GDC Canada 2009

The Game Developers Conference Canada (GDC Canada) will be held May 12-13 2009 at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.

GDC Canada (evolving from the Vancouver Game Summit) will hold information sessions, have guest speakers, and present networking opportunities for game developers.

Registration is now open and full information can be obtained at www.gdc-canada.com

CanDevs

Speaker Spotlight: Highlights for IN: The Interactive Exchange

The following is courtesy of Danielle Engels from Interactive Ontario:

Speaker Spotlight: Highlights for IN: The Interactive Exchange
A conference where inspired ideas meet the business of interactive

February 19, 2009 (Toronto) – Interactive Ontario has announced some key presenters who will be speaking at IN: The Interactive Exchange <http://www.inexchange09.com>  (IN09), March 17-19, including Ben Relles, creator of BarelyPolitical.com and best known for his YouTube hit, “I got a Crush on Obama,” and Obama Girl herself Amber-Lee Ettinger.

The conference offers a variety of streams, including social media, cross platform entertainment, games, and mobile services, examining the interactive digital media industry through the lens of business models, research and public policy.
 
IN09 launches with a creative keynote presentation from Conductor, Itay Talgam (IL). Music embodies knowledge and innovation, individual effort and collective achievement. Itay founded the “Maestro Program” which utilizes music as a successful metaphor for business, and believes music has the power to create community and reinforce shared values.
 
Other international presenters include:

A Visionary Presentation from Adam Singer, Deputy Chair, Content Board, Ofcom (UK), and Chairman of British Screen Advisory Council, touching on themes as they relate to the future of broadcasting and new platforms.

Juliette Powell, Author (USA) – Juliette draws on experience as a social media expert and co-founder of The Gathering Think Tank, to examine practices of successful business leaders who use social networking, in her book 33 Million People in the Room: How to Create, Influence, and Run a Successful Business with Social Networking.

Kerrin McNeil, Studio Manager, Hoodlum (AU) – Hoodlum’s project Find815, an online prequel to Season 4 of Lost for the ABC was a Primetime Emmy Finalist in 2008 and a recent winner of the Global Media Awards.

Roland Harwood, Director of Open Innovation, NESTA (UK) – Flagship projects include working with Tim Berners Lee on the future of the web, successfully implementing open innovation with P&G, Oracle and Virgin, and working with Imperial College and the RCA on an interdisciplinary Business Incubator.

Jelle Prins, Founder of Moop.Me (NL) – Jelle founded Moop.Me in 2008 after creating their iPhone hit ‘iNap’ – a ‘next-generation’ travel alarm that uses GPS in your iPhone to determine your location, and wakes you when you are close to your destination.

Dan Hon, Co-founder & CEO, Six to Start (UK)- Six to Start creates new kinds of entertainment that are designed, from the start, to live on multiple platforms and recently went public with its first project, We Tell Stories, for Penguin Books, which received critical and commercial acclaim. 
Visit www.inexchange09.com <http://www.inexchange09.com> for conference tickets and updated news.

IN09 Press Pass application form: http://www.inexchange09.com/media
 
About IN: The Interactive Exchange (March 17-19th, Toronto)
Formerly the Interactive Content Exchange (ICE), IN: The Interactive Exchange is an event dedicated to the business of interactive digital media, bringing industry professionals together for two and a half days of networking and knowledge sharing, as they experience cutting edge interactive properties in downtown Toronto.

About Interactive Ontario
IO is a not-for-profit industry trade organization committed to the growth of the Ontario interactive digital content industry with over 200 member companies.

CanDevs

Recent Vancouver studio news

It was recently announced that Nexon Vancouver (Humanature) will be closing. Nexon is the Korean-based developer of Maple Story. Nexon Vancouver was working on an original free-to-play MMO called Sugar Rush. About 90 employees will be affected by the closing.

Nexon

Another studio closing is EA Black Box. About 200 of the Vancouver studio’s employees will be let go. The remaining staff will be integrated into EA’s Burnaby, BC office. Black Box was responsible for developing the Need For Speed series and Skate.

Electronic Arts

In better news, Ubisoft has announced that it has bought Vancouver-based Action Pants Inc. API will be tasked with bringing a new sports game exclusively to the Nintendo Wii.

Action Pants Inc

Ubisoft

With the current world economic slowdown, it was inevitable that the video games industry would be affected as well. However, considering the fact that Canada is in much better shape economically than other nations, game development in Canada is still relatively solid.

CanDevs