GDC Canada 2009 Event Round-up

Here's a summary on Gamasutra of the first annual Game Developers Conference Canada, which took place last week here in Vancouver, May 12-13.

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.

There also are links to all of Gamasutra's session coverage from the two days of GDC Canada, including both keynote addresses:

• Microsoft's Mattrick Talks Distinctive Days, Pioneer Spirit
• BioWare Bosses Talk The Future Of Storytelling
• Next Level's Tronsgard On The Anti-Crunch Manifesto
• Rogers On Determining Studio Value To Publishers
• EA Montreal's Schneider Gets Disruptive On Army Of Two
• What Game Developers Should Know About Windows 7
• Researcher Chandler Talks Creating Emotion, Belief

via the Serious Games Source.

The 2008 KOGIA Plays of the Year

KOGIA, which is the Korean Games Industry Association (founded by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1999 for the purpose of developing the game industry as the key future strategic industry of the country) has announced the winners of its first Global Online Game Awards for 2008.

It probably comes as no surprise that Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft was voted as the world's best role-playing game, and that Nexon's Kartrider handily got the nod for best racing/casual game.

"Other award winning online games include Valve's Counterstrike Source for best first-person shooting game, NCsoft's City of Heroes/Villains for best adventure/action game, EA Sports' FIFA 09 for best top sports game, and CCP Games' Eve Online for best strategic simulation game."

Read the story from Gamasutra here>>

While I'm on the topic of movers and shakers in the games industry, a reminder that the LOGIN 2009 conference (Seattle, May 11-14) call for speaker submissions goes on for another two weeks.

The Call for Speakers is open to all online game industry experts worldwide, whether for console, PC or mobile platforms. Candidates are asked to review the topics of interest and session submission tips on the LOGIN 2009 website and then submit a completed session proposal form and speaker application.

Details here>>

By the way, I'm still in the midst of conducting interviews with those involved in the Korean Games Industry, so if you're based here in Korea, or making a trip here within the next two months send me a note. It's the home stretch now!

Interviewed by Gamasutra.com

This morning I received an email from Neils Clark at Gamasutra.com, telling me that the cover feature article he wrote, titled "The Academics Speak: Is There Life After World of Warcraft?" is out.

I was one of five scholars interviewed on our thoughts for the piece, including Edward Castronova, Aaron Delwiche, Henry Jenkins, and Jeff McNeill.

The objective was to have a conversation with "academics immersed in the research," as well as raise important questions for the way we look at games.

Here's some coverage of the article from Slashdot.

No wonder my blog traffic spiked on Wednesday.

See the article>>