Vesa Raudasoja elected to the IGDA Board of Directors

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Vesa Raudasoja, a long time active member of IGDA Finland,  has unlocked quite an achievement as he was elected to the IGDA Board of Directors. IGDA Finland warmly congratulates Vesa Raudasoja for his election and wishes him continued success in his future endeavors.

The results of the election came out on Thursday the 3rd of March and new board members will officially begin their terms on 1st of April 2016.

The final results are as follows:

  • Vesa Raudasoja - 473 votes
  • Lucy Morris - 318 votes
  • Melody Schaeffer - 241 votes
  • Cat Wendt - 213 votes

More information on the election and results can be found here: http://www.igda.org/news/278072/2016-IGDA-Board-of-Directors-Election-Results.htm

Vesa Raudasoja nominated for IGDA Board of Directors / Vesa Raudasoja ehdolla IGDA:n hallitukseen

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A long time active IGDA Finland member and a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Vesa Raudasoja has been nominated for International Game Developer's Association's (IGDA) Board of Directors. Raudasoja has been involved with IGDA Finland since the beginning, and is the first Finnish person nominated for the Board. Previously the Board of Directors has mainly consisted of members from North America.

A game developer himself, and having closely followed the growth of Finnish game industry, Raudasoja finds IGDA's role very important for game developer communities and wants to get European and Scandinavian voices heard more in the community.

"I'm sure that many game studios in Finland and internationally have started because of IGDA's activities. Without an organization like this the game industry in Finland, for example, would probably be much smaller. Game developer communities are very important and IGDA has been creating these for years all around the world.”

All full members of IGDA are eligible to vote on the election until the end of February. There are four candidates in total of which two will be elected.

Raudasoja will be saying a few words on his nomination at the February gathering on 9.2.

More information on the election: http://www.igda.org/?page=elections2016

Vesa's Campaign Page: https://www.facebook.com/voteforvesa

IGDA Finlandin pitkäaikainen aktiivi, Lifetime Achievement Awardilla palkittu Vesa Raudasoja on ehdolla International Game Developer's Association (IGDA):n hallitukseen. Raudasoja on ollut mukana IGDA Finlandin toiminnassa sen perustamisesta lähtien ja on ensimmäisenä suomalaisena ehdolla hallitukseen, jonka paikat ovat aiemmin jakautuneet enimmäkseen pohjois-amerikkalaisten toimijoiden kesken.

Raudasoja on itsekin pelinkehittäjä, ja on ollut seuraamassa Suomen peliteollisuuden kasvua pienistä indie-studioista satojen pelialan yritysten maaksi. Hän pitää IGDA:n roolia erittäin tärkeänä peliteollisuudelle, ja haluaa saada yhteisössä kuuluviin erityisesti pohjoismaista ja eurooppalaista ääntä.

“Olen varma, että monikin pelialan yritys niin Suomessa kuin ulkomaillakin on saanut alkunsa IGDA:n ansiosta. Ilman tällaista toimijaa peliteollisuus etenkin Suomessa olisi varmasti pienempi. Yhteisöt ovat erittäin tärkeitä ja IGDA on luonut näitä vuosien ajan ympäri maailman.”

Kaikki IGDA:n täysivaltaiset jäsenet voivat äänestää vaaleissa aina helmikuun loppuun asti. Neljästä nimetystä ehdokkaasta kaksi valitaan hallitukseen.

Raudasoja on paikalla helmikuun tapaamisessa 9.2. ja pitää puheenvuoron ehdokkuudestaan.

More information on the election: http://www.igda.org/?page=elections2016

Vesa's Campaign Page: https://www.facebook.com/voteforvesa

Northern Game Summit 1.-2.10.

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This week we’ll see the return of Northern Game Summit, which is held now for the 4th time already. The action takes place in Bio Rex, Kajaani, on 1.-2.10. – only two days from now! The event will feature speakers from Finland and around the world, representing designers, producers, programmers, artists and more. Some of the speakers, like Colossal Order’s Karoliina Korppoo and Housemarque’s Ilari Kuittinen, definitely need no further introductions, but the foreign talent is not to be dismissed either: Hunter Grant (US) is an industry veteran currently working as Lead Cinematics Animator at Blizzard, Marek Rosa (CZ) and his team at Keen Software House are responsible for the hit sandbox game Space Engineers – and this is just the start of the impressive speaker list.

