1) IGDA Event - Advances and Innovations in Game Design 2008 On Tuesday, August 12th, 2008, IGDA Winnipeg presents "Advances and Innovations in Game Design 2008" at Fortune Cat Game Studios (2nd Floor - 62 Albert St.). The meeting will run from 7:00 - 9:00pm. IGDA Winnipeg will be hosting a presentation event looking at several games released in the past year that have demonstrated some element of innovation or advancement in design over what has come before. Each presenter will speak for 10-15 minutes about a recently released game title that has played with, re-engineered, or bent entirely out of shape our understanding of games and game design. Confirmed presenters are Ryan FitzGerald and Noah Decter-Jackson as well as two new members of the local game development industry that have returned to Winnipeg after living in BC: Alec Holowka and Kim Lazaruk. There is no charge for admission and attendance is open to the game development and larger New Media communities. There is also still some room available for other short-form presentations on this topic, if you're interested in presenting on a recently released game that has stretched the boundaries of design, contact Noah at exender@gmail.com Refreshments will also be available. 2) Canada at Game Developer's Conference Leipzig, Germany The Canadian Interactive Alliance has secured space at the Game Developers Conference in Leipzig, Germany and is inviting Canadian game developers to participate. GC Developers Conference provides exclusive insights into the latest themes and important issues affecting the games industry in a series of lectures, keynote speeches, debates and workshops. The aim is to ensure that GCDC provides the industry with the best possible setting for the exchange of knowledge and networking at a high international level. And the primary idea behind GCDC is to make it a conference staged by developers for developers. Here's the package being offered -- cost per company is $2,600. - Use of two 15-square-metre meeting rooms with furnishings from August 20-23 for pre-arranged meetings in the Business Centre, Halle 1 (see attached); - Admission to both GCDC (August 18-20) and GC-Leipzig (August 20-23) for ONE representative of each company participating; - Inclusion in show directory for each participating company; - Assistance with identifying opportunities and pre-booking meetings with German and European firms through Canadian Consul-General in Berlin; - Access to Canada-Germany networking events (TBD; most likely a breakfast similar to last year's). Any questions should be directed to:
James Lewis, Executive Director Canadian Interactive Alliance/ Alliance interactive canadienne 613.878.7604 http://www.ciaic.ca james@ciaic.ca 3) Canada at the Tokyo Game Show The Tokyo Game Show was first held in 1996, and since that time has grown along with the game industry to become the world's premier computer entertainment show. This year's Tokyo Game Show will be the 18th held to date. Last year's event, the first TGS featuring 2 business days, demonstrating a greater focus on B to B exchanges, broke records in every category, including number of business visitors (over 62,000), exhibitors (217), media registrants (4,670), for a total of over 193,000 visitors. The 2008 event will again offer four-days, including two business days, offering a fuller business component, exhibition program and stronger trade show attractions than ever before with the purpose of establishing TGS as the world's foremost computer entertainment show. For more information on the Tokyo Game Show and registration, please contact: Kojiro Ichikawa Embassy of Canada / Ambassade du Canada 7-3-38 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107-8503, Japan Tel: (81-3) 5412-6232 Fax:(81-3)5412-6250 Kojiro.Ichikawa@international.gc.ca 4) Trade Assistance Program Revised The Province of Manitoba's Trade Assistance Program (TAP) has been revised for the 2008/09 fiscal year. The changes in 3 areas of support are: 1. Trade Show support has been increased from $2000.00 to 3000.00 2. Marketing materials support is increased from $2000.00 to $2500.00 3. Website support is increased from $500.00 to $750.00 More information is available on the TAP program website at: http://www.gov.mb.ca/trade/tap/index.html 5) Banff Venture Forum 2008 Banff Venture Forum 2008 (www.banffventureforum.org, October 2-3 at the Fairmont Banff Springs). This year's theme is "Technology without Borders"; discussions will include IP protection, liquidity, etc. in between the company presentations. There are three streams: ICT, Energy Technology, and Bio (includes Life Sciences, Medical Devices, and Agri-bio). In its 10th year, this event attracts over 300 attendees and is a key financing event for technology in Western Canada. The three keynotes are confirmed, with speakers from GoogleMobile,
Schlumberger, and Mitel. Also there are three VCs identified by Canadian Consulates in the US (one from Denver and two from Texas) who are interested in being a speaker/panelist so organizers are working on this. They are now open for applications from companies, and will be conditionally accepting companies (in tranches) until Aug 1. The pitching bootcamp will be held in late August/early September and companies need to be successful in the Bootcamp before they are allowed to present at BVF. www.banffventureforum.org