1. IGFEST PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 17th 2011
igfest challenges Pervasive Gaming to realise it’s potential
The response to this year’s Interesting Games Festival in Bristol (igfest) suggests
exciting new times for the pervasive gaming industry. We’ve all been excited by the
possibilities these games hold, and now the industry seems to be finally coming of
age. As the biggest pervasive games festival in the UK, featuring games from
designers from across the world, igfest shows the audience for pervasive games is
expanding.
“I think people are hungry for new experiences and we’re now talking to a
generation of adults who have grown up with video games in their cultural DNA”,
says igfest producer Simon Evans. “Social media has also made this kind of
collaborative play the norm. We’re seeing people prepared to pay because they
now get that – when they’re done well - pervasive games offer the excitement of
theatre, film and video games with the fun of playing with real people.”
As technology becomes more accessible, new opportunities are opening up for
games designers and artists. Now that Smartphones are almost ubiquitous,
everyone has a tool in their pocket that tracks their location and instantly networks
them to other people – making it easy for players to access sophisticated games.
Technology companies are also supporting gamers to develop the form. This year
BlueVia (www.bluevia.com) are partnering igfest, providing devices for players to
use, an SMS messaging platform on which some of the games will run, and
expertise at this year’s specially built Tech Pavilion. Games producers are excited
that new partnerships like this emerging, as they enable designers to use
technology in their games more easily, lowering the barrier to creating great
products/experiences.
“There’s now no reason why pervasive games can’t become a mass market
pursuit,” says igfest Creative Director Simon Johnson. “But games designers need
to rise to these new commercial and design challenges. Our focus at igfest is to
aid the professionalisation of pervasive games and improve production values.
We’re looking to develop a pervasive games festival that will be as big as music
festivals are in the UK. So we’re pushing the development of better quality games
with more ambition to convince the public that games are where it’s at.”
It’s significant that igfest takes place in Bristol - a city with huge cultural capital
and a growing centre for pervasive media technology. Mike Bennett, Place Making
Director at Bristol City Council says, “Bristol is a perfect setting for the Interesting
Games Festival because of the high presence of tech companies and digital
media agencies in the city. We’re excited that igfest is getting bigger and better,
and attracting designers and players from across the world.”

2. A selection of the latest in location-based games will be available to play at
igfest, with tech experts on hand to show players how to use them. All the games
and apps are being provided as free downloads for attendees.
Notes to Editors:
This year’s Interesting Games Festival (igfest) brings games from the world’s
leading street games designers to the UK. It is the first time such a stellar line-up
will participate together in what might just be the biggest-ever street games
festival in the world.
This is igfest’s fourth year and the first year players have been asked to pay to play.
The headline game is already sold out and the festival looks set to double its
audience.
You can find out more on igfest at www.igfest.org
You can see the schedule of games here http://igfest.org/node/124/planner
2.8 Hours Later - the city-wide zombie chase game - is the sell-out headline game
at this year’s festival and you can find out more here www.2.8hourslater.com
igfest (The Interesting Games Festival) takes place on Saturday 28th and Sunday
29th of May from 1pm-11pm.
The headline game 2.8 Hours Later runs on Thursday, Friday and Saturday
evenings (26th-28th May) from 9pm.
BlueVia is the global developer platform from Telefonica that helps developers
take apps, web services and ideas to market. https://bluevia.com/en/
Tickets for igfest cost £15 for 2 days and £10 for 1 day can be bought from the
Watershed ticket platform at http://www.watershed.co.uk/exhibits/2918/
Games are coming from designers all over the world including Come Out & Play
www.comeoutandplay.org and Gigantic Mechanic www.giganticmechanic.com
in New York.
There will be a wide selection of location based pervasive games using smart
technology including:
Seek n’ Spell - www.seeknspell.com Qonqr - www.qonqr.com Gigaputt -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZkO3NJFpPY Hali - http://haligame.com/ Tap City -
http://playtapcity.com/tapcity
Contacts:
Jess Tyrrell, Communications, igfest – 07779 348180 jess@igfest.org
supported by: