GDC: Game Developers Conference 2011

Joymax announces powerful gdc 2011 lineup

Joymax, a leading global developer and publisher of online entertainment, announced today its strong lineup of titles that it will unveil during this year’s Game Developers Conference which runs February 28 through March 4th in San Francisco. Looking to take their successful franchises to the next level, Joymax’s 2011 lineup will highlight the company’s recent merger with WeMade Entertainment which serves to strengthen Joymax’s position as a global publisher and developer of high-quality online entertainment.

The company will be showcasing a wide range of titles including:

Digimon Masters Online:
Players will embark on a grand adventure as they battle for supremacy in Digimon Masters Online. Following the world’s first online game based on the Digimon animated series: Digimon Battle, Digimon Masters introduces real time combat rendered in 3D graphics – a complete departure from the turn-based action found previously in Digimon Battle.

Silkroad Online
The widely popular MMORPG puts players deep into a historical fantasy experience, joining the Chinese and European civilizations along the Silk Road trade route. Traveling across Jangan, from China to Constantinople, players can make their fortunes as merchants, prey on the rich as thieves, or be protection-for-hire as hunters.

KARMA Online
Developed in conjunction with leading FPS developer, Dragonfly, KARMA Returns is the newest installment in the KARMA Online series, the first online first-person shooter released in Korea. The game takes players back to World War II, where they must choose to side with the Axis or Allied powers and join the fight for global victory – with a zombie twist.

Special Force
Also in a partnership with Dragonfly, Joymax will showcase Special Force, a historically inspired first-person shooter that delves into the shrouded world of an elite military unit. Armed with cutting-edge weapons and gadgets, players are thrown into a fierce battle at the heart of a world at war.

NED: The New Era of Fantasy

The upcoming MMORPG will feature an active combat system along with a variety of weapons and armor that help players tackle the wicked and varying denizens that threaten this unique fantasy world. Players must stay on their toes avoiding deadly enemy attacks and environmental hazards such as lava and water. Players will take on massive bosses with either magic or might in this spellbinding online game.

Changchun Online 2

Changchun Online 2, the fighting game developed internally by WeMade, is based on one of the four classical novels of Chinese literature: “The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.†The realistic battle scenes and weapons will stun players as they take on the role of an ordinary solider and through fighting, interacting and competing with other players, develop into great heroes including Cao Chao, Liu Bei, and Sun Auan.
PETZ iOS:

A new social network game, PETZ is a colorful and stylized 3D business simulation that focuses on the development of a village all while raising Catz and Dogz. The series, first released in 2005, has landed on every major console system and is now headed to iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

Media interested in scheduling an appointment to see the upcoming lineup can contact: Mika Kelly at [email protected]

For more information about Joymax visit JOYMAX Maximize your imagination

 

Chillingo unveils stellar mobile game line up at gdc

Leading independent games publisher Chillingo, a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced nine brand new titles that will be coming soon to the Apple App StoreSM. The company will provide hands-on demos at the Game Developers Conference taking place February 28-March 4 in San Francisco.

“Chillingo constantly seeks partnerships with great indie developers who are pushing the threshold of mobile games with pioneering concepts,†explains Chris Byatte, Co-General Manager of Chillingo. “We have built a solid reputation of polishing these unique gems to perfection and successfully introducing them to consumers worldwide.â€

“Since joining EA last fall, we have signed several great new titles that will be revealed in the coming months,†adds Joe Wee, Co-General Manager of Chillingo. “Our GDC slate features a sampling of the most cutting-edge games that are sure to delight the gamer in all of us.â€

The following titles will be previewed at GDC:
· Painkiller Purgatory (MachineWorks NorthWest, LLC) - Fight your way through Hell in this first person shooter based on the hit PC franchise. Blow Hell's demons to bits with a range of devastating weapons.

· Anomaly Warzone Earth (11 Bit Studios) – Make your way through the alien gauntlet in this gorgeous, futuristic strategy that totally puts tower defense principles upside down to form a tower offense game.

· Blobster (Divine Robot) - Flick a cute little blob across incredible levels, squash enemies, collect cool power-ups and save the environment from a ruthless polluting company.

