T6 Flashbacks- 4

The beauty of a conference like FuturePlay is that sometimes you just get lucky enough to meet two people in somewhat different fields that are just talking about the issues. I know I often say that sometimes you learn more during the conference breaks than at the talks (not that the talks aren't awesome). Whether it is having a beer or coffee with someone, or just hanging out between sessions, you can meet some cool people.

At Future Play 2005, I had the opportunity to sit down with Ernest Adams and Henry Jenkins.

Ernest Adams consults on game design for many clients across the world. He is widely published (co-author of two of the industry’s required-reading list "Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design" and "Break into the Game Industry: How to Get a Job Making Video Games" and numerous articles, papers and columns) and spends much of his time lecturing on game design at conferences and universities in Europe and North America. He is the founder of the International Game Developers’ Association (IGDA) and a 16-year industry veteran. Clients have included Ubisoft, THQ, Elixir Studios, Guinness World Records, Sorrent, Terraplay, and A2M. Ernest is currently on the Program Review Board of the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) Annual Conference and also on the Editorial Board of ACM Computers in Entertainment Magazine. He has a BA in Philosophy from Stanford University.

Ernest’s current projects include consulting on S.T.A.L.K.E.R. for THQ, and working on a textbook edition of "Rollings and Adams on Game Design."

Henry Jenkins is Professor of Literature and Comparative Media Studies & Director, Comparative Media Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

His books and articles have been major contributions to existing fields of inquiry such as film history (What Made Pistachio Nuts?: Early Sound Comedy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic; Classical Hollywood Comedy), Political Communications (Democracy and New Media) and Children’s Studies (The Children’s Culture Reader); his works have helped to establish new fields such as media ethnography (Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture; Science Fiction Audiences: Dr. Who, Star Trek and their Followers), and game studies (From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games).

His current book project, Convergence Culture: Where New and Old Media Intersect, examines contemporary trends in the entertainment industry, online culture, and audience participation. He is the principle investigator for the Education Arcade, a MIT-University of Wisconsin-Madison collaboration to explore the pedagogical use of computer and video games. He is the co-editor of the Media in Transition series at the MIT Press. He writes monthly columns on media and technology for Technology Review Online and Computer Games Magazine. He has testified about youth and violence before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, about media literacy before the Federal Communications Commission, and about copyright before the Governor’s Board of the World Economic Forum.

Jenkins is also heading an new research collaboration, funded by the MacArthur Foundation, focused on understanding the skills children need to learn and communicate in the coming decades.

We talked video game ratings, violence in games, the GTA Hot Coffee controversy among other things.

Direct episode download.

Enjoy.

T6 Flashbacks- 3

Our third T6 Flashback features an interview with Victor Lucas of the Electric Playground and Judgement Day.

I managed to connect with Victor Lucas of the Electric Playground and Judgement Day TV series while I was at the University fair in 2005, recruiting students. Victor is the co-host and executive producer of these two shows that can be seen on G4, G4TechTV Canada, Razer, Space and well all over the place.

We talked about Vic's favourite games, his favourite all time games, about next Gen consoles and about the convergence of video games and other media forms.

While Vic could not make FuturePlay it is still gaming content so, hell, I thought I would repost this one.

Enjoy.

Direct Download

T6 Flashbacks- 2

In the runup to FuturePlay 2005 I interviewed gaming industry luminary Greg Costikyan.

Greg joined me on the phone from New York where he works as a developer and commentator as well as a science fiction and fantasy writer. Greg is on the editorial board of Gamestudies and is the chief creative officer of Unplugged Inc.

We talked about the future of the industry, the effects of the convergence of gaming and other media forms (movies etc) and Greg shares his passion for World of Warcraft.

Greg also gave a preview of what he talked about in his keynote at FuturePlay 2005.

Note, there are some audio problems in this episode, and they are completely my fault.

Direct Episode Download.

T6 Flashbacks- 1

If this is your first time at FuturePlay you might want to know a bit about some of the past conferences.

Well, I have a little (13 000 subscriber, pats self on back) podcast called thunderbird six that covers FuturePlay each year (and other cool stuff, like interviewing other podcasters, people at Algoma University, bands and people that I frankly find interesting like Cory Doctorow or astronomer Seth Shostak).

I thought it might be cool to start a series of T6 flashbacks, basically re post old interviews and content from the conference. In our second episode I interviewed Jeb Havens back in 05 before FuturePlay 2005 in Lansing Michigan.

Jeb is a Lead Designer for 1st Playable Productions near Albany, NY. and was Lead Designer on Marvel Trading Card Game for the DS, and is now Lead Designer on Disney Princess: Magical Jewels DS. Before that, he was a designer on Playboy: The Mansion and was Lead Designer on the Private Party expansion pack for that game.

Enjoy.

Direct Episode Download

Pre Conference Seminar Wednesday November 14

Emails are coming in with abandon...

Pre-Conference Seminar: Wednesday November 14

Project Management Training Seminar for Game Development Professionals – Heather Chandler

Registration: 8 am

Please pre-register online as space is limited and walk-in registrations may not be accepted

Training Seminar 9 am – 5pm Refreshments and Lunch included

What Is It? A full-day practical and essential training in leading production teams through all phases of game development.

Who Should Attend? This day-long session is ideal for anyone who leads a game development team of any size. Those new to the leadership role will leave with new tools to help them keep projects on track, motivate team members, and conduct risk analysis.

Cost is $350 for the full, one day seminar and includes lunch, refreshments, and your personal copy of "The Game Production Handbook".

Location: Novotel Room TBA

FuturePlay 2007 Schedule Confirmed

I just received an email from the FP organizers saying that the schedule is posted. Check it out here.

Why Are We Here?

Hey look, first post...

Well, the purpose of this blog is to get information about FuturePlay 2007 out to the community. I promise lots of content on the blog, and the frequency of posting will ramp up as the conference approaches. I will also live blog from the conference.

Of course, there will be content from the thunderbird six podcast, including interviews with past conference attendees, and a couple of past paper presentations.

The Future Play Conference focuses on three main themes. The first theme, future game development, addresses academic research and emerging industry trends in the area of game technology and game design. The second theme, future game impacts and applications, includes academic research and emerging industry trends focused on designing games for learning, for gender, for serious purposes, and to impact society. Finally, the third theme, future game talent, is designed to provide a number of industry and academic perspectives on the knowledge, skills, and attitude it takes to excel in the games industry.

Future Play addresses these issues through exciting and thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper sessions, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), workshops (including design, technology, and career workshops), and exhibitions of posters, games, and the latest game technologies and supports from industry-leading vendors. The highlight of the games exhibition is a peer-reviewed competition of games in three categories: Indie Games, Serious Games, and Student Games.

For Future Play 2007, Algoma University College teams up with the University of Ontario Institute of Technology to bring you some of the most thought provoking and talented people in the gaming world today.