Two days dedicated to digital creation and production of visual effects in France. Parisfx proposes this year an exceptional programme focused on digital visual effects. Many producers, directors, post-production houses and VFX supervisors will be demonstrating their work via case studies or conferences.

Date: 21st November 2008 Venue: Espace Pierre Cardin (Paris)

The technical meeting of the CST ( Superior Technical Commission) dedicated to the new supports from production to post-production. Parisfx is accessible to everybody, provided you are accredited (from 79 euros TTC for the two days). Prices, conditions and registration on www.parisfx.fr / +331 41 40 56 18

Uniting the worlds of television, advertising, film, gaming and beyond, The Media Festival, endorsed by Tiga, is the ideal destination to meet your partners in a converging future. Discover new avenues of game funding including branded content, the secrets of working with TV and film properties, publicly funded opportunities and discover what it means to be part of a truly creative digital community.

The festival is about fun and participation. It will host a range of events including conference, late night debate, workshops, business clinics, screenings, parties and more! The Media Festival already has some great content on board for what promises to be a groundbreaking three days. They are delighted to announce that Michael Denny will be discussing the launch of LittleBigPlanet and have announced their first speakers, who will be joining us to share their vision for the future of creative digital media. Tiga’s CEO, Richard Wilson, will also be part of a panel discussion. The programme is growing by the day so be sure to check online at http://www.themediafestival.com for the latest updates, session news and new event announcements.

Save £120 register before 12th September 2008!

Register online at: http://www.themediafestival.com or email conferences@emap.com

• Development of new business models, business processes, consumer experiences and approaches to deriving commercial benefit from IP.
• Applications that make it easier for rights holders to efficiently and effectively collect revenue from their content/services.
• Solutions to broaden the market access of digital content services; this could include the development of new platforms designed to deliver scale to small businesses, or solutions to support multiplatform distribution of content based services.
• Applications to help provide intelligent access to context relevant content, e.g. driven by individual consumer behaviours, habits, preferences or device selection.
• Development of intuitive tools and applications to increase participation and extend democratisation of the Web for generating and interacting with content and networks.
• Applications or tools to support the emergence of new value chains. Proposals that seek to apply well established solutions from other industries to the digital content sector will be considered alongside the truly novel.

The Technology Strategy Board is concerned with innovative solutions to develop underlying capability that can be exploited widely within the UK digital content sector, i.e. applications or tools that have the potential to be applied across many businesses. This competition is likely to be particularly relevant to the games industry among other sectors.

For more information about this and other competitions and details of how to register and apply, please see Competitions at www.innovateuk.org. ]]> tag:gameseden.co.uk,2008:index.php/1.46 2008-10-16T19:59:00Z 2008-10-30T20:28:42Z Administrator lisa@lisadearaujo.com Date: 16 October, 5-8pm
Venue: University of Hertfordshire, Room A161 Lindop Building

A knowledge of 3D computer technology, art and design are much in demand across the creative industries. Nowhere are developments in 3D moving so fast as in the Games Industry.

But what are the core things you need to know in order to succeed as a 3D artist? What software is important, and what level of skills are needed? Come and see some great 3D Games work, and listen to 3D games professionals give you their take on how the world of 3D design and technology is changing.

Speakers and Topics include:

• Introduction from Jeremy Cooke, Chairman of Games Eden
• Keynote address by Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO
• The Cutting Edge of Animation: Natural Motion - speaker (tba)
  NaturalMotion are the creators of Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS), a break-through in 3D character animation. Based on research carried out at Oxford University, DMS creates high-quality 3D character animation in real time by combining artificial intelligence, biomechanics, and dynamics simulation.
• The state-of-the-3D-art in Game Creation Speaker: Chis Riddell, Sony Studios, Cambridge
• Get tooled up: what skills will you need to secure your future?  Paul Wilkes and Jason Jenner, EscapeStudios
  What are the core things you need to know in order to succeed as a 3D artist? What software is important and what level of skills are needed?

5.15 Registration

5.30 Welcome and Introduction from Jeremy Cooke Chairman of Games Eden

5.45 Keynote address: Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO
The Independent Game Developers Association - representing the business and commercial interests of games software developers in the UK and Europe

6.06 Q & A

6.15 The Cutting Edge of Animation: Natural Motion - speaker (tba) NaturalMotion are the creators of Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS), a break-through in 3D character animation. Based on research carried out at Oxford University, DMS creates high-quality 3D character animation in real time by combining artificial intelligence, biomechanics, and dynamics simulation.