· Quiz Climber (Relentless Software) – Pit your knowledge against your friends in a new social quiz. Answer as many consecutive questions as possible to climb the tree and leapfrog your friends in the leaderboards. Strategize and compete using your lifelines to improve your chance of setting a great score.

· Storm in a Teacup (Cobra Mobile) - Get ready for a wonderful, magical adventure. Take up the mantle of Storm and guide him in his magical teacup through a dreamlike landscape created by the vivid imagination of his older brother, Clouds in this super fun, physics-based platformer.

· Emberwind (TimeTrap)– Help free the city of Grendale from the evil CandleFinger and his gremlin hordes. Sail through the clouds on your ancient snow owl and deploy your cane of justice to save the kingdom from the underworld in this exciting platform game based on the popular PC and Mac games.

· Feed Me Oil (Holy Water Games) - Get the oil from the pipe to the right spot in this ingenious physics based puzzle game. Gorgeous art and mind bending level design makes this a puzzler with mass appeal.

· Color Bandits (Kiai Games) - The colors have been stolen from your world and it's up to you to get them back. Fight your way across grayscale worlds and destroy enemies to bring the bright colors back in this action packed side-scrolling shoot 'em up.

· Carnage (Super Fly Studios) - Speed your car down busy roads without causing a pile up on the highway. Crashes equal points in this visually impressive destruction driving game!

Chillingo’s Co-Founders and Co-General Managers, Joe Wee and Chris Byatte will share more about the company’s third-party publishing efforts for mobile platforms at the EAP Showcase on Tuesday, March 1. Media is invited to RSVP at [email protected]

All of these titles will be released in the coming weeks on the App Store at Connecting to the iTunes Store.

Get the latest news about Chillingo’s titles by following Chillingo (chillingo) on Twitter and Chillingo | Facebook.

 

Ism to host 4th charity poker invitational at gdc 2011

Interactive Studio Management (ISM - ISM: Interactive Studio Management) will host its fourth annual Invitational Charity Poker Tournament alongside the 2011 Game Developers Conference (GDC 2011), with all proceeds benefiting Best Buddies California (WE ARE BEST BUDDIES™ - Best Buddies California).

A top level video game industry networking event, the previous ISM Invitational Charity Poker Tournaments have gathered an average of 160 players, spectators, and participating video game companies to raise more than $80K for charity.

ISM will hold the charity event on March 1stat City View, located at the top of the Metreon, and will allow a limited number of players to compete in Texas Hold 'Em for bragging rights and prizes. With a spectacular view of San Francisco, the event will also provide spectators a cash bar for those who wish to attend but not play. Spectators are encouraged to make a small donation to Best Buddies.

For more information on the event and registration details, please visit the ISM Invitational Charity Poker Tournament's registration page: ISM Charity Poker Tournament - Best Buddies California

 

French studio lexis numérique announces lineup

Lexis Numérique, one of the biggest independent game design studios in Europe, today announced its lineup and booth location for GDC 2011. The design studio behind previous well-known titles including Missing: Since January and The Experiment, Lexis Numérique, will be exhibiting three upcoming downloadable titles for the PlayStation®Network – Red Johnson’s Chronicles and AMY - as well as the children’s title Learning With the PooYoos. Lexis Numérique will be located in the Game Connection section of GDC in the West Hall 2F Booth 25, from March 1, 2011 through March 3, 2011. To book an appointment to meet with Lexis Numérique during GDC, please contact Chrissy Kelleher or Stephanie Thoensen on 212-689-6360.

Red Johnson’s Chronicles
Available for PSN in May, Red Johnson’s Chronicles is an action adventure/puzzle game that is played out in the style of a television crime show – like ‘Professor Layton meets CSI.’ In the game, players take on the role of Red Johnson, a private investigator on the streets of a city where the crime rate is skyrocketing. Players must use clues, solve puzzles and question witnesses to investigate a murder, all while staying out of harm’s way.

AMY
Due for release on PSN in June, AMY is a survival horror/action adventure game, where players must protect, and escort the eponymous Amy - an enigmatic eight-year-old autistic girl with curious powers - as they try to get her out of a city overrun with wild creatures and dangerous enemies. The story follows Amy and the player character Lana, a woman who is trying to protect and save her in the disease-ridden town. They must work together to fight or flee from the aberrations, demons, and the military, in the hope of saving not only each other, but also the future of humanity itself.

