IGDA Finland March Gathering & Release Party!

And the hero rides off into the sunset…

BAM! BAM! On 13th of March Gangs of Boomtown will occupy Cuba bar. So get ready for some serious saloon brawling, spineless townspeople, the evil villains, unbribable sheriff and the duel to end it all!

What happening on Tuesday?

Drink tickets and Gangs of Boomtown soundtrack for first 200!

7PM door are open and DJs start to play 8.30PM Presentation; Digital Chocolate and Google 9.30PM live Country Music!

Digital Chocolate's Gangs of Boomtown release party will take place at the IGDA Finland March Gathering. We will have wild west action packed evening! The team behind the game will be present along with some sheriffs and cowboys. Digital Chocolate sponsors a couple of rounds of drinks and there is a band playing country music! Whohoo! Surely an evening not to be missed!

Play the game on Google+: Gangs of Boomtown. The dawn is also just breaking for Google+ as a gaming platform. Digital Chocolate and Google will share early settler experiences on how to round gamers into your circles on Google+.

IGDA Finland March Gathering / Gangs of Boomtown release party Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 7PM Cuba Bar, Erottaja 4, Helsinki Finland (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5)

Ahjo mingle on 15th March for women in games

Finnish game industry is on the threshold of hyper growth. Mentor network for women interested in game industry positions arranges Ahjo mingle on 15th March, from 6-8PM. Tia Mäki from boutique sized law firm Aldea will give a talk followed by comment from Supercell. After the talks we'll chat about open positions in games, what's needed for various positions, what's the atmosphere in game studios, what about compensations etc. After the talks it is time to mingle and network! Welcome ladies! Game industry needs you!

Event in Finnish / English.

More info / Register (ladies only): http://ahjomingle.eventbrite.com/

Finnish gaming cluster is on the threshold of hyper-growth

Habbo Hotel, Max Payne, and Angry Birds are examples of the international success stories created by Finnish gaming companies. The community award received by Finnish gaming cluster was presented to three organizations that are active in the field: Finnish Game Developers' Association ry., which represents gaming companies, IGDA, which brings together game developers in Finland, and Neogames, which represents business, training and research in the games industry.

"The task of organizations is to serve as a spokesperson for the industry and promote company activities by creating structures for matters like training and financing. Game companies are always aware that they have to be international. They participate in tough international competition right from the start, so the operating field for organizations is also international," explains KooPee Hiltunen, Director of Neogames Centre of Game Business, Research and Development.

In economic terms, the rapidly growing game industry is Finland's most important cultural export, and it produces top international products and success stories. More than 90% of the market for Finnish game companies is in the United States and Western Europe. Companies that develop games and provide game services are at the heart of the industry. The game industry employs approximately 1,300 people in Finland. The combined turnover of the 70 companies operating in the industry was more than EUR 165 million in 2011, and the industry is the largest of its kind in the Nordic countries.

This post is a partial copy of this press release

IGDA Finland February Gathering: Finnish Game Jam gems!

It's time for us to gather around in the lovely Cuba Bar and talk about life and stuff. And games! The year started with a bang and thank you to everyone for making it possible. Let's continue that way!

As most of you might know, last weekend a bunch of hard-working people participated in the Global Game Jam and gathered all around Finland to create cool games in just 48 hours! If you haven't seen those games yet (and even if you have) come to Cuba next Tuesday to take a look.

We'll also be announcing the winners of Finnish Game Jam 2012. So don't miss this!

IGDA Finland February Gathering Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 7PM Cuba Bar, Erottaja 4, Helsinki Finland

IMGAWARDS - time to vote!

Vision: Mobile Games are the driver of innovation in the smartphone industry and the most successful category in the apps economy. Mission: Manage and market the world’s largest competition for mobile games and recognize and reward the best mobile game developers.

Great games nominated from Finland: Bike Baron, Shadow Cities, Death Rally, Draw Race 2 and WildChords amongst the best of the best. Vote now and bring People's Choice Award to Finland :)

The competition is now the mobile entertainment industry’s leading showcase for groundbreaking innovations, displaying exceptional quality and new trends in mobile entertainment, whether the games are made for the iPhone, for Android Phones, Windows Mobile, Bada (Samsung), BREW MP, for Blackberry, WebOS, J2ME, Flash, HTML5 or any other widely spread Operating System for mobile handsets.