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First Advocacy track sessions revealed for GDC 2014

Passes for the Game Developers Conference 2014 are going fast, and today we're proud to announce a new batch of sessions in the Advocacy track that you'll want to check out.
Session highlights today include a talk about depression-proofing your studio, advice thoughtfully incorporating LGBTQ themes in your work, and more. You can also find the full lineup of awesome advocacy-centric talks at GDC 2014 via the Advocacy track session list.
For the first time ever, GDC organizers have made all Advocacy track talks open to all GDC attendees, regardless of what type of pass they purchase.

GDC 2014 reveals first batch of Education Summit sessions

Game Developers Conference 2014 organizers have revealed a few new talks as part of the Education Summit of its March conference, including sessions explaining how to teach people how to write for games, a guide to setting up and running a game user research lab, and more.
These talks are part of the GDC Education Summit, one of eight that will take place Monday, March 17 and Tuesday, March 18 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA during the first two days of GDC 2014.

GDC Play and the 'Best in Play' awards return to GDC 2014

Organizers of the Organizers of the 2014 Game Developers Conference have confirmed the return of the GDC Play emerging/independent developer showcase to the show this year, with the 'Best in Play' awards also returning to the event.
GDC Play, which is still available for potential exhibitors, is a separate area of the San Francisco show that showcases emerging and independent developers with a series of tables and meeting rooms. It will take place at a new time - Wednesday, March 19 - Friday, March 21 at Moscone Center during the 2014 Game Developers Conference.

2014 Independent Games Festival announces Student Showcase winners

The Independent Games Festival has announced the eight Student Showcase winners for the 16th annual presentation of its prestigious awards, celebrating the brightest and most innovative creations to come out of universities and games programs from around the world in the past year.
This year's showcase of top student talent include the open-world cowboy whodunit Westerado from Dutch student developers Ostrich Banditos, the forced perspective puzzle game Museum of Simulation Technology from a student at Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center, and strikingly topical co-op hacker game Cyber Heist, a game from students at the University of Utah which challenges a devious Thief/Hacker duo to work together and take down the U.S. Department of Education in 2114, eliminating student debt forever.
In total, this year's Student Competition took in nearly 350 game entries across all platforms -- PC, console and mobile -- from a wide diversity of the world's most prestigious universities and games programs, making the Student IGF one of the world's largest showcases of student talent.

GDC 2014 adds fresh Summit talks on free-to-play game design

Game Developers Conference 2014 organizers have revealed a few new Free to Play Design & Business Summit talks for its March conference, including sessions explaining how to design a chart-topping match-3 puzzle game, a guide to taking your mobile game cross-platform, and tips on how to design compelling in-app purchases for freemium games.
These talks are part of the Free to Play Design & Business Summit, one of eight that will take place Monday, March 17 and Tuesday, March 18 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA during the first two days of GDC 2014.

CCP explains how Crimewatch keeps the peace in EVE at GDC 2014

Passes for the Game Developers Conference 2014 are going fast, and today we're announcing even more sessions for the Main Conference that you'll want to check out.
Session highlights today include a neat talk from CCP on how to design, redesign and perfect an automated player policing system for massively multiplayer games, a presentation from Naughty Dog about how the skies in The Last Of Us were created, and more.

GDC 2014 adds Summit talks on open-world AI design, games writing

Game Developers Conference 2014 organizers have revealed a few new Summit talks for its March conference, including sessions explaining the challenges of open-world AI design from developers of games like Saints Row IV, a guide to teaching the fundamentals of writing for games, and a talk about making cross-platform mobile games from the co-founder of Kongregate.

Beyond the finalists: IGF 2014 Best In Audio jury picks

Gamasutra's Alex Wawro highlights more top-tier games that were nominated by jurors for this year's IGF, but didn't achieve the critical mass of votes necessary to be named a finalist.
Now that the IGF 2014 Main Competition finalists have been announced, let's talk a bit more about the selection process.
The main IGF competition has a diverse panel of judges that includes representatives from the mainstream game industry, previous IGF winners and finalists, other independent game developers, and a smattering of indie-friendly game journalists.

Blizzard shares Hearthstone design tips at GDC 2014

Passes for the Game Developers Conference 2014 are going fast, and today we're announcing even more sessions for the Main Conference that you'll want to check out.
Today's highlights include a rundown of design tips based on Blizzard's experience building Hearthstone, a guide to animating human characters doing superhuman things from the animation director of Saints Row IV and a talk from Sucker Punch Productions about how they optimized inFamous: Second Son to take advantage of the PlayStation 4 hardware.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf postmortem coming to GDC 2014

For March's Game Developers Conference 2014, we're very happy to announce a new addition to our lineup of excellent sessions.
Nintendo's Aya Kyogoku and Katsuya Eguchi are teaming up to deliver a postmortem talk on acclaimed title Animal Crossing: New Leaf for Nintendo 3DS. The pair plan to discuss what it was like to develop a game in such a storied franchise. Attendees can expect to learn more about the challenges of trying to provide both old and new players with an Animal Crossing game that was fresh and interesting, while at the same time striving to keep the franchise true to its unique legacy.

The Last Of Us, Tearaway, Gone Home lead Choice Awards nominations

Organizers have revealed the finalists for the 14th annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the leading peer-based video game event celebrating the industry's top games and developers. Winners in all categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, taking place on Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 6:30pm at the San Francisco Moscone Center during the 2014 Game Developers Conference alongside the Independent Games Festival Awards.
Jointly leading the nominations with five each are Naughty Dog's action-adventure survival horror title The Last of Us - receiving nods for Game of the Year, Best Design, Best Visual Art, Best Narrative and Best Technology - and Media Molecule's PlayStation Vita title Tearaway, which received acclaim throughout 2013 for its art style and its creative use of the PS Vita inputs and sensors, and which was nominated for awards including Innovation and Best Handheld/Mobile Game.

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