Learning With the PooYoos
Learning with the PooYoos is the first video game designed for younger players (three to six-years-old) on the PlayStation®3 console and will available for download though PSN. The PooYoos, a merry band of adorable baby animals, teach children the basics of reading through fun and fanciful educational adventures. This early-learning game will introduce colours, music and shapes to young players. During the game, players help the PooYoos answer questions, copy the animals’ dance moves and play mini-games in order to learn numbers, letters, shapes, colours and more.

 

XTR3D To Demo Touch-Free Gesture Control App for Laptops

Extreme Reality (‘XTR3D’) Ltd., provider of touch-free Gesture Control and Motion Capture Interfaces, will demonstrate at GDC, itsnew touch-free gesture control interface for laptops,“iZi†(pronounced ‘easy’). XTR’s iZi allows gamers to easily control PC games and applications using body gestures and/or movement.

iZi utilizes a laptop's built-in camera to capture the body movement of a single and or multiple users. Gestures are then associated with system events to control a gameor other application. The iZi demo at GDCwill feature pre-installed games from XTR3D’s growing number of game partners and will also be customizable for additional games and software applications.

“XTR3D'sapplication development tools, such as iZi,satisfy three different types of audiences,"says XTR3D CEO Dor Givon; “the laptopvendors transform their machines into gesture-controlled computersusing iZi Pro for laptops, whilethe application developers utilize iZi Pro’s technology to implement gesture control to any application or game command they offer. Inevitably, the End users benefit the most, enjoying a compelling gesture-controlled experience on their laptop. XTR3D's suite of motion-capture gesture-control software reinvents the way users interact with CE devices and in-home entertainment."

The introductionof XTR3D's iZi app serves as a steppingstone to execute the company’s strategic penetration into the laptop market with an emphasis on touch-free device control. XTR3D will be meetingwith game and application developersinterested in implementing gesture control capabilities to their offering.

iZi will be demonstrated at GDC in meeting room BMR 346. For more information on iZi, please visit: iZi - Powered by XT3D.

ABOUT Extreme Reality (XTR3D) Ltd.
Extreme Reality Ltd ("XTR3D")is a privately held company established in 2005. The company develops motion-capture gesture-control software that enables developers and mobile, TV and laptop vendorsto add gesture control to an application, game and/or a device command. XTR3D enables simple touch-free gesture control of consumer electronic devices . iZi software runs on any laptop given a regular 2D camera is connected to the device. For more information, regarding iZi and other XTR3D products and services, please visit XTR3D.

 

The Swiss game industry will attend this year’s Game Developers Conference

Members of the Swiss game industry will be participating at the GDC 2011 in San Francisco. From 2nduntil the 4thof March the companies and organizations will have a booth at the conference. There you’re kindly invited to play and test all the successful applications and games created by Swiss companies, such as Gbanga, HexaGame, Nothing, EverdreamSoft, Crown ADAM, bitforge Ltd. or the Zurich University of Arts in Game Design. Of course you’ll not only get a taste of Swiss Game Quality but also of some famous Swiss chocolate by the way…

On Friday, March 4th, the Swiss Consulate’s swissnex welcomes registered guests at the Swiss game reception party. During the whole week, an exhibition with Swiss-made games will be presented where you have the possibility to take a closer look at innovative products created by the Swiss game industry. Tickets for the reception party are available at our booth, so make sure you secure access to it early on. The Swiss game booth is supported by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and swissnex San Francisco.

 

Location-Based Game Immerses San Francisco in Hell during GDC 2011

In honor of this week’s Game Developers Conference, Ogmento, a geo-social augmented reality gaming company, is adding a city-specific layer to its popular location-based game, Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary. Players in San Francisco will be able to participate in an actual good versus evil turf battle, with characters from the game recruiting players at the conference to join their side as either one of the Demonologists, or one of the Possessed.

Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary, a free-to-play mobile game for the iPhone (iOS), is inspired by the hit film franchise. The game integrates geo-social elements, augmented reality and user-generated content, to create a unique game setting where the player’s home town, office or neighborhood becomes the front lines of a supernatural conflict.

