A NEW videogames festival that will feature some of the biggest names in the increasingly popular industry has been announced for the National Media Museum.

The five day Yorkshire Games Festival takes place for the first time in November, and organisers hope it will become a major event in the UK videogame calendar.

As well as guest appearances from people in the video game industry, there will be a family weekend and celebrations of the nation’s prominent role in video game design.

Budding game designers will be offered what organisers call “unrivalled insight” from some of the industry’s highest profile names

The festival will be a partnership with the games business network Game Republic, and also involve collaborations with the University of Bradford and Bradford College.

This year the video game industry is expected to overtake the combined income of the film and music industries.

The museum has also announced the return of the Widescreen Weekend, which was held as a standalone event for the first time last year.

Visitors from USA and across Europe joined local film lovers at the 2015 to celebrate large format film technology and the museum’s unique cinemas.

The Media Museum is the only place outside the US able to show Cinerama films, and the festival will feature world and European premieres of brand new restorations of Cinerama films.

The festival has received funding support from the British Film Institute and BKSTS: The International Moving Image Society.

Jo Quinton-Tulloch, Director of the Museum, said: “This will be an incredibly exciting year for us as we look to build on 2015’s success and develop Widescreen Weekend further as a unique film festival of international standing.

“We are also launching a new videogames festival aimed at giving students, recent graduates and those breaking into the field access to industry-leading professionals from the region and beyond.

“I’m delighted to say we’ve already received a very enthusiastic response.”

The Widescreen Weekend takes place from October 13-16.

The Yorkshire Games Festival takes place from November 9 - 13, and a programme of events for both festivals will be announced next month.