The organizers of Game Developers Conference Austin have started accepting submissions for the upcoming four-day trade show, to be held this September.

Proposals to present lectures, roundtables and full-day tutorials will be accepted for review by the GDC Austin advisory boards through Friday, May 8th.

Presented by Think Services, organizers of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, GDC Austin is a four-day event taking place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas from September 15 to 18, 2009.

GDC Austin focuses on connected games including online games, virtual worlds, and social networking. Submissions should address the most pressing development challenges for connected games related to business and marketing, design, social networking and community, services, production, and programming.

GDC Austin has also opened the call for submissions for the Game Audio Summit and for the Game Writers Summit. The Game Audio Summit is designed to elevate game audio development education, strengthen the community, and foster professional growth of the individual. The Game Writers Summit is dedicated to the art and craft of game writing, game narrative and interactive storytelling.

Said event director Izora de Lillard in a statement, "Now in its seventh year, GDC Austin will continue to serve the global online development communities through education and networking. Having developed an international reputation over these seven years for being the focal point of key learnings in the online games space, we are thrilled to return to Austin in September with expanded content focused on innovative designs and business models within connected games."

More information about the submissions guidelines, conference topics, and advisory board can be found at the show's official site.

Posted by Staff at 11:59 AM | Permalink

Video game-oriented television network G4 will exclusively broadcast Game Developers Choice Awards highlights on U.S. television tonight at 6:30 and 8:00 PM ET.

The awards originally took place Wednesday, March 25 during Game Developers Conference 2009 in San Francisco.

G4's program X-Play, featuring host Adam Sessler -- and billed as "the most watched video game series on television" -- will air a half-hour highlights show of the proceedings beginning this evening.

The Game Developers Choice Awards, which G4 also showed highlights from in 2008, will repeat its TV airing on this special X-Play episode on Monday, April 13 at 1:00 PM ET, and on Thursday, April 16, 2009 at 8.00pm ET.

The awards production features Double Fine Productions founder and veteran game designer Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Psychonauts) presiding over the evening once again - he previously hosted the 2007 Choice Awards.

More information on scheduling for upcoming episodes of the show is available at G4's TV schedule page.

[UPDATE: All times for the show are ET only, not ET/PT - in addition, G4's video page has footage from the episode now available.]

Posted by Staff at 10:50 AM | Permalink

The founding doctors of BioWare have been confirmed to deliver a keynote speech at the first Game Developers Conference Canada in Vancouver this may.

Dr. Gregory P. Zeschuk, BMSc, MD, MBA, Vice President, Entertainment and Miscellaneous, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts, and Dr. Raymond A. Muzyka, BMSc, MD, CCFP, MBA, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, Electronic Arts, have titled their address "Emotionally Engaging Narrative: Gaming's New Frontier."

The talk will take place on the second day of GDC Canada, which runs May 12-13, 2009.

Edmonton, Canada-headquartered BioWare is known for its story-centered games; currently, it is known to be developing the single-player RPGs Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, and the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Dres. Zeschuk and Muzyka founded BioWare in 1995 after completing medical school, with the intention to develop medical software, but quickly changed focus to computer roleplaying games. The company is now owned by Electronic Arts.

"We couldn't have found two more appropriate speakers for the inaugural GDC Canada, as Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk are two of the most esteemed members of the game development community worldwide, and certainly leaders amongst the Canadian game development community," said Izora de Lillard of Think Services Game Group (also Gamasutra's parent company.

"Both are also pioneers of the move towards making games that tell rich stories and affect players on a deep emotional level; we look forward to hearing how they inspire the attendees of GDC Canada to push their games into what they are rightfully calling gaming’s 'new frontier.'"

Posted by Staff at 2:43 PM | Permalink

GDC Europe has appointed its advisory board, selecting industry execs, tech experts and consultants to ensure the event meets the needs of the European audience.

IGDA chair Bob Bates, a 23-year industry veteran, joins the board, and in addition to Stormfront Studios vet Don Daglow, Streamline Studio founder Alexander Fernandez is also participating.

The advisory board will also include consultant and former German trade group leader Tom Putzki, and Harald Riegler, CEO of Austrian studio Sproing, as well as marketing and strategy veteran Sean Kauppinen, founder and CEO of the International Digital Entertainment Agency.

Strategic Alternatives principal Bob Wallace has also joined the board, which is led by Frank Sliwka, conference director and VP of business development at organizer Think Services (also parent of Gamasutra).

"The members of the board are all contributors who will work diligently to champion GDC Europe and guide the program so that we can elevate the level of discussion at the conference and ensure value for our attendees," says event director Sliwka.

GDC Europe takes place August 17-19 at the Cologne Congress East Center in Cologne, Germany, and will host more than 80 sessions addressing the needs and opportunities for developers and business professionals throughout Europe today. It's held in conjunction with European consumer and trade event Gamescom.

Interested parties can find further details about GDC Europe at the event's official website.

Posted by Staff at 3:21 PM | Permalink

The 2009 Game Developers Conference Canada, taking place from May 12th-13th in Vancouver, BC, has added a number of sessions featuring high-profile speakers from Electronic Arts, plus notable game writers Susan O'Connor and Marianne Krawczyk.

EA technical art director Richard Burgess-Dawson will present "Shooting in San Vanelona: the Visuals of EA's Skate," a talk for artists and visual engineers the paradigms, methods, challenges and tricks behind the visuals of EA's acclaimed skating title. Burgess-Dawson will explain how lighting, surfacing, geometry, post FX, shadows, streaming and particles contribute to the cohesion of the nine square-kilometer world.

EA Montreal executive producer Reid Schneider will present "An Army of Two Post-Mortem - Deconstructing the Mercenary," discussing what went right and what went wrong during the game's production, which featured multiple engines, team-lead changes, release date ‘adjustments’ and the process of building a next-gen team from the ground up.

Games need stories, but how to integrate writers into the development process? Krawczyk and O'Connor, writers for the God Of War series and Far Cry 2/Gears Of War respectively, will present "Square Pegs, Round Holes: Integrating a Writer Into Your Studio," a talk for developers and producers on how to optimize a writer's input in the pipeline to strengthen story and avoid common pitfalls.

Presented by Reboot Communications and Think Services, GDC Canada, which is co-located with other regional events including Future Play, is intended to enable Canadian game developers to share best practices for fostering ingenuity and quality games.

The conference, which takes places at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Center, emphasizes studying the challenges and opportunities inherent in creating games with long-production cycles, large development teams, and across multiple platforms.

More information on the event's sessions and full registration details can be found at the official GDC Canada site.

Posted by Staff at 7:29 AM | Permalink

Registration for the 2009 Game Developers Conference Europe is now open, organizers announced today.

The event takes place August 17 to 19 in Cologne, Germany. Registrations will be accepted until the second day of the conference, August 18. Discounts will be applied to those who sign up by July 29, said show caretaker Think Services.

A sister event to Game Developers Conference 2009, which took place last week in San Francisco, the 2009 Game Developers Conference Europe will be held in conjunction with the Cologne-based game trade show Gamescom.

GDC Europe, whose official website is now open, consists of more than 80 lectures, panels, and keynotes focusing on game design, programming, production, and business.

Said event director Frank Sliwka, "GDC Europe will be the definitive European developer event this year. We are combining the unique strengths, history, and reach of the GDC to Europe and creating an event truly focused in serving developers in Europe and worldwide."

Posted by Staff at 7:31 AM | Permalink