Animation graduate wins two game BAFTA awards
For the second year running, a BA (Hons) Animation Production graduate from the Arts University College at Bournemouth is celebrating success at the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards.
James Norman, who graduated in 1998 and is now lead motion capture animator on the development team at Rocksteady Studios Ltd, won the Best Game and Gameplay awards for Batman: Arkham Asylum. At last year’s awards ceremony, Francis Pang, another Animation graduate from the University College, won the BAFTA for Artistic Achievement for his work on Little Big Planet.
The video game awards, now in their fourth year as a stand-alone ceremony, were created to honour the greatest achievements in gaming each year. The Gameplay award is judged on a game’s ability to captivate and engage a user’s attention and provide a truly compelling experience, which Batman: Arkham Asylum achieved by bringing the hugely popular DC Comics superhero to life.
James was overwhelmed by the success of this game in particular, commenting “The trophy cabinet is bulging for that one and some of the awards are specifically for animation too! It’s good to finally get my hands on one after seeing them behind glass at BAFTA so long ago.”
Pete Symons, BA (Hons) Animation Production course leader at the University College, commented “Staff and students from the University College are delighted by James’s success and congratulate him and the development team at Rocksteady Studios Ltd. This is the second year running that Animation alumni have won awards at the BAFTA ceremony and it continues a very successful year for our graduates.”
