Gamertell

E3 should not be open to the public. It is a convention for people in the gaming industry. Period.

Though it would be nice to let anyone go to this convention, if they allow that to happen then E3 will basically end up becoming the next Comic-Con which means thousands and thousands of people, crowded around an already cramped convention center (many carrying pointy sticks, mind you).

People go to E3 to have intelligent conversations with…

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For all you Independent game makers out there hoping to make it big someday with your epic creation, IndieCade is offering you the chance to get noticed and possibly win some cool prizes with their annual IndieCade 2008 festival, which will be held in Bellevue, Seattle, July 10-13.

The show invites any independent game maker from around the world to send in their titles. Entries can either be completed, still in development or still on the drawing board. In fact, IndieCade is encouraging non-completed projects to be submitted for consideration.

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Well, it looks like Microsoft is throwing in the towel when it comes to their support of the HD-DVD format. IGN is reporting that after dramatically reducing the price of the Xbox HD-DVD player from its original $179.99 down to $50, and dropping the HD-DVD player’s manufacturer Toshiba back in February, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Microsoft was throwing its support behind Blu-ray. The news is coming from the Las Vegas Mix08 Internet conference.

From a post at IGN: “We’ve already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on. Toshiba has moved on. We’ve moved on, and we’ll support Blu-ray in ways that make sense,“ Ballmer went on to say.

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Need more proof that the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) is becoming the new E3? Look no further than the attendance numbers for the once-intimate conference: GameDaily is reporting that over 18,000 people attended the five-day event. This breaks the event’s previous attendance record, setting the bar even higher for next year’s iteration (which is set for March 23-27, 2009 in San Francisco).

It seems that in the wake of the “reimagined” E3, all the other major conferences (GDC, PAX, TGS, D.I.C.E etc.) are growing and filling the void of the once-mighty show. However, as noted in an earlier story, the directors behind GDC and D.I.C.E. are looking for ways to trim the proverbial fat from their shows. It’ll be interesting to see if the trend continues into 2009.

Read [GameDaily]

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The Vision Engine might not be as much a household name as Epic’s Unreal Engine, but come this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC), Trinigy is hoping to change that view with its release of the latest version of the Vision Game Engine.

The grand unveiling of Vision 6.4 will be at this year’s GDC 2008 in San Francisco, February 20-22, 2008. This will be the first time that the public will be allowed to see the new engine…

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The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G), a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of audio in video games, has announced the nominees for its sixth annual G.A.N.G. Awards. The awards are given for outstanding creative, technical and artistic audio achievement in interactive entertainment.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony being held Thursday, February 21, 2008, in San Francisco, CA, during this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC). The show will be held in the North Hall of the Moscone Center (Room 134).

Click through for a complete list of finalists…

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According to a recent post in GameDaily, the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) has announced that the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) will be moving from September to October in 2008. The 2008 show will take place October 9 – 13, 2008 at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.

The show is famous for mixing industry-insider only aspects with a consumer-friendly trade show (the last two days of the show are open to the general public), and it’s considered one of the most important industry events of the year. The 2008 show will continue the trend of having two days of “business only” events and two “public days”. GameDaily’s report mentions record breaking numbers for the 2007 show, which took place September 20 – 23, 2007, though no specific factors are listed for the change.

Read [GameDaily] Also Read [GameLife]

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Feeling creative? New videogame expo E for All is teaming up with threadless.com to create the “E for All loves threadless” t-shirt design competition. The theme is E for All’s motto “power up and play”, and the winner receives $2000, a trip the first ever E for All expo, a Nintendo Wii, and other fabulous prizes (like E for All swag and a threadless gift certificate).

Graphic designers take note: “The purpose of this competition is to create a stand-alone design inspired by the theme, not a brand tee. Your design should not have the brand name or logo on it.” The deadline runs through October 1, 2007, so there’s plenty of time to get your image ready.

E for All takes place October 18-21 at the LA convention center, and is set to include a Video Games Live concert, the Into the Pixel art exhibit, the World Series of Video Games competition, a game developer conference, and even a game careers seminar, among all the exhibits from game developers (not Sony or Microsoft, unfortunately).

Site [Threadless] Read [Gaming Today]

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With the fall of the once mighty E3, it’s been up to the various other conventions to pick up the slack, and GC Leipzig has done just that, with this year’s attendance more than 185,000 people. Today saw the announcement of the best in show awards, named by the show’s organizers as the cream of the crop amid a sea of stiff competition.

And the winners are…

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Penny Arcade recently announced the full lineup of activities for this year’s iteration of PAX (the Penny Arcade Expo), set for August 24-26, 2007 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. This year is going to be big for the game-culture convention, with 22,000 pre-registered guests already signed up for the festivities.

PAX started in 2004 and has more than quintupled its attendance rate since, featuring upcoming games, speakers, panels, concerts and other game culture goodness every year. 2007 will be no different, with events as diverse as a speed run showcase, a girls in games panel, and a (real life) Jenga tournament.

Highlights include a…

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