University picks up games award

Scottish organisations picked up almost a third of the awards

Abertay University has triumphed at a top European gaming industry awards.

The university was honoured for its "Dare to be Digital" competition at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

It topped the Education New Talent category for hosting the Scottish leg of the contest which sees students create a computer game in 10 weeks.

Organisations based in Scotland picked up almost a third of the prizes at the ceremony, including Edinburgh's Rockstar North.

The creators of the Grand Theft Auto series collected the Visual Arts and Audio Accomplishment prizes and the award for Best In-house Developer.

'Tremendous success'

The overall Grand Prix was given to its parent label Rockstar Games.

Dundee's Realtime Worlds picked up the Business Development gong.

Abertay beat organisations like Microsoft, Derby University and Hull University in their category.

Professor Bernard King, principal of the university, said: "This is a fantastic achievement for Abertay and Dare to be Digital.

"Along with the success of Realtime Worlds, it underlines the pre-eminence that the city of Dundee has established since Realtime Worlds' predecessor company was established and we launched the world's first degrees in computer games over 10 years ago.

"And when you take into account the tremendous success of other Scottish companies in these awards, it's clear that we are talking about a highly successful and dynamic creative industry, developing indigenously in Scotland and with huge potential for future growth and wealth creation."

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