February Gathering: There's something in the air

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A cold weather was to be endured as the developers found their way to Cuba Café in Helsinki on February 10th. Fortunately the good atmosphere and drinks at the venue kept people warm and cozy, showing no signs of the frisky wind outside.

This time around, 8 new visitors found their way to the event, with the total number hitting a good 99.

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Alongside the friskiness the gathering had a touch of fresh air as we got to welcome new Recoil Games' developers from abroad and our guest from Denmark. Hopefully you had a good time and you'll join us again at the next event!

As a rare occurrence there were also multiple startups also interested in the general atmosphere and looking for possible business opportunities. A great night to do so as all of the biggest Finnish game companies were well represented at the scene.

The evening progressed well until the small hours of wednesday. As always, everyone seemed to have a pleasant time. It was nice to see that you don't need to be a native to survive the cold! ;-)

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You can check out the rest of the snaps at the gallery or alternatively at Flickr.

Get your calendars out (or on) because the next gathering will be held at Cuba Café on March 10th! Further information will be released shortly after. See you there! ;-)

IGDA Finland Presentations and Gathering on 10th of March

IGDA Finland in association with Remedy will spoil you on Tuesday March the 10th! Besides gathering we will also arrange IGDA Finland Presentations session with a kick-ass line-up. Be sure not to miss it! GDC09 is coming closer with thinner line-up of Finnish speakers. If you do not have a ticket to GDC there is no need to worry because we’ll bring the most interesting presentations to you for FREE! Finnish game development scene is booming and IGDA Finland Presentations will be showcasing three excellent games: Zenbound, Tweehouse and Crayon Physics Deluxe.

Jani Kahrama (Secret Exit): Zenbound Secret Exit just got Zenbound out through iPhone App store. Zenbound also won the IMGA award “Excellence in 3D”. Jani Kahrama will talk about the development of Zenbound and iPhone gaming.

Petri Purho (Kloonigames): Crayon Physics Deluxe Petri Purho won Seamus McNally Grand Prize last year and is going to talk about Crayon Physics Deluxe and indie development at GDC09. This is your chance to hear the presentation before the masses!

Paavo Perttula (Tweehouse): Tweehouse The third speaker is Paavo Perttula from Tweehouse. Tweehouse MMO just got 350 000 € from Tekes. It is a MMO startup focusing on social play for kids. Paavo will talk about their unusual business model and technical solutions.

IGDA Finland Presentations session will be held at Diana-auditorio from 17.30 to 19. The presentations will be in English and no pre-registration is needed. After that it is IGDA Gathering as usual at Cuba Café across the street. See you there!

IGDA FINLAND PRESENTATIONS Place: Diana-auditorio, Erottajankatu 5, 00120 Helsinki Time: Tuesday, 10th of March, 17:30 – 19:00

IGDA FINLAND MARCH GATHERING Place: Cuba Café, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map) Time: Tuesday, 10th of March, doors open at 19:00

Best New Nordic Talent Award still open!

Best New Nordic Talent Award celebrates the promising innovation and creativity of the Nordic development community. The award goes to a Nordic game project that has fulfilled the following criteria:

• The project is created by a team where at least 80% are Nordic
• The project is the first game created by the team
• The project is near-release or have been released within the past 12 months (from March 2008 and onwards).

To be considered for short-listing, the project must be sent in seven (7) copies on DVD, with a written design manual, a short motivation describing the team, plus contact information attached.

To be short-listed for this award you have to send your game project to the Nordic Game Program (address below) before 10 March 2009.

The projects for the short-list will be decided by Nordic Game Program. The listed games will be evaluated by the Nordic Game Award jury.

The winners will receive the award during the Nordic Game Awards 2009, to be held on 19 May during the Nordic Game 2009 conference.

Projects for consideration should be sent to:

Nordic Game Program
Minc, Anckargripsgatan 3
SE - 211 19 Malmö, Sweden
Att: NGA Talent Award

Deadline is 10 March!

About Nordic Game Awards:
The Nordic Game Awards 2009 is organised by Nordic Game Program in cooperation with the following game producers’ associations in the region: Danish Producers' Association, Finnish Neogames, Norwegian Producers' Association and Spelplan-Association of Swedish Game Developers.

The award show will take place during the Nordic Game 2009 conference, 19-20 May in Malmö, Sweden. More info about NGA 09 and the conference will be available soon at www.nordicgame.com.

Mobile Dev Camp

Mobile Dev Camp Sat 21.02.2009, 10:00-18:00 at Vanha Ylioppilastalo

Mobile Dev Camp is an event for people interested in mobile design and development. There will be talks and activities centered around Android, iPhone and Symbian. And it's all free.

Mobile Dev Camp isn't going to be your regular pay-1000-euros-and-sit-quietly-event but rather a more free form gathering of like-minded people. We will have some great presentations from people like Teemu Kurppa (Jaiku -> Google -> Huikea.com) but if listening to talks isn't your thing we will also have a BarCamp and a hackathon. You can discuss mobile interaction design, show off your latest stuff, take part of workshops or just sit down with your friends and code something great. It's up to you. We just try to provide a great space and atmosphere for you to learn and share.

So, check out our site at mobiledevcamp.fi and please sign up for the facebook "Mobile Dev Camp" event so we get an idea of just how many of you are going to show up. Hope to see you at Vanha. Bring your laptop.

Mobile Dev Camp

Mobile Dev Camp Sat 21.02.2009, 10:00-18:00 at Vanha Ylioppilastalo

Mobile Dev Camp is an event for people interested in mobile design and development. There will be talks and activities centered around Android, iPhone and Symbian. And it's all free.

Mobile Dev Camp isn't going to be your regular pay-1000-euros-and-sit-quietly-event but rather a more free form gathering of like-minded people. We will have some great presentations from people like Teemu Kurppa (Jaiku -> Google -> Huikea.com) but if listening to talks isn't your thing we will also have a BarCamp and a hackathon. You can discuss mobile interaction design, show off your latest stuff, take part of workshops or just sit down with your friends and code something great. It's up to you. We just try to provide a great space and atmosphere for you to learn and share.

So, check out our site at mobiledevcamp.fi and please sign up for the facebook "Mobile Dev Camp" event so we get an idea of just how many of you are going to show up. Hope to see you at Vanha. Bring your laptop.