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Girls Game-on For Computer Design Competition

4 April 2005

City College Brighton and Hove multimedia students recently battled it out in a computer game design competition which is designed to encourage more young women into the industry. 'Game Girl', which was organised in conjunction with Wired Sussex, challenged the students to develop a new lifestyle game that would help redress the male-centric focus of the computer gaming industry.

Mark Greco CoVE (Centre of Vocational Excellence) Manager from City College says:
'Unless specific initiatives are launched to help young women into gaming careers and studies, then the industry will remain male-dominated.'
Three winning teams were selected for their innovative concepts, which included an interactive music game, a fun mobile-based quiz and a TV-style trivia contest. The concepts used the latest technology to help put the players at the centre of the action, enabling them to participate directly in the game rather than having to play through animated characters. 21 year-old Lindsay Stevens who was on one of the winning single-sex teams, said:

'The Game Girl competition was a great way for us to relate our studies to the real world of gaming. It also helped us understand the changes that need to be made to help encourage more women to both play and develop computer games.'

The entrants were judged by top gaming experts from local firms Babel Media, Kuju and Galaxy Life, who also sponsored the competition. Kuju is a pioneering developer of lifestyle games, which are specifically designed to widen the appeal of gaming to women, family groups and older generations. Chloe Guisti at Babel Media, commented:

'The lack of women involved in games development means the industry is not only missing out on a massive pool of talent but also on the potential to create products that appeal specifically to women and girls.'

As part of the competition prize, Babel Media will be hosting the winning students, who are studying for a Higher National Diploma in Multimedia or a National Diploma in Design at City College, for a day's work experience at the end of March.

The first Game Girl competition was pioneered by business development and networking agency Wired Sussex last year. Tara Solesbury, Project Manager for Wired Sussex, said:

'Women have a huge contribution to make to computer and mobile games development, and it is important that we help to redress the balance before the industry as a whole begins to suffer. We are delighted to have the support of City College for a second year running, and were impressed by the creativity displayed by all the students who entered the competition.'

For further information, please call Brian Bell, Marketing Communications Officer, on 01273 667788 Ext. 488 or email bb1@ccb.ac.uk

About City College Brighton and Hove: Founded over 100 years ago, City College Brighton and
Hove has become an international centre of excellence. Every year over 2000 full-time and 13,000 part time students as well as many international and European students choose City College as their education provider. Offering over 650 courses from basic level to pre-University level, City College is working with its partners to develop the workforce of the future.