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GameCamp 4 LiveBlog

Debbie Timmins (Weefz) — Sat, 14 May 2011 07:54:00 +0000

Hey there, games fans. We’re over in London Bridge all day, discussing game design, game culture and all sorts of game-related things at the latest GameCamp 4. There will also be foam weaponry.

GameCamp 4 runs from 9:30am to 4pm today. Swing by the liveblog below any time to see what we’re up to. There’s an iPhone CoverItLive app as well as an Android app (search CoverItLive in the market) so you can track us on the go and leave comments or questions.

The Average Gamer at GameCamp 4

What’s On at the London Games Festival?

Debbie Timmins (Weefz) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 22:51:15 +0000

That’s an excellent question and one that I was asked many times over the Eurogamer Expo weekend. The London Games Festival is run by the association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE). Historically, it’s been a week long but for 2010 they’ve gone all out and made it a full month long. There’s a good range of events happening, both for us gamers and for industry types.

Events for Gamers:

The Eurogamer Expo has just gone, as was a Ben 10 preview event in Leicester Square.

7th October: The BAFTA Annual Video Games Lecture, this year by Media Molecule.
8th October: Sony PlayStation Game Runners. Click on the Game Runners tab for the details.

9th October: Busy day with the unconference BoardGameCamp, and Nintendo’s Wii Party at Chessington. Sorry, tickets for both of those sold out weeks ago so check out Citizen Game’s first ever public game review instead, featuring FIFA 11 and Pro Evo 2011.
16th-17th October: GAME and Gamestation are hunting for Britain’s Best Nintendo Gamer with the winner being crowned at the Golden Joystick Awards.
27th-28th October: Upcoming shooter Breach will have a residency at GamerBase in London. Gamers will have a chance to face off against all comers to see if they have what it takes to survive in the adrenaline-fuelled game of guns, traps and destructible cover.
30th-31st October: The London MCM Expo, featuring a games expo.

Industry Events:

Games Invest and the GamesAid Eurogamer charity party were also on during the weekend.

7th October: Duke Nukem Forever will be shown to the UK for the first time. Ubisoft’s Just Dance 2 launch is on the same day.
11th October: Preview of Activision’s upcoming helicopter combat game, Apache Air Assault
12th-15th October: Power to the Pixel’s Cross-Media Forum will showcase the best international stories that can span a combination of film, tv, online, gaming, live events, mobile.
14th October: The Games Media Awards will recognise the best in specialist and mainstream games media in print and online. Sadly, we were not nominated :( Perhaps next year?
21st October: SpecialEffect, a charity to promote access to games for disabled people will hold a session on accessible gaming.
27th October: TIGA are running a session on self-publishing: Advice on selling and marketing to your audience
29th October: The Golden Joystick Awards will honour the games voted by for by us gamers
4th November: The London Games Conference will close out the festival with a theme of “Survival And Profit In A Changing Industry”

I’ll be at most of these, blogging for the games festival itself and you’ll get plenty of coverage here at The Average Gamer. I’ll also be tweeting with #lgf10. Follow us on @TheAvgGamer and say hello if you’re at any of the events!

Leigh’s Words, My Thoughts

Debbie Timmins (Weefz) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:13:33 +0000

Every once in a while I come over all responsible and talk about about how the videogame industry should make more of an effort to appeal to women. Some time I pointed out Ayumi’s shocking character design and attracted a couple of vocal trolls, a bit of abuse and thankfully, some thoughtful posts from both men and women. I tried a few times to articulate my points at GameCamp last year but my distance from the development side of the games industry makes it difficult to argue against those who do this for a living.

Finally… I no longer need to struggle to make my points. Leigh Alexander has teamed up with Daniel Floyd to produce a fantastic 10-minute video that covers everything I’ve been trying to say about women and games for the past two years.

Although I do add the caveat that IMO, Ubisoft’s Imagine series does more harm to equality than good, as the choices offered to girls are Babies, Fluffies (Animal Doctor), Ponies, Fashion and Cooking. Hellooooooo life-limiting sterotypes. I suppose I should just be grateful for Imagine Figure Skating. Daniel did intend the Ubisoft reference to be tongue-in-cheek but it doesn’t come out that way at all.

GameCamp London!

Debbie Timmins (Weefz) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:01:23 +0000

Will you be in or around London on May 3rd? If so, sign up to GameCamp, an event organised by The Guardian to gather gamers and game developers together for an informal fun day of… well… anything goes.

It will be run along the lines of BarCamp – tickets are free and in return you agree to PARTICIPATE. No hanging around at the back absorbing information. You should come prepared to run your own 30 minute session on any topic you want or, at the very least, actively engage in other people’s sessions.

GameCamp is a one-day event for people interested in games, and for interesting people in gaming. That covers everything from computer and video gaming, ARGs, tabletop games, pervasive games, RPGs and more.

If none of that makes sense to you, then don’t worry â€“ the objective is simple: to talk informally with like-minded people and get excited about stuff involving games and play…

…GameCamp is free to attend, and will be held between 11am and 5.30pm on Saturday May 3rd at 3Rooms in the Spitalfields area of London.

Tickets will be released on Monday, April 21st at EventWax. There is a strict limit of 120 attendees, so sign up early. Sony and Nintendo are supporting the event. I shall be there and as if that’s not enough of a draw ;) there will also be Rock Band!

More info on the Guardian’s Games Blog and the official GameCamp pages.