VIdeo Game Industry Intro for Students

I spoke at Universitas Ciputra Surabaya last Thursday, as always my favorite topic: The Intro of Video Games Industry. I spoke infront of 65 wonderful university students from IT major, and few honorable lecturer from the university.

This is the 5th time i introduced video game industry to university students, it might seem small, but after i gave it a thought, it doesn't. This is why. Back in 2006 i spoke at Universitas Surabaya, for the opening of Multimedia Major, i represented video game industry. The audience were students, lecturers and parents (ouch). At that time most of the parents didnt have any clue about the video games industry, they even had negative perspective on how video games will only ruin their children life. After i spoke, i received a few frontal question regarding this matter but fortunately survived the session with a smile on everyones face.

Last week, when i arrived at Juanda airport, i got a call from my Universitas Surabaya friend. She asked my schedule, which sadly very packed and didnt allow me to see her. We ended up talking on the phone, and she updated me with current students work. Mostly students who heard my talk back in 2006. Most of them chose to do video games projects, she had no idea how this made me happy, what i thought was small and useless turned up to be a starting point for videogames industry in Indonesia.

I know, this might sound very "retarded" for many countries, that we are still at this stage of the industry. But we are moving, slowly but sure.

Marlin Sugama

(Videogame) Business: The Next 20 Years.

I last spoke there in 2006 (when the conference was in London, Ontario), and the FuturePlay audience is a great mix of game industry professionals and university students committed to the craft of making games. The conference is sponsored by Algoma University, UOIT and ACM (which I first joined as a student in 1971!). Their blog post about my session is here.

Why the topic of planning the next 20 years of your career in games? Ikeep reading articles describing the various twists and turns of the industry from the Wall Street and Bestseller Chart points of view.

Noticeably absent are articles about the professional and personal future of people who practice our craft, aside from the stereotypical posts that proclaim "Keep your resume up to date because people get laid off a lot!"

As industry veterans I think it's our job to give people more perspective on how games career paths really work, especially now that games have become thoroughly entrenched in cultures around the world.

I've been creating games for almost 40 years, so it feels comfortable and normal to try to look ahead at the next 20 years of my career. And it can feel normal for everyone, not just long-time game developers.

Don Daglow

Video Game and Interactive Media Symposium

EVENT CONCEPT

Encouraged by the success of the previous Video Games and Interactive Media Symposium 2006 and of various regional events on animation industry and education in the region, HELP University College, the Asia Pacific Institute of Broadcasting Development (AIBD) and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FMFA) are pleased to present the 2nd Video Games and Interactive Media Symposium 2008.

This important event will be taking place at the MSC Innovation Center, Cyberjaya, Malaysia, on the 18-20 November 2008. The Asia- Pacific (AP) region is leading the world video game market and should soar to US$23 billion of revenue with a 18% growth whereas the global market will rise US$55 billion by 2009.

The types of gaming platforms are expanding so as to respond to the demand of the increasing number of gamers. From the hard gamers to the casual one, online, on PC, on consoles or on mobile phone, the industry should adapt itself to the diversity of this huge market.In 2007, China counted 37 millions of gamers. In 2009, the number of gamers should rise 60 millions from around the globe. And in 2011, 50% of the mobile market revenue will come from Asia.

The video game and the multimedia industry will have a major impact over the
broadcasting market and the whole entertainment and interactive sector in the years to come. This provides an excellent opportunity for partnerships between education and industry players.

This second edition of the Video Games and Interactive Media Symposium intends to serve as a platform to foster collaborations between professionals from Asia and Europe as well as to promote the international schools/universities involved in.

We are waiting for participants from Malaysia, Australia, France, Singapore, Thailand, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, Korea, China, Philippines and some others countries.

THIS EVENT AIMS

• To bring together representatives of video games and interactive media companies, schools and universities from Europe & Asia
• To foster knowledge sharing in the areas of video games and interactive media between Asian & European companies & institutions
• To support the market and the development of the new technologies in this area
• To offer a platform fostering co-operations, collaborations & research

CONTACT PERSON

• Mr. Yeow Wei CHOONG, Vice President & Dean HELP University College choongyw@help.edu.my , www.help.edu.my
• Ms. Juliette Vivier, Programme Manager, Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development AIBD juliette@aibd.org.my , www.aibd.org.my