In a step towards video games becoming an internationally accepted art form, England is hosting its first ever British Academy Video Game Awards this October. As part of the week long London Games Festival starting October 2, the show?s planners hope to bring about a greater understanding of the “artistic and creative innovation within video games.”

British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) chairman Duncan Kenworthy said, “Video games constitute a hugely significant, new, moving-image art form that sits alongside film and television in its power to entertain and educate, and the Academy is determined to encourage its development. The British Academy Video Games Awards are a key part of our strategy to define, articulate, and reward excellence in the sector, to the benefit of those who create games and those who play them.”

The London Games Festival is sponsored by The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) and The Independent Games Developers Association (TIGA), along with the London Development Agency and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).