============================ IGDA Newsletter - March 2005 ============================ ================= Table of Contents ================= 0: A Word From Jesse Schell 1: Patent '690 Prior Art Search 2: GDC Follow-Up, Materials and Reports 3: Board of Directors Election 4: Censorship Update: Illinois-State House Bill 4023 5: Columns Update 6: Chapter Meetings/Reports x: Logistical Bits & Subscription Info ================= =========================== 0: A Word From Jesse Schell =========================== Dear Members and friends, This year's GDC was the biggest ever, and the IGDA events were a great success. The Quality of Life Summit was a milestone in game development history - never before have we had such an in-depth, focused discussion about these issues in a public forum. As noted below, all of the content/slides from the Summit, media coverage and reports are up at the site. We also had many successful GDC sessions on key IGDA topics, such as academic relations, diversity, censorship, and game credits, not to mention the no-holds-barred "Game Developers Rant" session, which featured spleen-venting from some of our crankier industry veterans: Jason Della Rocca, Brenda Laurel, Warren Spector, Chris Hecker, and Greg Costikyan. Greg, in particular, pulled no punches, to the audience's delight (our apologies, Iwata-san). For those who missed it, transcripts can be found online (see GDC section below). Thanks so much to everyone who helped to make these, and the many other IGDA activities possible. I would personally like to give special thanks to those who served as mentors for our GDC Student Scholarship recipients. The mentor program was an experiment this year, and your enthusiastic participation has ensured it will become an IGDA tradition for years to come. In true IGDA spirit, you went above and beyond! - Jesse Schell Chairperson, IGDA Professor of Entertainment Technology, Carnegie Mellon University CEO, Schell Games ************************************** Ad: Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) ************************************** 17-20 May, Los Angeles, California, USA E3's 2005 conference and workshop program offers unique opportunities for face-to-face interaction with game industry leaders in technology, business strategy and marketing in an environment created especially to help you put your ideas into motion and reach your goals faster. Whether you're a designer, manager or strategist, we have sessions covering a wide variety of topics designed to be of great interest and value to you. Register now to take advantage of early bird prices. IGDA members enjoy a 20% discount. http://www.e3expo.com/ ************************************** =============================== 1: Patent '690 Prior Art Search =============================== There is an ongoing patent litigation case in the Eastern District of Texas of interest to all developers because of how broadly the Plaintiff appears to want to apply the claims of the patent. In this case, American Video Graphics, L.P. ("Plaintiff") has sued sixteen game publishers, alleging that these defendants infringe AVG's U.S. Patent No. 4,734,690, "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Panning." See Jim Charne's commentary in this month's Famous Last Words: http://www.igda.org/columns/lastwords/lastwords_Mar05.php Plaintiff has identified over 1000 accused games, which Plaintiff alleges infringe their '690 patent. The '690 patent abstract states: "A graphics display terminal performs a pan operation with respect to a view motion center to effectuate spherical panning, thereby providing perspective and non-perspective views. Three dimensional instructions stored in terminal memory are re-transformed in accordance with a panned direction..." Full patent details available at the USPTO: http://tinyurl.com/62sjj More specifically, we are looking for prior art (textbooks, references, articles, or other publications) with a date of publication of before July 23, 1983 which would invalidate the '690 patent. This art must cover the claims of the patent, including a method and system which defines a "first" and a "second three-dimensional coordinate modeling space"; with a "viewing space being movable at a selected radial distance around a selected reference point in the modeling space;" and effects a "transform of the coordinates of the object to the viewing space and to a two-dimensional coordinate screen space." Further, ideally the prior art would also provide a method whereby the user can change the pitch, yaw or roll of the viewing space, and also specify a radial distance at which the object may be viewed. If you know of any such prior art, please contact the IGDA's IP Rights Committee at ipr@igda.org as soon as possible. http://www.igda.org/committees/ipr.php ======================================= 2: GDC Follow-Up, Materials and Reports ======================================= Along