Will Wright Gets BAFTA Fellowship
Alfred Hitchcock. Charlie Chaplin. Spielberg. Will Wright. What do they have in common? No, they're not all dead, that's a horrible thing to say. You're horrible!
They've all been inducted into BAFTA's Fellowship, the British version of, um...well, it's British. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is inducing Mr. William Wright into their lauded Fellowship, which has previously entertained luminaries from only the film and television industries - Wright is the first member of the video game industry to receive the honor (apparently BAFTA isn't waiting to play Spore).
The honorable Hilary Bevan Jones, Chairman of the Academy, had this to say:
“Will’s immense, creative body of work and his continued contribution to the industry make him a most worthy recipient of the Fellowship and being such a pioneer, we are thrilled that he will be the first person to receive this honour."
"Honour." How cute is that?
Sims Creator Wright inducted into BAFTA Fellowship
Creator of The Sims, Will Wright, joins legends such as Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin and Steven Spielberg as he is inducted into BAFTA's Fellowship at this year's Awards ceremony
Monday 15th October/... Will Wright, the creator of The Sims, the world’s best selling PC gaming franchise with more than 90 million units sold, will shortly join an exclusive number of household names from TV and Film as he becomes the first recipient of the Fellowship from the video games industry at the British Academy Video Games Awards 2007. The Fellowship is the highest accolade the Academy can bestow on an individual for their creative work.
Until now, the much lauded Fellowship has remained an exclusive part of BAFTA’s more established pillars, TV and Film. But today’s British Academy recognises the massive impact of video games on popular culture and their huge contribution to the whole art form of the moving image.
Hilary Bevan Jones, Chairman of the Academy said “Will’s immense, creative body of work and his continued contribution to the industry make him a most worthy recipient of the Fellowship and being such a pioneer, we are thrilled that he will be the first person to receive this honour”.
Wright, who is widely accepted as one of the world’s leading visionaries in the field of video game design, has been passionately creating games for more than twenty years. Although he has worked on a number of hugely successful games, among them Raid On Bungling Bay (1984), SimCity (1989), SimCity 2000 (1993), SimCity 3000 (1989) and SimCity 4 (2003), he is best known for bringing to fruition one of the best-loved games franchises in history, The Sims – a game whose inspiration sprang from a combination of the aforementioned titles.
Other ‘firsts’ at this year’s Awards include the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare To Be Digital which recognises up-and–coming talent, and the PC World Gamers’ Award, the only publicly-voted award of the night (www.obsessedwithgames.co.uk). This year’s Awards will be held at London’s Battersea Evolution on 23 October. Music acts will include the indie rock band Athlete with another act being confirmed this week. The show will be broadcast on E4 on November 4 at 11pm and repeated the following weekend on Channel 4.
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 15 October 2007
· Comments (1)
Other stuff like this: bafta, will wright
Hey! That's a big deal over here! I don't think you realise quite how much of an honour that really is!