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The festival management talks about this and more, you can download the interviews here.

Interviews festival management

The games exhibition under the motto “Let’s get Physical – Game and Body” focuses on gamer in virtual space as well as innovative VR ideas and prototypes that explore where virtual reality stands and show new developments. At the Kunsthaus Hamburg, next to central station, HTC Vive can help to overcome vertigo during virtual parachute jumps in “Sky Touch” or players can explore fictional and real spaces as British agents in “Unseen Diplomacy”.

Besides such “Head Mounted Displays” visitors can play casually with gamepads: At the Bücherhallen in Hamburg, games like the award winning “Everybodys Gone to the Rapture” by The Chinese Room or the Kinect-Platformer “Fru” by Through Games will be exhibited and playable.

“The games exhibition of PLAY16 invites all gamers to enter virtual reality for the first time, to become the protagonist of fantastic worlds and to experience creative and innovative indie games, new trends and current topics of gaming” explains one of the curators Matthias Löwe. “All the games have one thing in common: They combine game and body and demonstrate in a playful way topics like space, movement, disability, immersion and sexuality.”

The games exhibition of PLAY16 is only one main aspect of the Creative Gaming festival. Gaming fans can, for instance, gain insights in game development during several workshops or admire European game developer’s creative power at the Creative Gaming Awards. Entertaining evening events round out the program – the daily PLAY Show with Uke Bosse or the “Stay Forever” Podcast with Christian Schmidt and Gunnar Lott, who discuss live how virtual reality developed.
About PLAY16

PLAY is the first and unique festival, which combines media art, discourse and education with the culture of digital games. PLAY16 is an event of the Initiative Creative Gaming e.V., of jaf – Verein für medienpädagogische Praxis Hamburg e.V. in cooperation with spielbar.de, the platform of Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb concerning computer games, JIZ – Jugendinformationszentrum Hamburg der Behörde für Schule und Berufsbildung, supported by numerous partners and sponsors from Hamburg and all over the world. Further information can be found at the official website: www.play16.net.

Press inquiries:
Tina Ziegler
mobil: 0174-4440454
office: 04521-84899-45
tina.ziegler@creative-gaming.eu
www.PLAY16.de

Download: play16_plakata1

The initiative Creative Gaming will host the Creative Gaming award 2016. As part of the annual PLAY – Creative Gaming festival European indie game developers have the chance to submit their creative and innovative games. The submission starts May 17th.

Indie devs from all over Europe can submit their games. The Creative Gaming award focuses on creative games and
playful media, that give the player the possibility to interact creatively with and within the game. The innovation, that is connected with the development of the game, can be showcased by a special gameplay, transmediality, unknown possibilities of interaction within the game, essential graphic innovations, new interfaces, uncommon atmospheres, visual breakthroughs or new topics that are being dealt with in the game. “We are excited to play novel, innovative and creative submission!”, says Valentina Birke, curator of the exhibition and head of the Creative Gaming award.

The Creative Gaming award will be awarded in two categories:

Most Creative Game
This category is directed to experienced developers that have already published one or more games. Beta versions and completed projects can be submitted. The award is endowed with a prize money.

Most Innovative Newcomer
This category is directed to newcomer developers that have NOT published a game yet. In this category, prototypes as well as alpha and beta versions can be submitted. This award too is endowed with a prize money. Additionally, the winners receive a one-year mentoring.

The nominated games also receive a place in the PLAY exhibition and participate in the festive awarding ceremony on November 5, 2016. During the festival, nominated developers are invited to Hamburg.

The deadline is soon!

The competitive call for this year’s Creative Gaming award starts on May 17, 2016. The deadline is on July 17, 2016. Until then European developers can submit their games and thus take a chance to win the coveted Creative Gaming award.

The agony of choice

An international jury with members from different branches of the gaming industry will chose from this year’s nominees. On November 5, 2016, the Creative Gaming award will be given to the lucky winners at the festive awarding ceremony. The nominated games will be showcased at the PLAY exhibition and can be played by visitors of the PLAY – Creative Gaming festival.

Last year’s overwhelming response

The Creative Gaming award was first presented in 2015 at the PLAY – Creative Gaming festival. More than
150 submissions from over 20 countries proved its popularity. Among the winners were Jolly Jousting (Audience Award), an installation that combined medieval sports with contemporary and virtual techniques, and Lucid (Most
Innovative Newcomer Game), an Austrian eyetracking adventure. The main category’s winners were the Norwegian developers from Krillbite Studios with their atmospheric game Among the Sleep.

Background, organisers and the festival

For the ninth time, PLAY – Creative Gaming festival takes place from November 2-6, 2016 in Hamburg.
The first and unique festival combines media art, discourse and education with the culture of digital games.
The PLAY conference discusses new perspectives on games while our diverse workshops demonstrate the creative, yet critical use of games. Our interactive indie game exhibition foregrounds games off the mainstream.

Since 2007 the initiative Creative Gaming works in the fields of art and education and
could establish itself as a pioneer for the media pedagogical and creative use of
computer games.