6.35 Q & A

6.45 The state-of-the-3D-art in Game creation
Speaker: Chis Riddell, Sony Studios, Cambridge

7.05 Q & A

7.25 Get tooled up: what skills will you need to secure your future?
Speakers: Paul Wilkes and Jason Jenner, Escape Studios
An overview of the type of positions available in the games industry with a focus on the entry level and the core skills required for these roles.

7.30 Q+A and summing-up

7.40 Networking over refreshments

To book for this event, please visit the EMMA website.

16 October, 2008

Tiga and Nesta’s London Games Festival event ‘Helping Start-Up, Small and Medium Sized Businesses grow’ will take place on Tuesday 28th October and have announced an early bird discount extended to 25th October. Tiga members booking before then will receive the discounted price of £50 and non members will pay £75. The event has some fantastic speakers lined up who will share their knowledge of ways to make your business a leaner, more profitable organisation.

The organisers have confirmed two more speakers, both key industry figures, who will bring a fantastic breadth of experience to the day. Ian Livingston of Eidos will give a brief introduction and history of the industry, looking at audiences, platforms and the importance of IP ownership. Jamie Macdonald of SCEE will also be speaking and further details of his session will be announced soon. The keynote will be from Ed Vaizey, Conservative Shadow Arts Minister who will give us an overview of Conservative policy towards helping SME’s in our sector and other cultural industries. Attendees will also hear from the Liberal Democrats Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Don Foster, who will outline their policies for the games industry.

Other highlights include, Nesta’s Jonathan Kestenbaum and Jackie Mackenzie discussing their initiatives to support the sector in ‘Raise the Game’. Jeff Meek will explain methods
of creative accounting for creative industries, and Tim Gatland will look at successful project management and delivering games on time.

Staffing issues and skill shortages in the industry are a very real problem at the moment so the event also features speakers who will give advice on tackling these issues. Pam Williams of Kuju will advise on good retention policies, John Nash of Blitz Games will look at improving work performance through training and Richard Clegg of Osborne Clarke will discuss ways of managing your workforce successfully and legally.

The event will run from 9am-4pm on the 28th October in the David Lean Room, Bafta, 195 Piccadilly. London W1J 9LN.

To book and pay for your place online, please visit http://www.tiga.org and click on events, or email (places are not confirmed until payment has been received).

Don’t forget that Games Eden members receive Tiga membership as a part of their membership benefits!

The Casual Games Forum is a new one-day conference and networking event designed specifically for anyone involved in or interested in the business of casual gaming.

It offers a rare opportunity for today’s games industry professionals to gain insight, ideas and inspiration from some of the casual games market’s leading players.

The Casual Games Forum will bring together key industry figures to:

• Gather essential information about market trends and future forecasts
• Learn more about new and existing business opportunities
• Get up-to-date with the latest techniques in developing casual games
• Be inspired by case studies of successful and innovative casual game development
• Network - mix with peers, meet the experts and make new contacts

Who should attend?
The Casual Games Forum has been designed for anyone already involved in the casual gaming market, as well as for people interested in finding out more about it, including:

• Casual games publishers & developers
• Mainstream games publishers & developers
• Platform holders
• Portals & aggregators
• Investors & analysts
• Technology & service providers

This is an unmissable opportunity to explore both the business opportunities that the sector offers and the technical challenges that developing casual games presents.

The Korea Game Industry Agency and Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency will be hosting the ‘G-Star 2008’ exhibition and conference event at KINTEX exhibition centre in Korea from 13 – 16 November 2008.

This is a key event in one of the world’s most important games markets and expects to attract 150 game publishers and developers and over 150,000 visitors.  All of the major Korean games firms including NHN, NC Soft, JC Entertainment, Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom will be participating in the show.

Korea has the most advanced ICT infrastructure in the world and is the No. 1 online gaming country, holding more than a 30% global share. Its game market was worth £2.5 billion in 2007 so this is a great opportunity for UK games developers to participate and break into this huge gaming market.

A brief overview of the Korean Games Industry

Online games is the most popular gaming platform in Korea with a 75.1% share followed, by video (console) games with 14.1% and mobile game with 8.4%.  One of the key factors driving online games growth in Korea was the development of Internet cafes, of which there are currently 20,607 across the nation. There is also a huge base of game enthusiasts, with more than 60% of a Korean population of nearly 50 m, having played at least one game.

Imports of games reached US$389.54 million in 2007 of which Video games had the largest market share, accounting for a 81.8% market share, followed by on-line and PC games.

