The competition has been launched to highlight the benefits of family gaming, as part of the Control.Collaborate.Create. campaign, run by Ukie, the organisation that represents the games industry.

Of those who enter the competition, one family from England, Scotland and Wales will be selected as the finalists, each winning a games console and a selection of video games for their family to play together. One of these three finalist families will then go on to be selected as the overall winner, winning a day trip to a UK-based games studio and the chance to have their family transformed into video games characters by a top video games designer. They will also be named PEGI Family Gaming Ambassadors, and have the opportunity to share their stories of playing video games together with other families and the media.

What’s more, as Ambassadors, the winning family will have the opportunity to receive and test games together, to be reviewed on askaboutgames.com and appear in videos to be featured on the website.

To celebrate the launch of the competition, Ukie has commissioned an image of what the Royal Family might look like as video games characters, otherwise known as the ‘Wonderful Windsors’.

Ukie CEO, Dr Jo Twist says: “Games are a great way to bring families together. They also get children thinking creatively, not just about the games themselves but also the cutting edge technology, art and computer programming that go into making them. We hope that this competition and our new askaboutgames website highlights this and helps families to get the best from their game playing experiences.”

Andy Robertson, editor of askaboutgames.com, says: “This competition is a great way to highlight to families the many benefits of gaming together, and I’m looking forward to seeing the entries that we receive. Video gaming can be a really collaborative and creative experience for families and we hope the competition will encourage children to think imaginatively and see their thoughts come to life!”

As well as hosting the competition, askaboutgames.com is an on-going resource featuring top tips for parents and examples of how playing video games is a collaborative and creative experience for their whole family.

The closing date of the competition is 27th August 2012 and more details can be found on www.askaboutgames.com