June Gathering - 6th June 2006

Dear friends, fellow developers! The June Gathering and end of the season is here - don't miss the last one of the season, before July's summer break. System Club terrace is already open, so let's hope the weather is nice and sunny - like it usually is during the Finnish summer, right

Place: System, Club, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (see map:http://www.igda.org/finland/images/igda_map.jpg) Time: Tue 6th June, doors open at 7.00pm

Your normal plethora of gaming choices are again available: pool, black jack & board games from upstairs. And feel free to bring your own games, especially handhelds for multiplayer matches! Mario Kart on Nintendo DS anyone?

And a little reminder of the remaining gatherings of the season: July: Summer Break August: Date will be announced during the summer

Game On! Jyri, On behalf of the whole Chapter Team

May Gathering - After Action Report

The evening started a bit slower than usually, maybe due a bit ofjetlag from E3? The evening spiced up towards the end and the bar ended up being pretty full.

In the end the total amount of visitors was 97. The talk of the night consisted mainly of E3 experiences, exhibitor and visitor wise.

For photos CLICK HERE

Many Remedy folk, seemed very joyous due the famous contract with Microsoft in E3. This also was a major topic of discussion that night.

Due the strong party athmosphere people also seemed to enjoy their stay a bit longer than usually, some even continued the party upstairs into the little hours of the night.

May Gathering - 16th May 2006

Dear friends, fellow developers! The Spring is here and so is E3. Come join us a week after the event at the IGDA Finland May Gathering! Come share or hear E3 highlights and inside scoops. System Club terrace is also open, so if you haven't opened your"'terassikausi" yet, now is a good time!

Place: System, Club, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (see map: http://www.igda.org/finland/images/igda_map.jpg) Time: Tue 16th May, doors open at 7.00pm

Your normal plethora of gaming choices are again available: pool, black jack & board games from upstairs. And feel free to bring your own games, especially handhelds for multiplayer matches!

And a little reminder of the remaining gatherings of the season: June: Tuesday, 6th June 2006, end of 2005/2006 season July: Summer Break

We'll be back from summer break in August! I aim to publish the preliminary dates for whole 2006/2007 season during the summer months. Stay tuned...

Game On! Jyri, On behalf of the whole Chapter Team

March Gathering - After Action Report

The March Gathering was a real blast for everyone. Besides the obvious game industry chat, there was now several presentations. As advertised before the theme was Game industry related education in Finland and it showed in a great number of visitors. Throughout the night we had 126 people in all, with many new visitors. Many students and teachers showed up to see the education presentations. The discussion topics after the presentations were heavily fixed on education and people kept flowing in with a steady pace. For photos CLICK HERE

Presentations were opened by Jyri Ranki from IGDA Finland chapter team, followed by Teijo Pellinen from Media Lab. Jyri introduced IGDA and IGDA Finland shortly. Teijo's presentation was focused on games and storytelling lecture series. Mika Tuomola mentioned in the original program couldn't make it, so Teijo was filling in for him.

After Teijo it was time for Juha Vanhanen, the course supervisor from aRTO Game Development class. Juha held a presentation about aRTO and introduced their current game development courses, including the new upcoming "Game Producer" course, which is starting in Fall of 2006.

After aRTO it was time for the Helsinki University to introduce it's new and fresh Gamics game laboratory. The quick introduction to was presented by Tomi Pasanen. After the scheduled presentations, we heard from a surprise visitor from Sweden, Magnus Björkman. He told us about the education opportunities they are organizing in Sweden shortly.

After that in the Q&A section, the audience had an opportunity to ask some hard questions from the gathered speakers, giving a good base of conversation for the rest of the night. After Q&A it was time for Esko Javanainen, a Game Designer from Sumea Studio. He shared his personal experiences of using the services provided by the Finnish Ministry of Labor to get a foot in at a game studio and how he turned that into a permanent job in the industry.

March Gathering - 7th March 2006 - Education Theme

Dear friends, fellow developers! These days there are many game industry specific education programs going on in Finland. We in IGDA thought that the educators and companies should have closer ties since both can benefit from an active relationship. That's why we now wish to offer you a compact overview of who some of the educators are and what their programs offer.

So if you're an industry pro curious about current state of education or maybe a studio head looking for trainees, the IGDA Finland March gathering is the place to be! Students are also welcome!

Here's the program, we estimate it will run about 7:30 - 8:30 pm:

- IGDA: Jyri Ranki - Games & Storytelling / Media Lab: Mika Tuomola - ARTO Pelikoulutus: Juha Vanhanen - Helsinki University, Gamelab: Tomi Pasanen - Questions & Answers - From trainee to designer: Esko Javanainen / Sumea

And of course you're welcome to just join the rest of the Finnish game developers for drinks and conversation again at System Club! Hope to see you all there!

Place: System, Club, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (see map: http://www.igda.org/finland/images/igda_map.jpg) Time: Tue March 7th, doors open at 7.00pm

As always, bring your handheld consoles for some wireless multiplayer fun! Whether you own a PSP or DS, you're bound to find opponents in IGDA Gatherings.