The Export market for games was worth US$781 million, of which On-line games accounted for a 95.5% market share. Japan is the biggest export market for Korea, followed by China and USA.

As a result of fierce competition from existing export markets, Korean firms are now increasingly exploring opportunities in new markets, especially in Europe. Although the on-line game market in Europe is not as yet as well developed as other countries like China, Japan and USA, the immediate interest for Korean companies lies in servicing their on-line/mobile games in Europe through partnerships with European firms. There are good opportunities for UK firms with technology in game servicing middleware/solutions and creativity for content development and also for UK IDCs (Internet Data Centre) as well as game publishing services for the European market.

How can you get involved?  What assistance can UK Trade & Investment offer?
1. UKTI Seoul will have a booth at G-Star 2008 and they are inviting interested UK games companies and sector multipliers to display brochures/show their promotional CD/DVDs or/and also show their games at the booth.  There will be no charge for this arrangement, but UK companies will have to cover all costs of shipping/freighting promotional materials to send to the British Embassy (UKTI), Seoul.

2. In addition, they’ll be able to act as a representative on behalf for UK companies which will not visit the market during the show for a small charge under our OMIS scheme and could provide the following services:-

• Arrange a UK company’s information to be put into the UKTI exhibition brochure for G-Star 2008
• Conduct meetings with Korean firms on behalf of a UK firm and send feedbacks to the UK firm>/li>

3. If you are planning to visit G-Star 2008, UKTI Seoul can, for a charge, enhance your visit under our OMIS scheme in which they could:

• Arrange a programme of calls
• Arrange a UK company’s information to be put into the UKTI exhibition brochure for G-Star 2008
• Provide the UKTI booth as a meeting point

4. You can contact UKTI Seoul for further information.

Contact

To register, complete this form and return it to Youngju Kim (Youngju.Kim@fco.gov.uk) by 23rd Oct. 2008 and also send your promotional materials including brochures/DVDs/CDs to arrive here at the following address by 31st Oct. 2008:

Youngju Kim, Trade & Investment Officer
British Embassy Seoul
Taepyeongno 40,
4 Jeong-dong, Jung-gu
Seoul 100-120
Republic of Korea
Direct Line: +82 2 3210 5596

MIPCOM - the world’s audiovisual content market, Cannes: 12 - 16 October 2008

MIPCOM is the global content event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content across all platforms. It provides the key decision makers in the TV, film, digital and audiovisual content, production and distribution industry with the only market conference and networking forum to discover future trends and trade content rights on a global level. Costs are approximately £600 for registration per person if you apply directly through the EU’s Market Place umbrella http://www.marketplace-events.com. This is substantially more cost effective way of attending rather than directly.

MIPTV featuring MILIA - (the world’s interactive content forum), Cannes: 3 - 7 April

MILIA provides a unique international context for media and entertainment content decision makers to get together and generate new business with professionals representing a wide range of digital platforms and television. Its renowned conferences, provide an unparalleled opportunity to discover the latest business, technological and creative trends in digital convergence, interactive TV, broadband and mobile entertainment.

Please contact asap to let her know if you are interested in participating in the mini-mission to MIPCOM in October. 

The two day conference will be supported by a full programme of lectures, debates and social events, along with an 'Exhibition of the Future', an ArtsProgramme and awarding of FutureFest Prizes. The vision of FutureFest is to share thinking and set a practical mandate for the world's future away from the diversion of the political arena. Almost everyone with a key role in the world's future will be there. Will you?

FutureFest 2009 is coming...A message from FutureFest Curator, Doug Richard.

The world seems to be turning at an ever increasing pace. Every day we wonder what tomorrow will bring and what issues we will have to over-come. But the time has come for the world to seriously address the issues affecting our future. The debate has begun. We know the science. We can see the potential. We can see the risks. And we know the world has to act now. We take our future for granted. To us, life has always been here, so why wouldnâ??t it be the same case tomorrow? If we want to keep our world a desirable place to live, work and enjoy, we have to take action.

FutrureFest is a bold statement of the world's commitment to meet the many challenges it faces for the future and work out a plan of action. FutureFest will serve as a forum allowing discussion of what tomorrow holds. If we don't talk about the future, it becomes difficult for us to plan for tomorrow. When we talk about tomorrow, we can better understand how to overcome its problems and find a way to make things better.