In addition, Ogmento has placed real world missions for players to explore at actual San Francisco haunted locations – providing them with additional spells and resources in their quest to dominate the city and other players in the game. Those who complete various missions will be rewarded with both virtual and real world prizing including Blu-ray DVDs, merchandise, and game credits at the conference.

“We’re excited to show how our game can bring actual locations alive on even a local level in a city such as San Francisco,†said Brian Selzer, president and co-founder of Ogmento. “We had a great time adding missions in the game based on real haunted locations in the city including Alcatraz and the Curran Theater.â€

Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary is currently available for download for free at: Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPad Wi-Fi + 3G on the iTunes App Store

Game Overview:

Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary is a location-based, augmented reality game set in the real world where the player’s home town, office, neighborhood becomes the front lines of a supernatural conflict. Players investigate supernatural mysteries and go on paranormal missions to discover new spells and powers in their fight against the forces of darkness. Players cast spells to create sanctuaries, and use augmented reality to empower the spells by drawing mystic symbols and channeling supernatural energy into the world. In addition, players can investigate their surroundings, using their iPhone camera to find and capture demons around them.

As the powers of darkness eat away at a player’s sanity, s/he’ll be haunted by hallucinations and disturbing visions. If the demonic forces manage to drive them mad, players will become a possessed minion of darkness with a whole new style of play. The Possessed go on unique missions, and create hellholes to summon demonic forces to aid their side.

 

Sn systems starts distributing software development for next generation portable

SN Systems, subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced a comprehensive range of development tools to support the next generation portable entertainment system (codename: NGP). Created using feedback gathered from game title developers worldwide, the tools are easy to setup and offer extensive functionality from launch.

Available to all registered game title developers and backed by industry leading developer support for NGP, the new range consists of components specifically designed for each stage of the development cycle.

· ProDG ™ Debugger
Representing a major step forward in improving workflow and iteration times, the ProDG Debugger is fully integrated into Visual Studio® allowing game title developers of all disciplines to build and debug their NGP code.

· Razor - Profiling
Co-developed with experts from SCE Worldwide Studios (SCE WWS) Advanced Technology Group and SCEE R&D. Razor allows game title developers to analyze and profile code to ensure performance is optimum. Fully integrated into Visual Studio, it provides analysis for both the CPU and GPU (including GPU debugging) within one framework, helping you to identify bottlenecks and eliminate conflicts within your code.

· SNC Toolchain
PlayStation game title developers will also benefit from the SNC toolchain, a bespoke compiler and linker which has already established itself as the default compiler on PlayStation®3 and PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable).

· Neighborhood
To simplify the accessibility of the development kits for NGP, you can configure devkits and execute games from within Windows Explorer.

· SN-DBS (Distributed Build System)
Fully compatible with NGP, SN-DBS distributes source code and data builds between computers across a network, to improve compile times.

 

Valve Brings More Steam to GDC

Valve, creator of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today disclosed its plans for a new "big picture" mode of Steam which will offer controller support and navigation designed for television interaction. Big picture mode will enable gamers to enjoy Steam and their library of Steam games on more screens throughout the house.

"Our partners and customers have asked us to make Steam available in more places. With the introduction of Steam on the Mac, and soon in Portal 2 on the PS3â„¢, we've done just that," said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing for Valve. "With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house."

Details regarding big picture mode are among the highlights Valve plans to share with developers and publishers in its partner meetings during GDC this week in San Francisco, Ca.

Coming off the heels of Steam's biggest year, Valve will also share with partners the data it gathered during the hugely successful launch of Steam Microtransactions late last year within its own multiplayer classic, Team Fortress 2. An in-game economy can now be readily created by partners using the microtransactions system within the Steamworks SDK."We've come to understand what type of content sells well in TF2's in-game store, and the various price points at which players value this content," said Robin Walker, game designer at Valve. "Our players are continually teaching us what works and what doesn't. Much of this feedback can be generalized to other titles on Steam, so we're looking forward to sharing what we've learned with partners at GDC. We're also interested in seeing partners get up and running with their own in-game economies, so they can collect game-specific data to inform their design decisions."

