Become an IGDA member and bring Warren Spector to Finland!

Warren Spector is the Prize! Deadline Extended: IGDA Chapter that Brings in the Most New Members By Nov.19 Wins Game Legend as VIP Meeting Speaker

LOS ANGELES – Oct. 12, 2010 -- The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) chapter that brings in the most new members by midnight PST Friday, November 19 (original deadline has been extended) -- will win game industry legend Warren Spector as a VIP speaker for a chapter event. Spector, a master storyteller and designer for one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year, Disney Epic Mickey, is known for his innovative views on game design.

Currently Spector is general manager and creative director at Disney Interactive Studios’ Junction Point. Prior to his work at Disney, Spector started the Ion Storm Studio in Austin and is best known for his work on blockbuster video game franchises such as Thief, System Shock, and Deus Ex.

All 81 chapters world wide are eligible to win.

Point values are as follows:

Lifetime Member: 10 Points (a limited number of Lifetime Memberships are available at $600.00) 2 yr Core Member: 5 Points 1yr Core Member: 2 Points Student Member: 1 Point

Member registration is available online and as a PDF. Send recruits to www.igda.org/join/online or print out the PDF membership application form here:

www.igda.org/sites/default/files/IGDA_Membership_Application_0.pdf? PDF forms can be submitted via email to Sheri Rubin, sheri@igda.org or faxed to (856) 423-3420.

The Winning Chapter will work with the headquarters of the International Game Developers Association to organize and promote the Grand Prize meeting.

Meet new IGDA Finland web admin and editor-in-chief!

The mission of IGDA Finland is to promote the development of careers and professional skills of individual game developers based in Finland, and to further develop the international recognition of the Finnish game developer community. We have a great team of Coordinators making sure pub night and IGDA Finland Presentations sessions run smoothly. The core of IGDA Finland communication happens at our web site igda.fi. I am happy to inform that we have now two new coordinators making igda.fi experience even better! Konstantin Petrukhnov -- webmaster I like games! They was biggest part of my life, and I'm sure will remain. I can't say that I'm hardcore player, but if I play something (or do in real life) I put as much effort as possible. During last several years I participated in many hobby gamedev projects, trying to make team to do some real and big. But found that it is almost impossible to do remotely. So decided to join IGDA and make more contacts. September gathering (my first) was really really good. I met plenty of interesting people and had very interesting conversations. Oh yeah, my name is Konstantin and I live in Espoo for several years.

Collin Foss -- editor-in-chief Collin a self-proclaimed "gamer," has been in Finland for a total of almost two years. He has a passion for games as well as new tech and social media. He brings a great amount of energy and enthusiasm to the IGDA team as well a wealth of knowledge from previous work experiences.

September Gathering kicked off IGDA Finland season 2010-2011!

Busy fall started along with IGDA Gatherings! The first Gathering attracted 130 people to Cuba Cafe. We had a lot of good networking, students visiting Igda Chapter from Aalto University and Outokumpu college and good news from Recoil & Colossal Order! Good to see positive things happening at the game startup scene as well. Thanks to everyone joining the fun and see you again at the October Gathering! IGDA FINLAND OCTOBER GATHERING Place: Cuba Bar, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map) Time: Tuesday, 5th of October, doors open at 19:00

Invitation: September Gathering

Back to work - back to work and to IGDA Finland Gathering! We'll kick start the Season 2010-2011 on Tuesday September the 7th. Despite the sunny weather Finnish game developers worked hard over the summer. There were several good news and impressive progress. Join us at Cuba bar to catch up the latest news from fellow game developers. Besides chatting and cheap drinks, we'll have also some retro games (on Wii)!

See you next Tuesday!

IGDA FINLAND SEPTEMBER GATHERING Place: Cuba Bar, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday, 7th of September, doors open at 19:00

You can find the preliminary dates for IGDA Finland Gatherings 2010-2011 here.

PS. The 2nd round 2010 of Nordic Game Development Support is closing on 1st October. Check out Nordic Game website for more information and don't forget to apply! http://www.nordicgameprogram.org/?id=23

IGDA Finland wishes you all relaxing summer holidays!

The season 2009-2010 ended with a blast on 8th of June when IGDA Finland organized both IGDA Finland Presentations session and IGDA Finland Gathering. In addition we also collaborated with HIIT - Helsinki Institute for Information Technology. Their AVEA seminar on Research in Virtual Economies took place in the morning on June 8th. Check out the final report of the AVEA project to find out more!

IGDA Finland Presentations was arranged in association with Sulake. Once again we had full house at the Sulake premises with nearly 100 following the two hour presentations session. This time te topic was "Startup Stories" and six Finnish startups together with Trip Hawkins from Digital Chocolate and Ilari Kuittinen from Housemarque shared their stories of the art of start. The recording of the session is available online.

After the presentations IGDA Gathering sponsored by Housemarque, Relationship Games, Ironstar Helsinki, Rocket Pack, Fantastec and Uplause started. Housemarque together with more recent startups sponsored drink ticket game where people needed to combine or trade tickets in able to put together some fancy cocktails. Microsoft Lipshack singing booth was also well in use. IGDA Finland Gathering attracted 176 participats -- thanks a lot all for coming!

Later in the evening Relationship Games organized an ideation competition. Participants suggested improvements and new ideas to Relationship Games' missions in different categories - Love & Attention, Everyday Life, Activity and Intimacy - and the best idea for improvement was rewarded. The winner of the Relationship Games competition was Osiris "Ziro" Falcão who won a bottle of sparkling wine at Cuba Cafe. Congrats to Ziro! Thank you for everyone for great ideas and feedback on behalf of Mari Parviainen CEO of Relationship Games!

Next IGDA Finland events will take place in August /September. More information to follow, click to igda.fi and/or IGDA Finland Facebook group what's on during the IGDA Finland season 2010-2011!