London Calling

This year's events programme isn't a bad start, but even more ambition is required. Video Games Live is a perfect example of what should be going on during a games festival, but these ideas could go so much further. London's museums, art galleries and performance spaces are ripe with opportunity as showcases for videogame arts and culture. Street art installations could drive interest and inspire people to find out more about the events. Contests and competitions could involve consumers rather than just asking them to spectate. For one week, London itself could become a canvas for the craft of videogames.

Moreover, it's absolutely vital that the industry breaks this bad habit of talking to itself, and starts seriously working on talking to the rest of the world instead. We no longer want for people who can talk passionately and intelligently about interactive entertainment - and any publishing exec who still thinks his developers are mole people who shouldn't be allowed out to address the public needs to quickly check which decade he's living in.

Public lectures, talks and presentation from game creators would be well-received and well-attended - especially if supported by a week of cultural events and media coverage. And of course, each of these events would be a sponsorship opportunity, a chance to put new and upcoming games in front of huge numbers of consumers - many of whom are exactly the people that existing sampling strategies utterly fail to reach.

The London Games Festival, at this moment in the development of the industry, represents a golden opportunity on several levels. Culturally, the business has a chance to establish itself as one of Britain's leading creative industries, and as a cutting-edge medium rather than a maligned range of overgrown kids' toys. Commercially, brand new marketing and communication strategies are simply waiting for sufficiently intelligent and innovative companies to come along and exploit them.

It will require a little bravery. Talking about design and creativity in front of consumers involves embracing a degree of openness which few games companies are comfortable with at the moment. Moreover, a successful games festival would need to leverage the uniqueness of interactive entertainment - and letting go of the coat-tails of the film industry, standing on its own feet and declaring pride in its own accomplishments isn't something the videogames business is very good at presently.

Yet these, too, are essential steps as the industry matures and takes its rightful place among the other creative media. Perhaps they won't be taken in London - but as the buzz around this year's events confirms, a real opportunity exists. With a little vision and a little courage, the London Games Festival could grow into a genuine turning point for the perception of this industry - and make a significant contribution to its commercial success into the bargain.