Intel is supporting this year's Dare to be Digital with Intel® i7 series hardware and Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers.

Dare to be Digital is the UK's premier video games competition, with the three winning teams becoming nominees for the BAFTA ‘Ones To Watch’ award.

Dare, now in its tenth year, sees fourteen five-strong teams of computer arts and programming students and graduates from Canada, China, India, England, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Ireland and Wales competing against each other to design a prototype game or other interactive digital entertainment. The teams have beaten off fierce competition and survived industry scrutiny during regional finals to secure a place in the 10-week competition.

This is the first time that the finalists have all stayed in a single host centre, the Abertay Library in Dundee. Paul Durrant, Director of Business Development at Abertay, said “Dundee is the perfect place for a gathering of such brilliant talent. We are proud of Dundee’s position as a UK leader in computer games and, of course, proud of our contribution to an industry which brings large investment and employment opportunities to the local area.”

“Here the finalists will have access to some of the finest minds in the industry and, thanks to the generous support of our technology partners, they will be using the very latest in game-development technology. This really is an opportunity like no other.”

The teams are now well into their 10 weeks in the Dare hothouse at Abertay, with each team receiving a stipend and industry mentoring from some of the top names in the business. At the end of the 10 weeks the teams face the ultimate challenge – showcasing their games to an audience of thousands at Dare ProtoPlay, part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival on 14-16 August 2009.

You can keep up with the progress of your favourite games online and interact with the teams on the Dare website.

Catch the latest developments

See work in progress.