Besides talks, there will be partying, mingling and a game showcase on Thursday evening: the party, titled Bonus Stage, is hosted by Fingersoft and there will be an opportunity for companies and local students to show their games and meet other people in the industry.

Friday will be concluded in a panel discussion, “Everything there is to come”. The panel is hosted by Ste Curran and the panelists are Antti Seppänen, Mehdi Benkirane, Luke Savage and Tuija Lindén.

What makes this year’s event special is the NGS Mixer on Wednesday which is a chance for people in the games and film industries to get together and find opportunities for co-operation. The makers of Rendel, a Finnish action film to be released next year, will be attending. They will also take part in a panel discussion, “Games & Movies, Brothers & Sisters”, which is hosted by Kimmo Kari and other panelists including KP Hiltunen, Niklas Saari and representatives from Apollo Music.

You can get your tickets to the event from the NGS website.

Housemarque 20th Anniversary Celebration

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Even though the IGDA season is over, the game industry keeps on partying. Last Wednesday Housemarque celebrated its 20th anniversary, where more than 400 game developers and their friends gathered to congratulate one of the oldest game companies in Finland!

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Housemarque prepared surprises for their guests: Consoles and PCs with studio's games were available for all guests, the various dishes offered were named after studio’s games. The CEO, Ilari Kuittinen welcomed everyone to the anniversary and started a party by showing recap videos of Housemarque games and company history (including the very special, previously unseen ones!). Finnish attendees were excited about the epic appearance of Apulanta (a Finnish rock band which was popular some years ago, as my Finnish friends told me). Marioke was the last surprise Housemarque prepared for the guests: Karaoke as usual, except that all the lyrics had been changed to game-related texts, for example "You are simply Tempest" or "Monkey Target".

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If you didn’t get a chance to visit the celebration, you can check out photos and videos in various social media with the hashtag #hmq20. Also, here is a link to Facebook albums from the event: https://www.facebook.com/Housemarque/photos

Thanks Housemarque for a great evening!

Photos by Sami Välikangas.

Pelialan järjestöt tuomitsevat pelikehittäjiin ja pelaajiin kohdistuvan häirinnän

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Suomen pelinkehittäjät ry, IGDA Finland ry ja Neogames Finland ry tuomitsevat kaikenlaisen pelinkehittäjiin ja pelaajiin kohdistuvan häirinnän. Järjestöt ovat järkyttyneitä viimeaikaisista tappouhkauksista ja pelinkehittäjiin sekä pelaajiin kohdistuvasta vainoamisesta. Kansallisten viranomaisten on tehtävä kaikkensa puuttuakseen myös verkkoympäristössä kaikkiin rikoksen tunnusmerkit täyttäviin tekoihin. Suomeen on onnistuttu rakentamaan tiivis pelialan yhteisö ja järjestöt jatkavat työtään sen kehittämiseksi entistäkin moninaisemmaksi, jotta Suomen asema maailman parhaana paikkana kehittää pelejä vahvistuu entisestään. Osana tätä työtä järjestöt ovat sitoutuneet tukemaan kaikin käytettävissä olevin voimavaroinensa mahdollisten hyökkäysten kohteeksi joutuvia jäseniään. Järjestöt pyytävätkin jäseniään raportoimaan heille kaikenlaisesta heihin kohdistuvasta häirinnästä ja vainoamisesta mahdollisia jatkotoimenpiteitä varten.

Miikka Lyytikäinen Puheenjohtaja, Suomen pelinkehittäjät ry.

Jyri Partanen Puheenjohtaja, IGDA Finland ry.

Koopee Hiltunen Johtaja, Neogames Finland ry.

In English:

Finnish games industry associations condemn recent online harassment in global game community

Finnish games industry associations Suomen pelinkehittäjät, IGDA Finland and Neogames Finland, condemn all harassment in the global game community. We are deeply shocked by the recent death threats and harassment towards game developers as well as gamers, and underline that authorities should do all they can to stop this kind of criminal activity in the online environment.

For years we have been building an inclusive industry community in Finland. We continue our work on supporting its growth in an even more plural direction in order to secure that Finland will remain the leading game industry hotspot in the future. Consequently, we are prepared to use all our available resources to support anyone targeted by this kind of attacks in our community. For this reason, we kindly ask all our members to report any kind of harassment to us so that we can provide our help.