Latest news with #BaftaGamesAwards
BBC News
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Video game coaching is 'like being a football manager'
A man who coaches video game players for tournaments says his job is like being a football Bafta Games Awards honoured "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry on Tuesday, with some of the biggest games from the past year nominated and picking up awards across several Thomsen from Hempsted, Gloucester, turned his childhood video game passion into a career and has coached teams in London and abroad."There's loads of different ways that people can get into the video game industry and it doesn't just revolve around playing games," Mr Thomsen said. Mr Thomsen added his dad was a gamer and he followed suit, spending "plenty of time" playing on his now coaches teams in person and online to play League of Legends, an online multiplayer battle arena game which is one of the most popular in the compete in tournaments for money and status, Mr Thomsen said."I've coached in person in Twickenham Stadium for a couple of months, I've also coached in Spain, so it's great when you can get people together to make a lot of progress that way, but it's also done online. It's like being a football manager." 'A big difference' While some people may not have heard of the Bafta Games Awards, Mr Thomsen said the video game industry is "a huge part of our daily lives".He added Bafta recognition could make a "big difference" to developers, especially independent ones, in addition to being a sign of "excellence"."Recognition from Bafta could lead to somebody discovering an indie game that couldn't afford huge advertising," Mr Thomsen said."It obviously makes a big difference to them and I'm sure all of these companies want to do well at an event like this."Helldivers 2, Astro Bot, and Thank Goodness You're Here! were among the games that picked up awards on Tuesday night.
Forbes
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Hellblade II's Dom Matthews: 'Kids Growing Up Can Be Games Developers'
Ninja Theory Seven years ago, Hellblade: Senua's Saga dominated the 2018 Bafta Games Awards by winning five gongs, including one for Melina Juergens' raw performance as the game's lead character. Its sequel, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, has every chance of being just as successful as it goes into tonight's 21st annual Bafta ceremony leading the way with 11 nominations. The game continues the story of Senua, a warrior in 9th century Iceland who suffers from a condition called psychosis which causes her to hallucinate and hear voices. She embarks on a violent journey across the country seeking revenge. I spoke with Dom Matthews, the studio head at the game's developer, Ninja Theory, about being nominated for so many awards and why the game struck a chord with players. It's really special. To get one nomination makes me proud, but to get as many as we have is incredible. The Bafta awards are the awards. When we won a few with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice it was one of the best moments of my life. The reason I think it's so special is because Bafta puts video games on a different platform. It's a vehicle through which games transcend beyond the games industry for a period and become more mainstream, so people really take notice. I think a category like British game shows the amazing work that's happening in this country. I want the next generation of kids growing up to say: 'this stuff is happening in my backyard, maybe I can be a games developer' because they absolutely can be. I'd love to win any of them, but I think games beyond entertainment is particularly special to me. Hellblade is a story about a character that experiences psychosis and we've got a really amazing partnership with Paul Fletcher at the University of Cambridge who is a professor of neuroscience, as well as links with a local recovery college there. They've really helped tell Senua's story in a truthful way through her experiences of psychosis. I'd love to win that for them. With Bafta, there's always a diverse range of games that are nominated. I don't think we can just say 'the games industry' anymore as it's become too broad. We're talking about [titles] that are completely different experiences. I think it's great that we're in an industry with lots of different types of experiences and games like there are in films, literature and theatre. People now have easy access to games through digital distribution and pricing models, so I think the diversity is something to be celebrated. I love the fact that games of all types can be loved by different audiences. The nominations for Hellblade II say that we had an ambition to make a game that would find its place in people's hearts and I think it did. A big part of what we care about as a studio is focusing on taking people on an impactful journey. I love hearing people say they've built a relationship with Senua or that they've connected with her story. Someone once told me that they feel like she's the only one that understands them. She feels like a real person that is really going through a journey.
BBC News
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bafta Games Awards: What are they, how do they work, and who won?
