As the SFL team are working hard planning our mini-fest for November, a month long celebration of gaming culture has already begun across London.

Bigger and better than ever, the London Games Festival has returned with a diverse programme of events that aims to inspire, engage and be enjoyed by everyone. After a day of stalking the show floor at the Eurogamer Expo at Earl’s Court, hunting down the very best sci-fi titles or going behind the scenes for exclusive interviews, we were delighted attend the London Games Festival launch event; the GamesAid Awards.

Members of GamesAid come from every corner of the videogame industry and throughout the year, organise fundraising events such as sponsored bike rides, golf tournaments and special social events like discos, dinners or tasty baking days. Events don’t have to be gaming focused, as long as the money raised goes into the GamesAid pot. Individual and corporate donations also swell the funds, as does the GamesAid ebay store that has a plethora of gaming related goodies (many of which are limited edition, rare items) donated by games publishers, developers and gamers.

Charities that work predominately to support young people are nominated and voted on by members and this year, five charities were awarded a whopping £36,000 each! Action For Kids works closely with families of disabled children and young people to help them deal with the barriers to independence by funding specialist equipment, offering family support and providing a wide range of education and training options and access to work programmes. Jigsaw4u is a charity working to support children and young people through trauma, loss and bereavement. Small Steps runs structured sessions every morning / afternoon for groups of severely disabled children and their parents. SpecialEffect is the only specialist UK-based charity dedicated to helping ALL people with disabilities enjoy video games. The Willow Foundation is the only charity in the UK to provide positive and life-enhancing Special Days for seriously ill 16 to 40 year olds.

An emotional night with not a dry eye to be seen from the crowd as each charity collected their cheque and gave heartful thanks, it was a positive way to showcase how videogames can bring pleasure to such a diverse range of people. "We’re devoting more resources to it than ever before,” says Festival Director Kirsty Payne, “with the aim of making this the busiest event yet. The way people buy, play and consume games is changing – and we hope to reflect that with a wide range of brilliant events falling under one glorious banner. Anyone can host an event under the London Games Festival banner – so we’re looking forward to getting the capital playing together and celebrating the culture of games.”

London Games Festival is now in full swing with a full schedule of events planned including workshops, talks, pub quizzes, the MCM Expo and a very special Games Art Exhibition at City Hall from October 22nd. Organised by Ukie, it will showcase the very best of British talent with rare pieces donated by publishers, developers and artists. Sculptures, storyboards, drawings, designs and one-off concept pieces will then be auctioned off with all proceeds going to charity. Here’s hoping the exhibition includes some unique sci-fi masterpieces!

For more details about GamesAid or the London Games Festival, check out the LGF website. We then look forward to welcoming everyone to the SFL mini-fest in November. Let the festivities begin!