A YEAR IN GA MES BAFTA offers a diverse range of events and initiatives for the games industry, from developer Q&As and lectures through to masterclasses and discussion groups. Here are just some of the highlights from 2012…
INDEPENDENTS' DAY To celebrate the rise of indie gaming, The Guardian teamed up with BAFTA to host an afternoon event in February to sample new projects from independent developers across the UK. Discussing their work at this Guardian Gamesblog Indie Social were Mode 7 (Frozen Synapse), HoneySlug (Frobisher Says), Omni Labs (Eufloria) and Mike Bithell (Thomas Was Alone), among others. FIRST, L AST AND ALWAYS Also in February, BAFTA hosted a special Game Developer Q&A with Hironobu Sakaguchi, developer of the Final Fantasy series, in which he discussed and showcased his latest game for the Nintendo Wii, an RPG called The Last Story. During the Q&A, Sakaguchi discussed his breadth of work to a packed auditorium, and revealed he’s working on a surfing game on iOS! GONG HO HEROES Held on 16 March, the Awards celebrated the great and the very great of 2011. The big winner on the night was Portal 2 (Valve), which picked up the top prize for Best Game, among its three awards, while Minecraft developer Markus Persson won the Special Award.
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GHOST STORIES In April, directors François Alaux and Hervé De Crécy were guests at a preview screening of Ghost Recon Alpha, a live-action short film based on the Tom Clancy series which serves as a prelude to 2012’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier game. The short was followed by a Q&A with the Oscar-winning pair, joined on stage by Future Soldier’s developers. FOR GOODNESS SNAKE Giving some of the most renowned creative forces in games a platform to discuss their personal vision for the future of their industry, the BAFTA Annual Games Lecture was delivered in September 2012 by Hideo Kojima, the creator of the hugely successful and influential Metal Gear Solid stealth ’em up series. The event was supported by Autodesk. BAFTA'S GOT A BRAND NEW CHAIR On 24 September, Harvey Elliott was selected as the new Chairman of the BAFTA Games Committee, replacing the outgoing Ray Maguire, who stepped down in the summer. Elliott is the MD and COO of Marmalade, a leading cross-platform software technology business, and oversees the Ideaworks Game Studio under the same company group.
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