Chairman of UK Interactive Entertainment, Andy Payne OBE, yesterday announced The Games Britannia festival, due to take place at the MAGNA Science Adventure Centre between July 2 - 8.
At the launch at Sheffield Hallam University, Payne said: "We're thrilled to be able to announce the launch of Games Britannia hot on the heels of the games industry's recent success in lobbying for a new computer science curriculum to replace ICT in schools."
"It's vital to our future economy that the next generation become creators of technology and software, not just consumers of it. And it is exciting events like Games Britannia that will help to lead the way in redressing this imbalance."
"UKIE is proud to be able to back an event like this and we will ensure we help to rally the games and interactive entertainment industry to support Games Britannia and together we can make it the roaring success it deserves to be."
Dr Jake Habgood, senior lecturer on Sheffield Hallam's game development courses, said: "We want to engage children with the exciting opportunities that the videogame industry offers. Making games is a fantastic way to challenge and inspire students to study programming, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - as well as art, English and music - by applying them all creatively to a finished product."
"The 2011 Livingstone-Hope report identified a skills shortage as a barrier to growth in the UK videogames industry. It also identified the need to address schools' lack of understanding about the industry."
"The Games Britannia festival will address those issues by providing children with practical hands-on workshops in game development, much of which can be replicated in homes and schools after the event. The festival will also inform young people on career paths in the industry - and it will be a celebration of the rich videogame development heritage that our region has."
As part of the build up for the event, school children from across the region will work on ideas for a new video game featuring iconic character Monty Mole. The creator of the character, Ian Stewart (founder of Gremlin Graphics), said: "It's fantastic to see an initiative to rekindle the passion for programming at a young age. Many of my first employees learnt to program videogames on the computers they were first exposed to at school, and those skills helped to build the multi-billion dollar games industry we have today."
<bild>Andy Payne, Ian Stewart, Mark Hardisty & Dr Jake Habgood.</bild>