Lemon posted this item on Mar 10, 2009
CHANNEL 4 AND MICROSOFT JOIN FORCES FOR X48 A TWO-GAME CAMP TO FIND NEW GAMING TALENT
On Friday 20 March 2009 80 budding videogame design and development students from all over the UK will relocate to the University of Derby’s cutting edge Computer Games Lab for X48 – a two-day intensive development session dedicated to gaming.
Using Microsoft’s XNA Game Studio 3.0, X48 will offer the student teams an unprecedented opportunity to be mentored by and have their work reviewed by computer giant Microsoft and UK broadcaster Channel 4 – key sponsors of the two-day game camp produced by Pixel-Lab.
The event will be themed to challenge the students to develop games that look beyond the traditional puzzle or first person shooter in a bid to create new conversations around gaming and attract the attention of new audiences. And to ensure the teams do not prepare in advance, they will not be given the theme for their game prototypes until the opening session on Friday morning.
Alice Taylor, Commissioning Editor for Education at Channel 4: “Channel 4 Education is excited to be sponsoring X48. We're fully behind encouraging collaboration and competition between young and emerging British indie gaming talent, and fully approve of the freewheelin' creative environment that X48 is going to produce. We'll be setting the theme of the challenge, and keeping an eye out for both talent and games that we can continue to support or develop post-event.”
Andrew Sithers, Academic Lead at Microsoft UK: “X48 is a great opportunity to bring like-minded students together and inspire them to create games using XNA Game Studio. Partnering with Channel 4 and the University of Derby brings together technology, creativity and talent at an event that will pit the UK’s best student game developers against the clock.”
“The UK is seen as a hotbed of talent in game design, and X48 will be a testament to that, giving students not only the chance to talk to commissioners but also create a game that may make it to market” said Toby Barnes, Managing Director at Pixel-Lab.
John Sear, Programme Leader in Computer Games Programming at the University of Derby: "It's a huge honour for the University of Derby to be collaborating with Microsoft UK again. It shows the standing we have nationally in the area of computer games education.”
University of Derby is hosting the game camp and will not only provide the hardware and software needed to develop the games at their Kedleston Road site, but will also provide food and accommodation.
“Our labs are designed around working in a real world game studio and are the ideal environment for students to be productive and creative in. I'm sure the teams will produce some fantastic games over the weekend."
The event is sold-out, but students, indie developers, game enthusiasts and the general public alike will still be able to take part. Video sites YouTube and Vimeo, along with microblogging service Twitter, will provide a window into the university for a global audience to really feel what it’s like to develop a new game in such a short time. Post-event, the playable versions of the X48 games will be made available for download at x48gamecamp.com where anyone can try them out and add give the teams valuable feedback.
Press contact: Rebecca Ladbury / rebecca.Ladbury@virgin.net / 07941 224 975
Press contact: Richard Birkin Richard.birkin@pixel-lab.co.uk / 07973480098 / Twitter: x48
Press contact: Sean Kirby, University of Derby 01332 593004 / 07876 476103 / s.kirby@derby.ac.uk
Website: www.x48gamecamp.com
Logos and images for press use: www.x48gamecamp.com/press-resources
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