IGDA Finland June Gathering - 19th June 2007

Dear Friends! The final gathering for the 2006-2007 season is in two weeks, so don't miss it! It's your last time to catch all your industry buddies before disappearing on your holiday. Sure, enjoy the sun on a terrace for a while if you want, but make sure you drop by later in the evening at least, as we're working on some nice program for the evening. It is not confirmed yet, so no promises or announcements. But will let you know more as soon as I can.

* IGDA FINLAND JUNE GATHERING *

Place: System Rock, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday 19th June, doors open at 19.00

In July we'll be on well deserved summer holiday and the 2007-2008 season will start in August. We are right now in the midst of planning next year, but I'll try to post the preliminary dates to www.igda.fi as soon as possible, hopefully during June. We're also looking into providing all of you with some cool new things next year, stay tuned!

Jyri - Lead Chapter Coordinator

May Gathering - After Action Report

The May gathering managed to hit the high-score for number of attendees for the year so far with 150 attendees!

Not even the gorgeous sunshine and nice warm summer day outside could keep the crowds away. Once inside, it was quite clear what brought all the people in: the exclusive chance to play the new PS3 title from Housemarque, Super Stardust HD.

For more photos click HERE

The game naturally took the center stage at the Gathering. The queue to play it was constant and the crowd circled around the main event all night long. The gathering went on until wee hours of the night and seemed that people stayed in quite late this time.

-Miikka Luotio

IGDA Finland May Gathering - 29th May 2007

Fellow Finnish Game Developers! Some of you are at the Nordic Game right now, some of us couldn't make it this year. Those of you that did, make sure you come to the second last gathering of the season to share you impressions of the conference with the rest of us. That's right, the May gathering is in 2 weeks!

* IGDA FINLAND MAY GATHERING *

Place: System Rock, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday 29th May, doors open at 19.00

As a reminder, the June gathering will be 3 weeks later, right before juhannus, after which we will be heading for vacation in July.

Hope to see you at the May Gathering! Jyri - Lead Chapter Coordinator

April Gathering - After Action Report

April gathering turned out to be quite exciting and attendance rose up to 121 attendees this time - that's the biggest crowd we have ever had for a non-sponsored event! One of the most obivous new things were the new Elvis pinball machine right next to the reception desk. Also we had a sneak preview of the Flatout Ultimate Carnage in the form of an intro movie. Not suprisingly, Flatout Ultimate Carnage became the most common conversation topic of the night. It was clear to see that console developers were very well represented, there was quite a lot of Bugbear and Remedy folks attending the gathering this month. There were also a couple of foreign visitors, one from Sega Europe, one from Nordic Games.

For more photos click HERE

There was also a student group from Tampere in attendance, who were interested in setting up first Finnish IGDA Student Game Development Club. Besides Tampere there was also people from Oulu. ELVI project people were looking for suggestions for speakers to a small game dev conference in Oulu. It was also nice to see IGDA Volunteers playing a lot of DS together!

-Miikka Luotio

G&S lecture Tue 24th April : Emma Westecott "Play as a Performance

Emma Westecott "Play as a Performance" Tuesday 24th April 2007 17:15-19:00 University of Tampere, lecture hall 1096, PinniB Video venue: University of Art and Design Helsinki, Media Lab, 3 rd floor Lecture Room, (please note the room has changed).

About Emma Westecott: Emma Westecott has worked in the game industry for over ten years. She achieved national and international recognition for working closely with Douglas Adams as producer for the best-selling CD-ROM Adventure Game, Starship Titanic (1998, Simon & Schuster). Since then, Emma has gradually built up a worldwide reputation for developing original as well as popular projects and products, establishing herself as a figurehead and spokeswoman for a more emotional approach to gaming. Emma has been invited to present her vision and philosophy at many prestigious venues including BAFTA, the Tate, the Banff Centre and the Interactive Entertainment Conference LA. She has spoken alongside the ?big players? of the industry such as Peter Molyneux (Lionhead) and Will Wright (Maxis) of The Sims fame. Emma?s focus is based on a belief that the current boom of the industry is not sustainable without a creative evolution of game form, both in terms of creating new experiences and new markets. Most recently she directed the Zero Game studio in Sweden, where an impressive body of work was created under her leadership, see the list of practice-led projects.

The lecture will be in English. Free admittance.

All welcome!

More information:

Web pages: http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/