IGDA Finland April Gathering - 24th April 2007

Fellow developers, dear friends! The Spring is arriving; sun is out, air getting warmer, terraces are opening, people getting more sociable again. Come share that re-awakened social spirit with your fellow developers at the April gathering!

* IGDA FINLAND APRIL GATHERING *

Place: System Rock, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday 24th April, doors open at 19.00

A little heads up about the last two gatherings for the season, they're planned to be on May 29th and June 19th. After that we'll take July off as holiday, as usual.

Come one, come all! Jyri - Lead Chapter Coordinator

Announcing: Website team!

From left to right: Antti Tuppurainen, Miikka Luotio & Mika Rantanen

In the recent wake of IGDA Finland chapter's rewarded success, we have reacted to the increasing usage of IGDA Finland website by creating a completely new team to develop and maintain the IGDA Finland website further.

It is my honor to announce the new IGDA Finland website team! The team consists of IGDA Finland volunteers, Antti Tuppurainen, Mika Rantanen and me. We hope to take IGDA Finland website to the next level by fine tuning it's existing features and creating some new ones in the way.

Mika Rantanen:

"I'm a 25 year old gamer and hobbyist game developer from Helsinki. My favourite game genres are RPGs, strategy games (both turn based and RTS) and old style arcade games and I'm also a fan of tabletop games."

Antti Tuppurainen:

"My name is Antti Tuppurainen, I'm a 19-year-old student at aRTO Pelikoulutus, learning all about game production and focusing on programming, hoping to create a career in the games industry."

-Miikka Luotio

March Gathering - After Action Report

The March gathering started slowly but surely. At the end we had 92 people who attended the March gathering. That's below our season average, but better than last time! Jyri had brought the award from GDC'07 IGDA Luncheon for everyone to see and touch. Many people seemed to still be in a slight jetlag state. GDC highlights were a common discussion topic, many seemed worried about the size of GDC growing and how hard it was to hook up with contacts now that Fairmont was no more. Good replacement didn't seem to surface this year yet. But every one seemed to agree that there was loads of good lectures again.

For more photos click HERE

This time there was quite a lot people from Digital Chocolate who came to offer farewell drinks to a developer moving abroad. Bugbear boys also made it despite their end crunch on Flatout Ultimate Carnage, they seemed to be in need of beer and stayed late.

In handheld gaming side, there was quick and brutal DS match in Advance Wars: Dual strike between Helsinki and Tampere. (Tampere won)

-Miikka Luotio

IGDA Finland Receives MVP Award '07

IGDA honors one of it's most active & succesful chapters during GDC 2007. Pictured: Liz Lehtonen, Lasse Seppänen & Jyri Ranki only moments after receiving the award

IGDA holds a VIP Luncheon every year at GDC. At the luncheon, IGDA recognises outstanding contributions to the betterment of the game development community by giving out MVP awards. The term MVP comes from a well known sports term Most Valuable Player. This year, IGDA Finland had the honor of being one of 3 recipients!

The MVP award has my name written on it, but IGDA Executive Director Jason Della Rocca asked me to convey to all of you that it really is to all those who volunteer their time and energy for the IGDA Finland chapter.

And I couldn't agree more! Without all the volunteers, my fellow coordinators and advisory board members, we wouldn't have such a successful chapter. So thank you all for your great work! It has been recognized on a global scale (see about us for full listing of people behind the chapter).

I also want to thank all of our c.200 members and the hundreds of others who regularly attend our gatherings. Without you, there would be no reason to have them. Your presence is what makes them valuable.

I will be bringing the award to the next gathering for all of you to see.

Go Finland!

- Jyri Ranki, Lead Coordinator

TODAY in G&S "Not game to gaming: Cybercultures and the Indian State"

TODAY in Games & Storytelling lecture:Nishant Shah, Expert of Asian cybercultures "Not game to gaming: Cybercultures and the Indian State"

Tuesday, 13th March 2007 17:15-19:00 University of Tampere, lecture hall 1096, PinniB Video venue: University of Art and Design Helsinki, Media Centre Lume, Sampo Auditorium

A particular form of state support and marketing of digital technologies in India renders the otherwise accepted Western ideas of cybercultures as encouraging new public spheres and subcultures like gaming or open source movements, obsolete. This lecture looks at the historico-political ideologies that shape the emergence of cybercultures in India and look at the few sites of gaming which are slowly growing in unexpected areas. In the process we also look at how technologies get integrated into existing social paradigms to create certain patterns of continuities and interruptions.

Free admittance.

All welcome!

-Posted by Miikka Luotio