14th August 2007

Email this Page |

Students from the University of Ulster and the North West Institute of Further and Higher Education are hoping to walk the red carpet at the annual BAFTA awards for video games in October. 

The team has developed a video game – Bathroom Buccaneers – which is currently being showcased at the finals of the 2007 Dare to be Digital competition being held as part of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. Then it is on to Dundee on Thursday for the final judging. 

A total of 11 teams from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland, China and India are taking part in the competition and the three winning teams will form the shortlist for the new BAFTA Ones to Watch Award which will be announced at a gala event in Battersea in October. 

The team agreed that taking part in the Dare to be Digital event has been an intensive learning experience. One of them, Alan McNair, added: “I feel I have learned as much over the summer developing this game as I would have expected to learn during a whole year of normal study at university. Having worked so intensively on the game I now feel that I never want to see a bath again”. 

Joining Alan in the team were Scott Atkins, Michael Bell, (School of Computing and Mathematics, Jordanstown), James Hegarty (School of Computing & Intelligent Systems, Magee) and Aaron Donaghey (NWIFHE).

They were supervised by George Moore (School of Computing and Mathematics, Jordanstown), Michael Callaghan and Shane Wilson (School of Computing & Intelligent Systems, Magee).

Dare to be Digital is the UK and Ireland’s premier video games competition for students who love to play games, and want to design their own video games. The competition, backed by game industry sponsors is held annually between June and August.

For further information, please contact:

Trina Porter
Telephone: 028 71675511
Email: Trina Porter