Latest news : Gaming awards winners announced

The winners of the Dare to be Digital video games development competition were announced at Dare Protoplay in Edinburgh last weekend.

The competition pits budding video games designers from universities against each other in an attempt to produce the best game and is run by the University of Abertay.

Three teams walked off with a prize of £2,500 plus a nomination for the BAFTA Ones to Watch award.

Angry Mango from the University of Wales, Newport produced an atmospheric 2D platform puzzle game called Mush, which used the innovative Windows 7 tactile inputs.

That Game Studio, comprising of four students from the University of Skovde and one from the University of Abertay created a multiplayer racing game for the Xbox 360 called Twang!, while Team Tickle from Abertay produced a platform game for the iPad called Sculpty.

'The quality of this year’s entries is exceptionally high. It was our opinion that the winning projects, as well as some that came close, could have considerable commercial potential – an amazing achievement considering the students only had ten weeks in which to write the project,' said Charles Cecil, managing director of Revolution Software and member of the judging panel.

'The University of Abertay should be congratulated on Dare to be Digital, which has deservedly built a global reputation, with teams from around the world aspiring to compete.'

‘We offer all the teams, and the winners in particular, our warmest congratulations on their excellent projects,’ he added.

Dare to be Digital is currently in its eleventh year and accepted applicants from over 80 universities this year.