You might have heard of the TV or Film Bafta Awards, but how much do you know about the Bafta Games Awards?They'll be taking place on Tuesday evening, and there's a wide range of entries seeking to pick up the top prize in their category. Lego Horizon Adventures is nominated in four categories including best British Game, and will be fighting off competition from Astrobot in two categories - Animation and Family Game. In the Family category The Plucky Squire, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Cat Quest III, and Little Kitty, Big City will also be in the running. Do you have a favourite? Let us know in the comments, and keep reading for all you need to know about the gaming Baftas. What are the Bafta Games Awards? Bafta stands for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts so you might be surprised to know that that also includes games. Nevertheless every year the awards celebrate excellence in video games, with prizes for the best titles, developers, and innovations each year. Bafta's goal is to honour "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. When do the Bafta Gaming Awards 2025 take place? The nominees were announced on 4 March, and the awards night is 8 April 2025. If you want to watch all the action it will be live streamed on BAFTA's YouTube and Twitch channels on 8 April at 7pm. How are the winners chosen? The winners are chosen by Bafta members and people who are highly regarded in the gaming industry. They are able to vote for their top choices in each category, but some categories are decided by a specialised jury to ensure everything is as fair as possible. What games won at last year's Bafta Games Awards? Super Mario Bros. Wonder won two awards - best Family and best Multiplayer video game Viewfinder won best British game and New Intellectual Property Award, meaning the game is very original.
Forbes
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Phil Wang: 'I Used To Play Metal Gear Solid 2 On An Open Air Veranda'
Phil Wang onstage during the BAFTA Games Awards 2024 British comedian Phil Wang will host the Bafta Games Awards for the second year running when the event is livestreamed on Twitch and YouTube on Tuesday evening. Wang was born in Malaysia and shot to fame as a comic after appearing on TV shows like Taskmaster and Have I Got News For You. He hosts the podcast Budpod and regularly tours as a standup. He's also an avid gamer and he sat down with me recently to discuss his life in games, from the first console he owned to a gaming memory that he cherishes. The first game I remember playing was SkiFree on Windows 95. It's just a vertical skier moving up and down on the screen and you have to dodge trees, bumps and eventually the abominable snowman. My cousin had a computer and he showed me the game and I thought it was thrilling and dynamic. I asked my dad if we could get a computer; he was excited and thought his child was a master of the future digital revolution, but I just wanted to play the game. The Sega Saturn. I don't know why I got that. I was very influenced by my older cousin, who implied the Saturn was the thinking man's PlayStation, but it wasn't. I remember playing Sonic games and House of the Dead. I had the light gun for that too. After that, I graduated to the PlayStation and the original Game Boy. Metal Gear Solid 2 FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder I always think about Metal Gear Solid 2 on the PlayStation 2 in 2001. At this point in my life, I was still living in Malaysia and my PlayStation was out on a veranda in the open air. If I played too late at night, I'd have to get a mosquito coil and light it at my feet because they attacked me. I've such a strong memory of 'Snake, Snake!' ringing out across the veranda. I've played that game so many times. I was just so astonished by it. Everytime there's a leap forward in graphics, we always say 'it's not going to get better than this'. I remember playing that and thinking nothing could improve on it because they looked like real people in the game. I'm such a sucker for production value and so I love my PlayStation 5. I love the controller; I think the haptic feedback on the PS5 is such an achievement, it's stunning. I remember playing Spiderman 2 last year and getting hit with a crowbar - they made the controller vibrate as if you'd been hit by a piece of metal. It's unbelievable. Thank Goodness You're Here! is so funny. I don't remember laughing that much at a game since Portal. The boldness to be so unashamedly British in its language and humour is so fun. I also like the humour in Helldivers 2, but then the gameplay gets pretty serious. It's very hard to make a game properly funny because comedy requires timing and as a player, you're the one in control of that, not the gag. Pac-Man - he's big and eats too much. I could say Dave the Diver, but he's a lot more physically active than I am. Still Wakes the Deep is set on an oil rig in the seventies I'm playing Astro Bot. I've also started playing Split Fiction with my girlfriend and Still Wakes the Deep by The Chinese Room, which I love. I really enjoyed their other game, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. This one is a lovely length and has a really good story. It looks really beautiful too - well you're on an oil rig in the seventies, maybe beautiful is the wrong word. I'm playing Balatro too. A friend advised me to complete one run of that game and delete it otherwise it'll ruin my life, so I did. What an amazing achievement it is. Not that people dislike this, but maybe it's just too niche or nerdy - but I'll say the WWE games. Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain and Know Your Role; that run of games in the noughties are some of the most influential experiences in my life. I loved wrestling when I was young and I still kinda love it now. WWF Attitude, which most people say is the worst wrestling game ever, was the first character creation system I got into in a game, not that I was ever any good at it. My characters were so ugly. I remember when I played Mass Effect and I thought I'd make my guy really fit - he was the ugliest person I've ever seen in my life and I couldn't change him. I think it'd be Red Dead Redemption 2. I spent so much time on that game and barely scratched the surface. You can play that game forever and have any type of experience you want. It's not just about killing people all the time, there's beautiful parts too.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Hellblade 2 leads the way at Bafta Games Awards
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II has picked up the most nominations at this year's Bafta Games Awards. The action-adventure game, developed by Cambridge-based studio Ninja Theory, is up for awards in 11 out of 14 categories at the annual ceremony. It's in the running for best game alongside 3D platformer Astro Bot - up for eight awards - which clinched top prize at the US-based Game Awards in December. The event, considered one of the most prestigious in the games industry calendar, will be held in London on 8 April. The other contenders in the best game category are: Balatro - a poker-inspired card game Black Myth: Wukong - an action-adventure made in China and inspired by a popular myth Helldivers II - a multiplayer co-operative shooter The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom - the first game in Nintendo's popular series to star the princess it's named after Thank Goodness You're Here! - a wacky cartoon adventure game developed by two friends from Barnsley Bafta hands out prizes each year in a range of categories, including acting, music and game design. Three of the six most-nominated games this year were made in the UK. Still Wakes the Deep, from Scottish studio The Chinese Room, is up for eight awards, while Thank Goodness You're Here! is up for seven. Lego: Horizon Adventures, based on the PlayStation series and largely developed by London-based Studio Gobo, is nominated in four categories. Indie hits Animal Well and Balatro, each have four nominations, as does Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Senua's Saga: Hellblade II is a sequel to Senua's Sacrifice - which picked up five awards at 2018's gaming Baftas. Its 11 nominations might surprise some - the game was an impressive technical showcase and received positive if not outstanding reviews. However, like the first game, it was praised for its sensitive depiction of the main character's psychosis. Bafta Games committee chair Tara Saunders tells BBC Newsbeat it represents "a strong year for British-made games". She says the voting panel is made up of members across the world who take the awards "very seriously" and vote based on a range of features. "It's all about excellence," she says. "Excellence in the crafts and maybe some of those games have nailed all of those craft areas." Bafta CEO Jane Millichip agrees, and wants to embrace the fact they have a British game category. "Our members are international and they're the people who choose," she says. Arranged by number of categories: Senua's Saga: 11 Astro Bot and Still Wakes the Deep - eight Thank Goodness You're Here! - seven Black Myth: Wukong - five Read more about the nominees: 'Dead reyt': The love letter to Yorkshire making gamers cry laughing Mind games: Hellblade returns to explore psychosis Astro Bot: Could the old-school hit reshape PS5's future? The Bafta Games Awards are no stranger to the odd upset. In 2023, Vampire Survivors - made by a tiny British studio - beat Sony's God of War: Ragnarök to the top prize. This year's best game field has a similar mix of big-budget blockbusters and indie hits. "I love that Bafta can surprise, I love that it's not a given and we can get to that night and we don't know what's going to come out on top," Tara says. "It's putting a spotlight on some really tiny games that might have slipped by." Metaphor: Refantazio and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth, two games that featured prominently in nominations elsewhere, only picked up three nominations between them. Times remain tough for people working in the games industry worldwide, with mass layoffs, studio closures and cancelled projects continuing to make headlines. Tara says awards like the Baftas are "a beacon of light in the dark times". "It's really important to pause and celebrate the teams and individuals that have crafted these standout games experiences," she says. And Jane, who also oversees Bafta's events across film, TV and other creative industries, says the gaming awards are a place for people to support each other. "I've never seen a community cheer so much when they lose, it's a brilliant thing to behold," she says. "It's so wonderful to see the whole games community being so supportive of each other and there to celebrate the sector, not themselves. "It's kind of devoid of ego and that's great." You can find a full list of Bafta Games Awards nominations for 2025 here. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.