Following the 2010 introduction of Steam for Mac, Valve will also discuss the integration of Steam features in its own titles, including its first day-and-date release for Mac, Portal 2. The upcoming Portal 2 release will also be the first to feature Steam on the PlayStation®3, enabling even broader cross-platform interaction and play between PC, Mac and PS3™.

"Steam continues to define itself as more than a digital distribution service by regularly adding new features for developers and customers," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "GDC is a great venue for us to share what we're up to, and what's on the horizon for Steamworks. Plus, it's a great opportunity for us to gather feedback from partners, to help inform our plans."

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of games and digital content with over 30 million accounts worldwide. For more information, please visit Welcome to Steam.

 

FGOL to unveil the future of publishing at GDC 2011

Future Games of London are off to GDC where they will be offering to open up their worldwide network of over 13m people to other talented independent game makers. The network has been created in under 12 months through the launches of titles like Hungry Shark and Pool Bar which have been global hits.

FGOL use their large installed based to promote new releases, driving large numbers of sales in the crucial first week to attain high chartings and hence ensuring visibility. They believe this gives them a real competitive advantage in the increasingly crowded digital marketplaces. It's a service they think will appeal to other independent game makers who may not yet have had the same level of commercial success. A new sports game and a new arcade title are also due for launch in the spring and will expand the network further. FGOL are also already established on the growing Android smartphone platform and have outranked most of the major publishers on the Android Marketplace since entering the market six months ago.

Ian Harper, FGOL's Managing Director said "We wanted to grow our network reach faster, and letting in a few other creatives seemed like the obvious way to do that. We'd like to reach 100m people by the end of 2011, and we'll not do that alone. Our big concern is maintaining the quality of our catalogue, so we're going to be very select on which games we let in. We think this model will catch on with both other established independents, and those who would like their promotion.â€

 

Red dead redemption grabs four awards at the 11th annual game developers choice award

Rockstar San Diego’s critically-acclaimed Wild West adventure title Red Dead Redemption was the big winner at the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards in San Francisco this evening.

The awards were presented at a ceremony at UBM TechWeb Game Network’s historic 25th Game Developers Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, with Red Read Redemption receiving a total of four awards, including Best Game Design and the coveted Game of the Year award.

Another award stand-out, Swedish developer Mojang’s 3D sandbox title Minecraft, received awards for Best Debut Game, Best Downloadable Game, and the Innovation Award. The game was also awarded the Seumas McNally Grand Prize earlier in the evening at the 11th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards, making this the first year a game has been recognized by both the GDCA and the IGF during the same year.

Other Choice Awards winners include BioWare’s emotionally-charged science fiction adventure Mass Effect 2, which won the award for Best Writing, and ZeptoLab’s iOS hit Cut the Rope, which took home the prize for Best Handheld Game.

Finally, the Best Visual Arts Award went to indie developer Playdead’s Xbox Live Arcade hit Limbo. The evocative monochrome puzzle platformer won last year’s Independent Game Festival Awards for Visual Art and Technical Excellence.

The Game Developers Choice Awards, which honor the very best games of the year, was created for and voted on by developers. The finalists were chosen via a combination of open game industry nominations and the votes of the leading creators in the Choice Awards Advisory Committee.

Winners for this year's awards were selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN), which is an invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all facets of the video game industry.

In addition to the game-specific awards, Peter Molyneux, co-founder of Bullfrog Studios and founder of Lionhead Studios, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than 30 years of contributions to the art and science of games, creating genre classics like Populous, Black & White and the Fable franchise along the way.

The Game Developers Choice Awards also honored community veterans Tim Brengle and Ian MacKenzie, the managers behind the Game Developers Conference Associates (CA) program, with the Ambassador Award. The award recognizes the duo's work on early CGDC and GDC shows, and their combined 20-plus years of devotion to creating and fostering a community of volunteers who aspire to better the game development community.

Finally, the 2011 Pioneer Award was presented to Sega veteran and Japanese game design legend Yu Suzuki for his amazing work over the last three decades, having invented entire game genres and created seminal titles spanning Hang On through Virtua Fighter, to OutRun, After Burner, Shenmue - and beyond.

