[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]
London Games Festival is proud to announce Now Play This at Home, a weekend of online gameplay, creativity and experimentation for all ages and abilities to enjoy for free from home.
Taking place at the same time as the postponed physical festival at Somerset House, which has been home to Now Play This since 2015, Now Play This at Home embraces the experimentation and community spirit of the festival, giving regular visitors the chance to come together online for the first time to enjoy an engaging new virtual programme.
Working closely with a creative community of makers, designers and artists, the festival presents a weekend of streamed talks, creative workshops, performances and interactive tours of popular game worlds, made available through its dedicated website nowplaythis.net and will be broadcast on Twitch.
HIGHLIGHTS:
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Art critics The White Pube join independent video game developer House House for a soothing discussion and Q&A streamed live from Animal Crossing
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Artists Bill Leslie and Lucy Cran (Leap Then Look) host a two-hour participatory art and game-making workshop, inviting families across the internet to work together to create sculpture, performance and film using materials found around their homes
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Game developer and professor at NYU Game Center, Robert Yang, takes players on an exclusive interactive tour through the popular first-person shooter video game Half-Life (1998).
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Writer, artist and games designer Gareth Damian Martin takes players on a photography walk through survival game No Man’s Sky (2016), encouraging players to capture and share snapshots of the surreal, out-of-this-world landscapes encountered along the way.
Across the weekend, audiences will also be able to take their pick from a curated selection of exclusive online games and films to watch and play at home, including works from Molleindustria and Ip Yuk-Yiu.
About Games London
Games London is a groundbreaking programme delivered by Film London, the capital’s screen industries agency, and UK games industry trade body Ukie. The project is backed by the Mayor of London with funding worth £1.2m over three years.
The Games London programme includes a number of initiatives to make London the games capital of the world. It re-established the London Games Festival in April 2016. Other areas of activity include inbound and outbound trade missions and work connecting and supporting games development skills in London.
