News and Events

Games pioneer inspires BU students

10 February 2009

BU staff and students given advice from Interactive Games pioneer Ian Livingstone OBE.

One of the UK’s founding fathers of interactive entertainment has urged BU students to follow their passion for games design and interactivity.

Ian Livingstone OBE, the Creative Director for Eidos and a leading spokesperson for the UK video games industry, said how good it was to see “a University so keen on games and helping to move Britain forward in an interactive and entertaining way.”

Livingstone’s audience of students and staff from the BU-based National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), heard about the early days of the Games Workshop, which he co-founded in 1975, and the launch of role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons and White Dwarf, the UK’s first role-playing games magazine.

As Executive Chairman of the Board of the new interactive entity Eidos plc – the UK's leading developer and publisher of video games – Livingstone was instrumental in securing many of the company's major franchises including Tomb Raider and Hitman.

The original version of Tomb Raider, which featured the most iconic game character Lara Croft, has now sold over 30 million copies worldwide, bringing in an estimated $1 billion worth of income.

Livingstone said: “Lara started from a piece of paper and has turned into a huge piece of intellectual property. If I can offer one piece of advice, it would be to protect the intellectual property on anything you create.”

This is the first talk in a series of high-profile guest lectures organised by the Bournemouth University Foundation. The Foundation aims to develop relations with key players in industries partnered to the University’s academic centres of excellence.

BU’s NCCA has conducted research of international significance and has pioneered both undergraduate and postgraduate courses in computer animation and digital effects. It recently announced plans to launch two new undergraduate courses for entry in September 2009.

The BA (Hons) Computer Games Animation and BA (Hons) Computer Animation Arts are awaiting validation and should soon join the highly-renowned BA (Hons) Computer Visualisation & Animation in the Centre’s suite of undergraduate courses.