Attention, sufferers of controller-thumb and Wii-wrist: the London Games Festival is here to make your condition even worse. From the 22nd of October to the 2nd of November organisers will be laying on talks, music and exhibitions celebrating the culture of gaming. Many of the events are geared towards those in the industry, but there’s also plenty to please the civilian gamer, especially in the festival fringe. And we can’t help but approve of the fact that most of them are free.
If it’s gameplay you’re after, Trafalgar Square is the place to aim for with three days of free gaming put on by Electronic Arts. There’s also a text-based treasure hunt across London on the weekend of the 27th. Or be a rebel and watch the games play themselves while you have a lounge, in the Zero Gamer exhibition.
There’s music to be had at Video Games Live, where an orchestra will play the scores from iconic video games (sort of like playing Tetris on piano, only bigger and almost certainly better). And there’s more at Games – AV, which will feature three floors of art, DJs and performances from the likes of ZX Spectrum Orchestra and The Lost Levels.
There’s lots of, well, other stuff too: like a talk by Will Wright, creator of The Sims and the eagerly-awaited Spore. There’s an evening all about making weird new toys out of old games consoles, a social for women gamers, and an event on whether your brain is anything like a computer. With the festival on, for the next couple of weeks even the toughest of gaming addicts have a good reason to give their controller hands a rest and head outside.
The London Games Festival, 22nd October – 2nd November, various venues. For more information go to the festival website here.
Image courtesy of the London Games Festival.
