best gamers as they battle for over £40,000 in cash and prizes.

November 25, Video Games Live, 6:00pm-12:00am
Hammersmith Apollo Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH
The event is all about Video Games Live coming to London to provide stunning orchestral and choir renditions of some of the most memorable and popular tunes in gaming, which highlights how games have embedded itself in our art and culture. Many of the classic tunes from gaming’s past and present are featured, including themes from Sonic, Mario, Zelda, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy and God of War. With over 50 different games included, it promises to be a musical night you will never forget.

Early registration to the Game Developers Conference and the London Games Summit, which will follow GDC in London this year, has been extended from September 15th to September 22nd. The two gaming meetings will begin on  October 2nd and carry on through to the 4th for GDC London and branch out to October 4th through 5th for the following Games Summit.

Both the GDC and the Games Summit in London will take place at the world-famous BAFTA Headquarters (Yes, the same place that gives out the TV awards) at 195 Piccadilly. You can register for the fee of £75, versus the £100 charge for registration through October 2nd so get your registration in early if you wish to attend!

GDC London focuses heavily on techniques for game development, so unless you are a game developer then joining the conference probably won't be that beneficial to you. However, if you plan to go into game development or programming it could be worth a try if you can cough up the cash. The registration fee includes two days of tutorials sponsored by IBM and NVIDIA, with the IBM tutorial covering Cell Broadband Engine application processing and the NVIDIA tutorial covering DirectX10 programming.

Visit: [London Games Summit Website]

Soundtracks, much like any other element, can make or break a game. And it's really impressive if the tracks get nominated for music awards such as British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

FreeStyleGames (in partnership with SCEE and Universal Music Catalogue) announced the coming release of Music From B-Boy audio CD - a much-talked about collection of funky songs that are in tune with the B-Boy scene.

It's part of the B-Boy game package's release on October 6th on the PS2 and PSP. The "Music From B-Boy" audio CD will be released on October 30, 2006.

Here's a full track listing of Music From B-Boy album:

1 The Jackson Sisters: I Believe In Miracles
2 Lyn Collins: Think (About It)
3 Fred Wesley: Blow Your Head
4 The Black Eyed Peas: Bringing It Back
5 Jackson 5: Let's Have A Party
6 LTD featuring Jeffrey Osborne: Love To The World
7 DJ Shadow: Organ Donor
8 Bobby Brown: Hot Pants (I'm Coming, I'm Coming, I'm Coming
9 Kool And The Gang: Open Sesame
10 Eric B and Rakim: Don't Sweat The Technique
11 Roy Ayers: Brother Green (The Disco King)
12 James Brown: Get On The Good Foot
13 Cymande: Brothers On The Slide
14 Bar-Kays: Holy Ghost
15 Babe Ruth: The Mexican
16 Kool and The Gang: Rated X
17 James Brown: Cold Sweat (Part One)
18 Nina Simone: Funkier Than A Mosquito's Tweeter

London Games Festival! Festival London Games! Games Festival London! Games London Festival! Festival Games London!

It doesn't matter how you place the words, because it's still going to rock.

That's the hope of its many organizers and sponsors as the First London Games Festival opens its doors for consumers and trade from the 2nd to the 7th of October. They hope to show that London is a place where you can buy Fish and Chips AND Frag people in a deathmatch, showcasing the talent and ability of both game makers and the businesses that get these games out for the public.

Not only that, but they want to cater to the tastes of everyone, a far cry from the now-dissolved Electronic Entertainment Expo's penchant for attracting only the big fans of gaming in all its forms. As they mention on their website,

The London Games Festival is designed to engage and immerse everyone wanting to be a part of this modern cultural and entertainment experience. Events will be tailored to appeal to different audiences, from families and children to the hard-core gaming communities.

In addition to the usual game previews and show-stopping events planned, the LGF 2006 site also mentions a London Game Career Fair, which will probably something that every gamer aspiring to work in the very field he loves will be waiting for. There will also be a Video Games Awards hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA, and what will probably be film showings of game videos or games adapted into movies, if the title Playing Films, Watching Games is any indication.

All in all, it's looking to be a jolly good show.

You can check out their website for more information, as well as the locations of specific events.