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Miscellaneous News

GDC 2009 discount deadline is coming up!

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2008/12/08 - 10:24

The 2009 Game Developers Conference is in San Francisco again this year.
Developers from all over the world will be meeting up to share ideas and talk shop from March 23rd to 27th.
For more info on the conference itself, or to buy a pass, visit the GDC Website.
Deadline for Alumni discount is December 18th! That is a 35% discount on the main pass.
CA application is also open right now.

We will discuss the event in further detail at our upcoming meetings and on this site.

Notes from the Games in Education Symposium in Schenectady

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2008/08/19 - 14:53

Elizabeth McLaren reports on the sessions on the first day of the 2nd Annual Games in Education Symposium in Schenectady, NY. This event is organized by members of 1st Playable Productions, WMHT and the Schenectady Museum. The goal of the event is to educate local grade school and high school teachers about how games can be used in the class room. Following are Elizabeth's notes:

Tuesday’s kickoff of the 2nd annual Games in Education symposium at Schenectady Museum in Schenectady, New York, began with the three-person panel ‘A New Approach to Games in the Classroom’, with Brock Dubbels, Alex Games, and Peggy Sheehy. Brock’s talk emphasized the importance of play and how it should be encouraged, rather than more commonly taking classroom education as a punitive environment where education is serious and you had better not fail.

Censorship in Troy

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2008/03/12 - 11:54

War on "terrorism" flares up in Troy, NY. Game Politics has been following the story pretty closely.
After the administration at RPI removed Wafaa Bilal's Virtual Jihadi exhibit from RPI campus, it relocated to the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy. The very next day the City of Troy called the Sanctuary informing them that they must cease any assembly on their property. The reason cited? Building code violations for the doors in the church. Hrmm....

Games in Education Symposium 2007

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2007/08/01 - 20:45

Panel

On July 23rd the first annual Games in Education Symposium was held at WMHT in Troy, NY. Chapter Coordinator Jamey Stevenson was there to report on the event. Here's an excerpt.

"This past Monday I attended the Games in Education Symposium in Troy, NY. The event, which was put on by 1st Playable Productions and WMHT, offered a chance for educators and developers alike to rub elbows, share experiences and insight, and exchange ideas about the future of game-based learning, both in and out of the classroom."

Read the rest on Jamey's website: http://jameystevenson.com

For more pictures of the event check out the GiE 2007 Photoset on flickr.

4 Days Left to Vote for the IGDA Board of Directors

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2007/04/27 - 15:17

There are 4 days left to vote for the IGDA Board of Directors. You can go directly to reading about the candidates and voting through this link:

http://www.igda.org/board/elections.php

Or read more about it in this note from Jason:

RPI's 4th Annual GameFest & Symposium April 13 & 14

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2007/03/14 - 11:41

RPI's hosting it's annual spring game development gathering and you're all invited! Friday's GameFest is a showcase for student game projects completed over the last school year. The Symposium on Saturday features a great list of including a keynote by Jason Della Rocca - Executive Director of the IGDA! The whole event is free and includes food and drink so be sure to attend.

Read further or check out the website for the agenda and presentation topics:

Results from the RPI Student Club Game Jam

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 2007/02/09 - 01:37

The RPI Student Game Development Club (an IGDA Student Chapter) held a game jam on Saturday, February 3rd. After 8 hours of intensive work work several members of the Albany IGDA chapter were brought in to judge the projects. The enthusiasm and dedication of the student teams was impressive as was the variety and quality of their projects.

Following is more info from club's Special Events Chair, Dan Nottingham:

Trip to the 3rd Annual Montreal International Game Summit on November 8-9

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2006/10/25 - 16:21

We are planning a trip to the Montreal International Game Summit which is coming up in two weeks November 8th and 9th. If you are interested in going and would like to share a ride or join us to benefit from the group discount please contact Ian at albanyigda@gmail.com or on the forum.

There are dozens of talks to appeal to all disciplines over the two days of the conference including a keynote by Reggie Fils-Aime, President & COO
Nintendo of America. Tobi Saulnier, one of our own Albany IGDA advisory board members will also be making a presentation in the Business/Production Track. See details of her talk here.

IGDA members get a 10% discount on conference registration and depending on how many people would like to go we can get a group rate.

Metroland article about Mildred Elley's game-design summer camp

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 2006/09/21 - 12:16

There's an article by John Brodeur on page 16 of the September 21, 2006 edition of Metroland about Mildred Elley's game-design summer camp for kids. Here's an excerpt:

LEARNING TO PLAY
Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to cowboys—send them to video-game-design camp!
By John Brodeur

It’s early afternoon on a gor-geous midsummer Friday. A moving truck is parked by the curb outside Latham Circle Mall as men load office supplies through the mall’s entrance doors and onto the waiting truck bed. Another Latham Circle business apparently has gone to pot. That’s no surprise; this place has been on the decline for well over a decade. In fact, the sprawling hull of a building, once the bustling lower half of a semicolon dotted by the Latham traffic circle, now faintly resembles what was once known as a shopping mall: The few businesses that continue to thrive here—or survive, at least—include a bank, a few food stands, and a Burlington Coat Factory. But in a small, dark classroom tucked deep in a corner of the mall’s second-floor, you can almost see the future . . . or something like that: Welcome to video-game-design camp. Now drop and give me 20.

Read the full article on the Metroland website

Article by Erin Hoffman in the Escapist Magazine

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2006/09/05 - 15:03

There's a great article by Erin Hoffman in issue 61 of the Escapist Magazine, an online only publication devoted to game development and culture. Erin is a local designer at 1st Playable Productions who lead our June chapter meeting. Check out the article here: Why We Haven't Lapsed.

Here's an excerpt:

Like any cultural phenom, the game industry waxes and wanes. Its attitude shifts, it grows older, gets pimples, passes some classes and fails others, grows, moves on. The past year, for whatever primal reason lurking in the dark waters of the collective ludological unconsciousness, has been one of intense cynicism, maybe even despair. And I have to say I'm getting damned tired of it.

Read the Full Article