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After debuting initial free-to-play online game lectures from Sony Online (Free Realms), Gaia Online and Rebel Monkey (CampFu), September's GDC Austin 2009 event has revealed subscription MMO-specific talks spanning Star Wars: The Old Republic, DC Universe Online, EVE Online, and more.
[In her latest Bosslady Blog update, Game Developers Conference China event director Meggan Scavio discusses some of the recent news pertaining to GDC China 2009.]
Yesterday, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) formally issued a notification to regulate animation, comics and game tradeshows/conferences. As of today, the Game Developers Conference China (GDC China), to be held October 11-13 2009 in Shanghai, is the only game development conference approved by the Ministry of Culture.
We've been working closely with the MOC over the last 9 months towards what we both see as a long-term partnership. The GDC China team, along with UBM CEO, David Levin, met in person with the Minister just last week. The MOC minister expressed excitement over a mutually beneficial future between China and the Game Developers Conference (GDC). In addition, the launch of the first ever Independent Games Festival (IGF) in China mirrors a mission of the MOC--to showcase the talent and craft of the Chinese game development community. The MOC recognize our commitment to the local developers and share our desire to create an environment in which studios participate in a voluntary and meaningful manner.
Read the Official Press Release on the Minisistry of Culture's new Policy as well as GDC China's Official Endorsement
GDC China has a few more unannounced surprises so keep a lookout here for updates!
Matias Myllyrinne, managing director of Remedy Entertainment, original creators of the acclaimed Max Payne series and the upcoming Alan Wake, has been announced as the second keynote for GDC Europe 2009.
In his keynote address entitled, "From Max Payne to Alan Wake: Creating Intellectual Properties the Remedy Way," Myllyrinne will share the key principles that have guided the company over the years in developing its games.
Announcing its initial set of lectures, the online game-focused GDC Austin 2009 event has revealed free-to-play centric lectures from Sony Online (Free Realms), Gaia Online and Rebel Monkey (CampFu) for the September conference.
Hilmar Petursson, chief exec at EVE Online developer CCP, will be keynoting the upcoming Game Developers Conference Europe this August in Cologne, Germany, where he'll unveil the studio's next project.
The exec, who has been with Reykjavik, Iceland-based CCP since 2000, will deliver the keynote "CCP: Winning the War," a presentation centered on his company's growth.
The Game Developers Conference Europe has teamed up with the European Games Developer Federation, Europe's trade body of game developers, in an effort to better address trends and political issues facing European game developers today.
Alongside more than 80 sessions, the results of this new cooperation will be seen at Europe's premier developer event, taking place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Cologne, Germany.
Organizers of this September's GDC Austin have announced its new iPhone Summit, following a similar revelation regarding the Indie Games Summit.
GDC Europe 2009 has announced initial speakers for its August event in Cologne, Germany, with Flower's Kellee Santiago joining Swords And Soldiers' Joost van Dongen and Zootfly's Bostjan Troha at the international event.
The event will be held in conjunction with the massive European GamesCom industry event for consumers, publishers, and trade professionals, and will take place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Germany.
Game Developers Conference organizers Think Services and Reboot Communications have announced that the first ever GDC Canada saw more than 800 attendees at the event last week in Vancouver.
This represents a doubling in attendance over last year's Reboot-run Vancounver International Game Summit (VIGS), say the organizers.
Organizers of this September's GDC Austin have announced a call for submissions for the first-ever Independent Games Summit there, also revealing the Advisory Board and topics to be discussed at the two-day Summit.
May 12th-13th saw the just concluded, successful first annual Game Developers Conference Canada, held at the new Vancouver Convention Center by Think Services in conjunction with Reboot Communications.
There was a general focus on higher-budget games for the first GDC Canada -- reflecting the output of many Vancouver-area developers like EA Canada, Relic Entertainment, Next Level Games, and Radical Entertainment, all of whom had representatives at the show.
2009 GDC Canada's relatively small size gave it an intimate feel, although the keynotes by Don Mattrick of Microsoft and Drs. Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka of BioWare saw fully-packed rooms.
Think Services-owned editorial site Gamasutra had extensive session coverage from the two days of GDC Canada, including both keynote addresses - here's the highlights:
Microsoft's Mattrick Talks Distinctive Days, Pioneer Spirit
"In the first of GDC Canada's two keynotes, former Electronic Arts and current Microsoft executive Don Mattrick spoke with Victor Lucas about his history in the games industry, from Distinctive Software to Xbox. There was particular relevance to the assembled crowd -- after all, Mattrick can arguably credited with having sown the seeds for the now-thriving Vancouver-area game development scene."
BioWare Bosses Talk The Future Of Storytelling
"BioWare co-founders and medical doctors Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk never have any shortage of things to say about interactive narrative, and that held true in the second GDC Canada keynote. The good doctors conveyed their studio's mentality towards game storytelling, from different player character perspectives to internal versus external narrative, to character archetypes."
GDC Austin organizers have announced an expanded Advisory Board for the 'connected gaming'-centric September event, adding Nexon, SOE and EA/Mythic notables to the filled-out board.
Game Developers Conference organizers have made free streaming video of two major GDC 2009 events, the Game Design Challenge and the inaugural Indie Game Maker Rant, available as part of the newly launched myGDC Vault service.
The myGDC Vault website allows GDC 2009 All-Access Pass holders to view hundreds of specially video-recorded sessions from this year's Game Developers Conference, with synchronized slides and easy one-click viewing.
In addition, organizers will be making select GDC lectures available for free to the general public, and the first set of GDC 2009 lectures are now available. These include the following talks:
- Game Design Challenge: My First Time
The popular Design Challenge series has spanned everything from an “inter-species game†to 2006's 'Nobel Peace Prize' challenge, won by Will Wright.
This year's Challenge saw Infocom veteran Steve Meretzky, Habbo lead designer Sulka Haro and last-minute substitutes Heather Kelley (Thief: Deadly Shadows) and Erin Robinson (Spooks) entertainingly twinning 'sex and autobiography' in their entertaining, warring game concepts for the theme 'My First Time'.
The second GDC China has opened up its call for submissions for panels, lectures, and tutorials, which remains open through May 22, 2009.
As previously announced, GDC China 2009 marks Think Services' return to the Chinese mainland; the event has the official sanction of Ministry of Culture of China.
The show itself will take place at the Shanghai International Convention Center from October 11 - 13, 2009. Its event director is Meggan Scavio, who serves the same role she does for the U.S.-based GDC, which took place last month in San Francisco.
For this year's recently concluded Game Developers Conference, Think Services' alt.gaming weblog, GameSetWatch, decided to try a little journalistic/interactive experiment.
They recruited Canadian author and game creator Jim Munroe, whom, as his Wikipedia page explains, is a former editor at Adbusters Magazine and a HarperCollins-published author ('Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask').
In the game field, he founded the Artsy Game Incubator project, and his poignant illustrated text adventure, 'Everybody Dies', took third place at IFComp last year and picked up a number of other media honors.
