Portugal and Games
Portugal is a country with a rich culture and history. I was fortunate enough to get a taste of Portugal during a week-long visit for the GAMES2006 conference and expo. While the trip was exhausting (ie, I had a hard time adjusting to the dinner-at-10pm lifestyle), it was truly an adventure. How many conferences do you go to where you can boast that you visited three castles?!
The conference was pretty standard, with a good amount of quality content. My panel with the mayor of the local city (who only spoke Portuguese) made for an interesting challenge. And, sparring a bit with Chris Crawford was fun.
Aside from a handful of established companies, most game related efforts are happening on a small/indie scale. Initiatives are underway to catalyze the Portuguese development community by GameInvest. In addition to serving as the major backer for the conference, they are working toward their vision for a "GameCity" in Portugal, dedicated to game creators.
Luckily, I got to tour around Lisbon on the last day of the trip. I didn't take any formal tour, I just walked around town for about seven hours. Wow, what an amazing city!
Anyway, here are some snaps from the trip...
The castle of Castelo de Vide, the small town were we stayed during the conference.
Pedro Costa (Real Time Solutions) enjoying the scenic lunch.
Joseph Olin (AIAS), Joao Diniz Sanches (Develop) and Leonard Paul (Vancouver Film School) also munching up their lunch.
In the panels room, getting ready to talk tech...
Remi Arnaud (Sony) ascending the steps of the Marvao castle.
More ascending - it was high, and a long way down...
One of the Marvao castle towers.
Paulo Gomes (GameInvest) gives an impromptu history lesson on the castle and Portugal-Spanish relations...
Randi Rost (Intel) talks tech.
The expo was kinda small, but had represention from the big three.
Retro gaming in Portugal - still popular with the young ones ;)
Some traditional folk signing during the conference dinner.
The YDreams princesses: Mariana Cardoso and Ana Beirao.
Less blurry shot of Ana and Mariana at the old fountain in Castelo de Vide. (Photo courtesy of Ana)
Chris Crawford in paradigm shifting mode: All games produced by the industry are worthless, bla, bla...
Joseph Olin (center, blue shirt) playing multiplayer Mario Kart with onlookers - note the smiling Crawford :)
The mayor of Portalegre, Mata Caceres, waiting for the festival awards to start.
Local Devo-like band signing their smash hit Robot'n'Roll during the ceremony.
The developers of Orion's Belt picked up several awards.
After the awards: Chris Crawford, Joseph Olin (AIAS), Alexander Fernandes (Streamline Studios), Paulo Gomes (GameInvest) and myself. (Photo courtesy of Joseph)
Port shot in Lisbon across the Tagus River, with a blurred Jesus Christo statue.
Dinner in Lisbon: Marta Vieira (YDreams) and Leanard Paul comparing gadgets.
Praca de Touros: the bull fighting arena!
Some nifty architecture.
Lots of big monuments.
The crazy old Castle of Sao Jorge.
The old city. Lots of texture and layering.
Layers and layers of rooftops all around.
More layers. And, I'm guessing the monestary of Saint Vincente in the background.
Nice tree. Seemed like part of old roman baths near the castle.
The big Lisbon Cathedral: Santa Maria Maior de Lisbo.
Some nice paintings playing on the layering/texturing of Lisbon.
The bridge to the Castle of Sao Jorge.
Inside the castle, relaxing to some tranditional music.His strumming really added to the castle-touring experience. I tipped him well :)
Posted on October 4, 2006 04:35 PM
Comments
Hi Jason...
We did enjoy being with you and Joseph, I'm glad you liked Portugal and the Conference...
And by the way, you are right, that is Marta in the picture...
Posted by: Tiago Carita at October 5, 2006 05:26 AM
Great pics. I spent some time in Portugal about 10 years ago (even picked up Portuguese) and these pics had me feeling quite homesick (though I'm not Portuguese...only spent some months there years ago...but it got under my skin ;)
Posted by: Russell Carroll at October 5, 2006 12:04 PM
Hi
Great pics!!!! Looks like you enjoyed the rest of the weekend in Lisbon.
It was a pleasure meeting you and I'm looking forward to seeing you again in Lisbon soon.
Xx. Princess M.
Posted by: Mariana at October 6, 2006 04:34 AM
Hi, Holy War guy here ;)
I didn't get the time to talk to you (except on the bus), busy with the show and all.
Glad you liked your visit here, nice photos too!
I hope to see you next year!
Posted by: Pina at October 6, 2006 05:30 AM
hi jason,
it's very good to see in your blog an overview of Games2006 event and your particular look about Lisbon and the portuguese culture.
best regards!
André Carita
http://pensarvideojogos.blogspot.com
Posted by: André Carita at October 6, 2006 12:58 PM
I read about your Crawford spar at the message board on the Storytron site. Its funny on one hand, but on the other hand its a shame that two people who really want positive change for the industry and medium can't see eye to eye.
Posted by: Patrick at October 7, 2006 07:46 PM
> can't see eye to eye.
Well, it was more a slam of his overly sensationalistic delivery ("games are dead, long live interactive fiction"). I openly admitted/agreed that the industry has issues and that he has valuable contributions to make in regards to story, drama and emotional engagement. He just doesn't need to be so antagonistic about it...
Also, he really needs to keep current on what's going on with games today. It really did seem like his reference set was about 15 years old...
Jason
Posted by: Jason Della Rocca at October 7, 2006 11:14 PM
Hi Jason. Just writing to say Hello.
Im form the Mega Score magazine, and the guy in the picture, playing with Joseph Olin. Hope the talk we had about Lisbon helped spice up your visit to our fair capital.
Cheers
G.B.
Posted by: GBrito at October 9, 2006 06:37 AM