Interactive Interplay

While no one is quite sure precisely what “interactive multimedia” is, the nascent industry has already managed to spawn competing awards ceremonies.

The Interactive Media Festival is scheduled for May 5 at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood.

But that announcement was upstaged last week when the new Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences said it will sponsor its own interactive festival in April, with its own award, the Ajax.

The two groups, both hoping to foster a better understanding of the interactive creative process, met to arrive at some accommodation--to no avail.

The Interactive Media Festival compares itself to the film fest at Cannes, while the Interactive Film Festival claims to be more like the Academy Awards.