The recipients of the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

Game of the Year
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Best Writing
Mass Effect 2 (BioWare)

Best Game Design
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Best Debut Game
Minecraft (Mojang)

Best Handheld Game
Cut the Rope (ZeptoLab)

Best Technology
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Innovation Award
Minecraft (Mojang)

Best Audio
Red Dead Redemption (Rockstar San Diego)

Best Visual Arts
Limbo (Playdead)

Best Downloadable Game
Minecraft (Mojang)

Recipients for the evening’s special awards were:

Lifetime Achievement Award
Peter Molyneux

Pioneer Award
Yu Suzuki

Ambassador Award
Tim Brengle and Ian MacKenzie

“There was no shortage of groundbreaking titles across platforms and genres this year. From big-budget blockbusters like Red Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2, to indie darlings such as Minecraft and Limbo, 2010 was truly an incredible year for games, and we're delighted to honor them here,†said Meggan Scavio, Event Director of the Game Developers Conference.

For more information about the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, visit the official website at Game Developers Choice Awards - and for information about the 2011 Game Developers Conference, please visit http://www.gdconf.com.

 

Thirteenth annual independent games festival announces winners

Swedish developer Mojang’s acclaimed 3D world-building sandbox title, Minecraft was a big winner at the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival tonight at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, earning the Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the community-voted Audience Award.

In a diverse set of award-winners, other Independent Games Festival award recipients included Frictional Games' psychological horror game Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which took home awards for Technical Excellence and Excellence in Audio, as well as the sponsor-supported Direct2Drive Vision Award.

Elsewhere, noted independent developer Messhof received the $5,000 Nuovo Award – which honors abstract, shortform, and unconventional game development which “advances the medium and the way we think about games†– for his two-player art game, Nidhogg.

In addition, QCF Design's short playtime dungeon crawl adventure Desktop Dungeons earned the award for Excellence in Design, and the Excellence in Visual Art award was won by Gaijin Games’ retro-psychedelic BIT.TRIP RUNNER.

Finally, the award for the Best Student Game went to the Myst-like abstract adventure game FRACT, from the University of Montreal, and Best Mobile Game was awarded to Ratloop’s unique ‘line of sight’ puzzler Helsing’s Fire.

All of this year's IGF winners and finalists are playable at Game Developers Conference at the IGF Pavilion on the GDC Expo Floor, which is open Wednesday, March 2nd through Friday, March 4th.

Previous breakout Independent Games Festival award-winners include titles such as Braid, Limbo, Audiosurf, Castle Crashers, and World of Goo, and this year’s awards saw more than 650 total competition entries from all over the world.

The Independent Games Festival – which also includes a two-day Independent Games Summit on Monday, February 28th and Tuesday, March 1st as part of GDC – was established in 1998 by UBM TechWeb Game Network to encourage the rise of independent game development and to recognize the best independent game titles, in the same way that the Sundance Film Festival has honored the independent film community.

Organizers would like to thank this year's kind supporters of the IGF, including Crytek (Platinum Sponsor), Microsoft (Gold Sponsor), LucasArts (Gold Sponsor), Direct2Drive (Distribution Partner), OnLive (Hardware Platform Sponsor), Transgaming (Platform Sponsor), DigiPen (Student Showcase Platinum Sponsor), ENJMIN (Student Showcase Gold Sponsor), and Westwood College (Student Showcase Gold Sponsor). The IGF offers finalists both global exposure and over $50,000 in cash prizes to each year’s winners.

“This year’s record number of entrants were of some of the highest quality we’ve yet seen in the festival,†said IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer. “Congratulations to all the winners, who continue to raise the bar for what independent games can achieve. We’re all excited to continue showcasing the best in independent games, at the games industry’s highest-profile annual event.â€

The IGF awarded the following games as winners of the 13th Annual Awards:

Seumas McNally Grand Prize ($20,000)
Minecraft, by Mojang

Nuovo Award ($5,000)
Nidhogg, by Messhof

Excellence in Visual Art ($2,500)
BIT.TRIP RUNNER, by Gaijin Games

Excellence in Audio ($2,500)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games

Excellence in Design ($2,500)
Desktop Dungeons, by QCF Design

Best Student Game ($2,500)
FRACT, by University of Montreal

Technical Excellence ($2,500)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games

Best Mobile Game ($2,500)
Helsing’s Fire, Ratloop

Audience Award ($2,500)
Minecraft, by Mojang

Direct2Drive Vision Award ($10,000)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent, by Frictional Games

For more information about the IGF, and its finalists and winners, please visit The 13th Annual Independent Games Festival.