Throughout the 20th century, America has been the hub of technological innovation and entrepreneurism. Northern California has given birth to an abundance of start-ups and Silicon Valley has become the hotbed for new businesses based on new ideas. Not satisfied with being the cutting edge in technological innovation, California has also been at the forefront in taking action to help protect the environment.

America however, is not the be all and end all in innovation, not by a long shot. We have seen a rise in regional European based start-ups in the process of acquiring venture finance. Recently it's been innovation in the mobile phone space that the UK has become renowned for and in a lot of people's opinions; the future is based on and around mobile technology. This movement away from Silicon Valley is an exciting prospect, after all, technology is used worldwide and therefore innovation should also be worldwide.

Drawing on a global pool, FutureFest will bring together some of the world's finest minds to discuss the four core themes of Earth, Life, Communication and Machines thatunderpin FutureFest. Speakers will share their knowledge, views and projections on the key issues influencing our future. The event will give emerging names the opportunity to rub shoulders with those that are already established in the field. Furthermore, the speakers are not all academics, but policy drivers, innovators and artists.

No conference has ever been designed in such a way and I for one can't wait!

- Doug Richard, Curator, FutureFest

• Craig Venter, Founder of The Institute of Genomic Research
• Jon Moulton, Founder of Alchemy Partners
• Aubrey de Grey, Methuselah Foundation
• Dale Dougherty, O'Reilly Media Inc.
• Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to DEFRA
• Susan Greenfield CBE, Director Royal Institution of Great Britain
• Rodney Brooks, Director MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Bunker Roy, Founder of the Barefoot College
• Sir David King, Former UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser & Director
• Sir Brian Heap CBE, Research Associate at the Capability and Sustainability Centre, ST Edmunds College Cambridge
• Tim Bevan CBE, Co-Chairman and Co-Founder of Working Title Films
• Alex Kalache, Senior Advisor to the President on Global Ageing at The New York Academy of Medicine
• Oussma Khatib, President of the International Foundation of Robotics Research Stanford University
• Moray MacLennan, IPA President & Chairman, Europe, M&C Saatchi
• Janne Kyttanen, Founder, Freedom of Creation
• Hermann Hauser, Co-Founder, Amadeus Capital Partners
• Atsuo Takanishi, Waseda University, Japan
• Eugene Polzik, Niels Bohr Institute, University Copenhagen
• Mitchell Tseng, Chair, Professor and Director, Advanced Manufacturing Institute, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Richard Cotton, Genomic Disorders Research Centre, Melbourne
• Jurgen Borlak, Director, Fraunhofer Institute of Toxicology and Experimental Medicine in Germany
• Mary Archer, Scientist and Chair, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Frank Piller, Chair professor of Management, Technology and Innovation Management Group, RWTH Aachen University

You can download a full Overview here

You can register to attend FutureFest here

For a full picture of what the festival will include visit www.futurefest.com

Eamon O’Reilly, who is responsible for this scheme at the EU headquarters in Brussels, has been invited by the UK MEDIA Desk to come and explain the ins and outs of the scheme.  This is your unique opportunity to find out first-hand how to approach the MEDIA Programme for funding, find out about the rules for accessing it and about the application and selection processes.

European companies can apply for awards of up to €100,000 (£80,000) to assist them in the early stages of a project.  This funding scheme is currently open for submissions, with deadlines on 17 November 2008 and 17 April 2009.

The half-day seminar, organised in partnership by the UK MEDIA Desk, SEMN, Screen South, TIGA and Wired Sussex, will take place in central Brighton on 3 October 2008.

11am Registration
11.30am Session begins
1pm Networking lunch

To reserve your place and receive the full details about the seminar’s location, please contact by 25 September 2008.

There are an estimated 3200 interactive/digital media firms in Canada generating approximately CAD$7.25 billion in revenue and employing 51,000 people. Canada has similar synergies with the UK in the interactive/digital media space, and maintains a highly skilled and educated workforce. If you are interested in knowing more about the Canadian interactive/digital media industry, potential opportunities and establishing contact with Canadian companies for partnering, then please join us for this event.

Download the PDF Agenda

Commenting on the new time of year for the Awards, Chairman of the Academy’s Games committee, Ray Maguire said “After extensive industry consultation, it was agreed that March would be the best time for the Awards, enabling the industry to enter all the major releases of the year”.
There are 13 award categories: Action & Adventure, Artistic Achievement, Casual, Gameplay, Multiplayer, Original Score, Sports, Strategy, Story & Character, Technical Achievement, Use of Audio and of course Best Game. BAFTA also announced a new Handheld category which includes games for mobiles phones, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and Nintendo GBA.

