Tag Archives: Andy Payne

Mastertronic managing director Andy Payne has been made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s New Year Honours list, its been confirmed this morning.

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Trade organisation UK Interactive Entertainment has called out the British government for its failure to follow through on plans to adopt the PEGI system of games content rating.

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The association for UK Interactive Entertainment has launched a £100,000 fund to promote digital industries, with support from TIGA and the Department of Culture Media & Sport.

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Looks like the UK will finally get a games download chart thanks to the deal wrangling skills of the ELSPA and Chart-Track.

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Oh look, another Eurogamer podcast. Oh look, it has Pat!

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Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and the Shadow Minister for Culture have each been announced to speak at the London Games Conference on October 27 at BAFTA.

According to the press release, the conference “will tackle the biggest issues facing publishers and developers today: How to strengthen relationships with their playing customers and how to sell products to them in the years ahead through digital distribution.”

“I’m delighted to be speaking to the London Games Conference,” said Shadow Minister for Culture, Ed Vaizey. “The games sector is one of the most successful creative industries in the UK, but it has been forgotten by Government. While Canada and France aggressively compete to attract games talent, all UK politicians talk about is video games violence.

“Yet this sector should be a dream for a politician – it recruits people qualified in difficult subjects, like maths and computer science; it’s regional, with clusters all over the country; and it’s successful and world-beating. Government backing for the games sector should be a no-brainer.”

Andy Payne, chair of ELSPA, Phil Harrison, Edge editor Tony Mott and Intent MD Stuart Dinsey are all expected to chair panels during the conference.

Full press release through the break.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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PEGI ratings and the new labels are expected to be enforced before Christmas rolls around in the UK.

ELSPA chairman Andy Payne has said that the Video Standards Council will legally be able to start classifying games after the UK Government returns from recess, which runs from July – October 12.

“There’s a whole load of things that will need to happen and they are all geared around the political process,” Payne told GI.biz. “In terms of this actually becoming law, it’s got to get through Parliament and that will happen but that will take time.

“Parliament is going into recess and this won’t even get looked at before then. In terms of making it absolutely law, and that’s the VSC taking over the legislative duties the BBFC has, that won’t happen until the autumn at the earliest, and there’s a whole load of things that have got to happen before that.

“In this political climate I would expect this to be going through due legal process before Christmas and I fully expect the new symbols on boxes for the big major products that are coming out in the fourth quarter.”

The full interview is through the link.