 

UBM TechWeb Game Network's 2011 Game Developers Conference® (GDC), the world’s largest and longest running event serving professionals dedicated to the art and science of making games, hosted a record 19,000 game industry professionals attending San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center for the 25th edition of the conference.

The weeklong anniversary event offered more than 450 lectures, panels, summits, tutorials and roundtable discussions across a full five days of content, with GDC references 'trending' on Twitter in San Francisco, and unprecedented media coverage from outlets like the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, USA Today, and beyond.

Lecture highlights from Monday and Tuesday's GDC of more than 15 tutorials and summits included Rovio's Peter Vesterbacka discussing the Angry Birds phenomenon (GDC Smartphone Summit), Zynga's Mark Skaggs on going from FarmVille to CityVille (Social & Online Games Summit) game designer and author Jane McGonigal on 'gamefulness' (Serious Games Summit), and Super Meat Boy's creators on their rough route to success (Independent Games Summit).

GDC 2011 also played host to the 13th Annual Independent Games Festival (IGF) and the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCAs). Swedish independent developer Mojang’s acclaimed 3D world-building sandbox title, Minecraft, won the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Audience Award during the IGF, as well as three awards at the GDCAs, becoming the first title ever to win awards in both ceremonies in the same year.

And capping off the evening at the Game Developers Choice Awards, Rockstar San Diego’s critically-acclaimed Wild West adventure title Red Dead Redemption took home Game of the Year, one of four wins that also included awards for Best Technology and Best Game Design.

Some of the highlights of this 25th iteration of GDC included an all-star line-up of 'classic postmortems' – discussing the making of some of the most seminal video games of all time. Eric Chahi's talk on Out Of This World/Another World received a standing ovation for its inspirational story. Other postmortems included Mark Cerny on Marble Madness, John Romero and Tom Hall's on DOOM, and Will Wright on Raid On Bungeling Bay – with enjoyable bonus 'Russian Space Minute' diversions.

Other major talking points at the show were a keynote from Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo, entitled "Video Games Turn 25: A Historical Perspective and Vision for the Future,†as well as a social game-centric Rant and the Game Design Challenge – won by Jason Rohrer with an innovative Minecraft mod. Standout talks from StarCraft II's Dustin Browder, LucasArts' Clint Hocking, and GDC veterans Chris Crawford and Brian Moriarty were also among the most buzzed-about lectures at the show this year.

Finally, a packed GDC Expo floor included multiple demo units for Nintendo's 3DS handheld, major showcases for game tools companies, spectacular 3D stereoscopic gaming showcases, and busy Career Pavilion and Business Center areas, as well as the packed IGF Pavilion.

For viewing of GDC-related material after the event, the UBM TechWeb Game Network's GDC Vault website – GDC Vault - Home - will offer re access to select GDC 2011 material in approximately two weeks time, including free access to speaker slides as well as synchronized video and presentations for select sponsor lectures and sponsor-supported videos, as well as select conference videos. GDC All-Access Pass holders and individual Vault subscribers will get access to hundreds of video sessions from this and previous GDC shows.

“The past week of GDC truly embodied the passion and spirit of the video game community,†said event director Meggan Scavio. “From seasoned game veterans to aspiring game professionals in areas spanning social and online games through major console titles and beyond, we are honored to continue to serve the industry – and hope to see you all next year.â€

Following the success of the show, Game Developers Conference organizers have announced that GDC 2012 will return to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from Monday, March 5 to Friday, March 9, 2012, – with a call for lecture submissions to open this summer.

More information on Game Developers Conference 2012, as well as the other GDC events throughout 2011- including GDC Online, GDC Europe and GDC China - will be available at Game Developers Conference | February 28-March 4, 2011 | Moscone Convention Center | San Francisco, California.