Other prizes on the night will include the prestigious Fellowship which is the highest accolade the Academy can bestow on an individual for outstanding achievement and contribution to the industry through a body of work; the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare To Be Digital which recognises new talent; and another Gift of the Academy Prize for games or gaming technology worthy of special recognition.

While the games will be judged by industry experts and not the gaming public, part of the Academy’s charitable remit is to promote and champion games as an art form and that means showcasing the games being considered for BAFTA consideration to as wide an audience as possible. To achieve this, BAFTA is encouraging developers & publishers to support individual entries with short films that contain footage about the making of the game. These will be posted on the BAFTA website as well as general games websites, to raise awareness of all the titles being considered for this year’s Awards, and to promote a wider understanding of games development.

Commenting on this new initiative, Maguire said “We are keen to see the new filmed support material be developed by each nominee, as this is the sort of initiative that helps the wider world understand that the creation and development of video games is an art form, often with teams of hundreds of people and budgets on a par with feature films.”

BAFTA’s role and charitable remit is to support, develop and promote the art forms of the moving image by identifying and rewarding excellence, inspiring practitioners and benefiting the public. It focuses attention on the highest achievements in video games released in the UK each year in order to motivate and inspire those who make them and to educate and develop the tastes of those who play them. Ray Maguire commented on the unique nature of the Awards: “One of the many strengths of the British Academy Video Games Awards is that the focus is on creativity and innovation as opposed to a simple measure of commercial success. This enables niche but highly creative work to be recognised and rewarded.”

Voting in the Awards entails two stages; the first vote involves qualified industry professionals and BAFTA games members. Their top votes comprise the shortlist for the category juries. Potential first stage voters (shortlisters) are invited to register their interest by emailing the Games Awards officer Kelly Smith at kellys@bafta.org .

The highest-scoring titles go to individual category juries that are chaired by a member of the BAFTA video games committee. BAFTA juries judge the shortlisted titles and decide on the nominated games and winners. The nominations will be announced on 10 February and the winners unveiled on Tuesday 10 March at the British Academy Video Games Awards.

Entry forms detailing the deadlines - along with information on how to become an industry shortlister - are available now from the BAFTA website http://www.bafta.org/games .

The entry deadline is 10 October 2008.

Rockstar was the big winner, its Rockstar North team taking home the Visual Arts and Audio Accomplishment prizes for Grand Theft Auto IV, and the Best In-House Developer award.  The overall Grand Prix was given to its parent label Rockstar Games.

Animation tool company Natural Motion and facial animation firm Image Metrics also bagged an award for their Technical Innovation work on GTA IV.

Elsewhere, UK independents won big.  Frontier Developments took the Best New IP prize for WiiWare title Lost Winds, Kuju’s Doublesix won Best New Studio, Splash Damage was named Best Independent and Ideaworks3D Best Mobile Studio.  Traveller’s Tales won the Best Use of a License prize for its Lego Indiana Jones game and Realtime Worlds took home the Business Development Prize.

International leaders in games development were also honoured for their support of European studios.  Nintendo nabbed the Publishing Hero award for the launch of WiiWare while Epic Games was named Best Tools Provider for its Unreal Engine 3.

Elsewhere, OPM was named Best Recruitment Firm, Babel Media the Best Services firm, Richard Jacques Studio the Creative Outsourcing King - and the University of Abertay & Dare to be Digital were the first winners in the inaugural Games:Edu New Talent Award.

The full list of winners is as follows:

CATEGORY: CREATIVITY

Best New IP
Lost Winds (Frontier Developments)

Best use of a Licence
Lego Indiana Jones (Traveller’s Tales)

Visual Arts
Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV)

Audio Accomplishment
Rockstar North (Grand Theft Auto IV)

Publishing Hero
Nintendo

CATEGORY: TECHNOLOGY

Tools Provider
Epic Games

Technical Innovation
NaturalMotion / Image Metrics (Grand Theft Auto IV)

Creative Outsourcing
Richard Jacques Studios

Services
Babel Media

Recruitment Company
OPM

Games: Edu New Talent Award
University of Abertay & Dare to be Digital

CATEGORY: STUDIOS

Business Development
Realtime Worlds

Best Mobile Studio
Ideaworks3D

Best In-House Developer
Rockstar North

Best New UK /European Studio
Doublesix

Best Independent Developer
Splash Damage

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Grand Prix
Rockstar Games