with much of the development community, the IGDA is also recovering from a busy week at GDC. We are still in the process of compiling all the reports, slides, materials, etc, from our activities. Here's what we've got so far: - Quality of Life Summit slides/materials/coverage: http://www.igda.org/qol/events.php - Quality of Life Summit "editorial": http://www.igda.org/articles/msakey_qol.php - Game Developers Choice Awards results: http://www.igda.org/awards/pr_2005_0310.htm http://www.igda.org/awards/pr_2005_0224.htm http://www.igda.org/awards/pr_2005_0217.htm - Burning Down the House: Game Developers Rant transcripts: http://crystaltips.typepad.com/wonderland/2005/03/burn_the_house_.html http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/03/18/news_6120449.html - Jason Della Rocca's summary report and pictures: http://www.igda.org/blogs/realitypanic/archives/000249.html - Updated CafePress IGDA merchandise with the map/fist artwork used during GDC: http://www.igda.org/gear - other roundtable reports/etc are in the works from our various SIGs: http://www.igda.org/SIGs ============================== 3: Board of Directors Election ============================== We have six brave people who have stepped forth as nominees for the IGDA Board of Directors: - Mark Warner - Kathy Schoback - Tobi Saulnier - Dave Ranyard - Hank Howie - Tom Buscaglia Each candidate has provided a brief statement of candidacy, which can viewed online: http://www.igda.org/board/elections.php Voting is for members in good standing (as at March 22nd), please login with your username and password to cast your ballot. Deadline is April 15th. https://www.igda.org/login.php?pid=election ==================================================== 4: Censorship Update: Illinois-State House Bill 4023 ==================================================== Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich proposed legislation on December 16th, 2004, to ban the sale and rental of all violent and sexually explicit video games to persons under the age of 18. On March 17th 2005, legislators granted preliminary approval for the HB4023, moving it along to the senate for review/approval. On March 22nd, the IGDA sent a call-to-action to ~2000 members and registered users in IL, encouraging them to express their opposition to their senators. If you live/work in Illinois, we encourage you to take action: http://www.igda.org/censorship/IL_call-to-action.txt Further details/coverage: http://gbgames.com/blog/index.php?p=28 http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-leg17.html http://www.suntimes.com/output/ontiveros/cst-edt-sue08.html http://www.iema.org/news/2004/iema_reaction_statement_il_leg.doc http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/94/hb/09400hb4023.htm ================= 5: Columns Update ================= Monthly columns have been updated: Famous Last Words ----------------- "The '690 Attack" http://www.igda.org/columns/lastwords/lastwords_Mar05.php Culture Clash ------------- "OK to Play - Games can be good for kids and parents" http://www.igda.org/columns/clash/clash_Mar05.php The Games Game -------------- "Into the Trenches of Game Dev" http://www.igda.org/columns/gamesgame/gamesgame_Mar05.php The Ivory Tower --------------- "Seniors Gaming: An interview with Mihai Nadin" http://www.igda.org/columns/ivorytower/ivory_Mar05.php =========================== 6: Chapter Meetings/Reports =========================== Complete list of chapter reports and upcoming meetings: http://www.igda.org/chapters/updates.php Atlanta Meeting, May > Game Developers Exchange http://www.scad.edu/gdx/ Austin Meeting, April > Indie SIG at TXGF http://igda.org/indie/meets_2005.html Lisbon Meeting, April > Amateur Computer Entertainment Expo http://acee.dei.uc.pt/en/index.html Phoenix Meeting, March > Low-Cost Game Engines and GDC Recap http://igda-phx.org/calendar.php?id=33 Seattle Meeting, March > Quality of Life and the Future - Evan Robinson http://www.igda.org/seattle/meet.htm Mexico City Report, March > Nuevo capítulo estudiantil en el ITESO http://www.igda.org/mexico Colorado Report, March > Project Presentations http://coloradogamedev.org/20050307.html Japan Report, March > Asia Online Game Conference 2nd day- Kenji Matsubara, Koei Executive, spoke their Online Games strategy in Asian Area http://www.itmedia.co.jp/games/articles/0503/01/news088.html Japan Report, March > Asia Online Game Conference http://www.igda.jp/modules/xfsection/article.php?articleid=61 Guildford Report, March > IGDA Guildford Chapter March Event http://www.igda.org/guildford/GGDEVevent010305.htm ================== x: Logistical Bits ================== Newsletter Subscription ----------------------- You can update your newsletter subscription details via your MyProfile page: http://www.igda.org/membership/myprofile.php If you need help, contact us. 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