Game Stars extended to ten-episode run for 2005

British terrestrial television channel ITV's annual foray into videogames programming, Game Stars, is set to be extended into a 10-episode series when it returns to screens next year.

The show was formerly broadcast as an awards special in spring, and last year was bolstered by being used as the brand for the UK's biggest ever consumer games show, Game Stars Live, in London's ExCeL exhibition centre in early September.

Now its organisers plan to run ten episodes of the show next year, including a special from Game Stars Live 2005, with the programme promising a "new innovative format" and a nationwide hunt for "the UK's greatest gamer" when it airs next Summer and Autumn.

"Gaming has changed so much in recent years," marvelled ITV's director of licensing, Martin Lowde. "The increasing maturity of gamers has created an appealing demographic and is a programming area we are very keen to develop. As one of the world's favourite entertainment pastimes, it is an area rich in content, ideas, creativitiy and fun for all kinds of people right across the UK. We want to help give the nation's games fans more access to the latest and greatest games."

"The Game Stars brand we have developed for TV and associated spin off activities, such as the brilliant consumer exhibition, works very well," he continued. "It may be that we have to look at the brand and its development given the desire we have to develop a series."