The Tribeca Film Festival announced the line-up of games chosen for its first-ever Tribeca Games Official Selection. Although L.A. Noire was the first video game to be honored by annual event in 2011, this marks the first time the medium has been treated as a full-fledged category with multiple titles in contention. The winner will receive the inaugural Tribeca Games Award.   

According to Tribeca’s press release (as shared by Gamasutra), the award honors an upcoming game for “its potential for excellence in art and storytelling through design, artistic mastery and highly immersive worlds.” Here are the eight games nominated:

• 12 Minutes
• The Big Con
• Harold Halibut
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Lost in Random
• NORCO
• Sable
• Signalis

Tribeca is positioning this move as the launch of a broader initiative for spotlighting video games as interactive art. In a press release, Tribeca Festival co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal states that “For over a decade, our mission has been to be a catalyst for placing games and their creators at the forefront of mainstream and artistic culture alongside film, TV and VR/AR. We continue to embrace the cross pollination and intersection of these storytellers with this year’s Tribeca Games Official Selections. And this is just the beginning.”

To that end, this year's event will also feature unspecified "world premieres" and a live performance of the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack by its producer, Daniel Lanois, his band, and some unannounced “special guests”. Tribeca will also showcase the Official Games Selection as part of this year’s Summer Games Fest.

Furthermore, from June 11 to June 20, viewers can play digital hands-on demos using Parsec’s remote streaming technology. It’s not clear if these will be demos of these specific games or other titles entirely. Regardless, you’ll have to reserve your sessions, though, which you can do beginning May 24. To reserve your spot as well as read more information about each title in the Official Games Selection, you can visit Tribeca’s website. The Tribeca Film Festival 2021 will be held in New York City and kicks off June 9 and concludes June 20.

What do you think of Tribeca honoring games alongside films? Are you looking forward to any of the titles chosen? Share your thoughts in the comments! 

[Source: Gamasutra]