IGF 2010 entries roll in in record numbers

According to the organizers of the 2010 Independent Games Festival (IGF 2010) the annual event dedicated to all things indie gaming that runs during the Game Developers conference has received a record number of entries to the Main Competition. In total, this year’s Main Competition has has right around 306 game entries, many of which were created by leading independent game developers. This represents a 35 percent increase over last year’s 226 entries, which was a 30 percent increase over the previous year.

From this pool of 306 entries, finalists will be decided by 150 industry judges. Finalists will be announced in January 2010. Games selected as finalists will be available in playable form on the GDC show floor and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including awards for Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award and the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Winners will be announced at the IGF ceremony, taking place March 11, 2010, during the Game Developers Conference.

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GDC 2010 registration opens

Registration has opened today for the 2010 Game Developers Conference, taking place March 13, 2010 and one again in San Francisco. GDC 2010 is five days of lectures, panels, summits, tutorials and roundtable discussions on game development topics delivered by leading industry luminaries and experts.

In addition to a variety of Summits and talks ay GDC this year, it also home of the Game Developers Choice Wards, the Independent Games Festival and much, much more. More information on GDC 2010 and how to register early, can be found www.gdconf.com/attend.

John Smedley to keynote GDC Austin

 John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment, will deliver a keynote address Game Developers Conference Austin (GDC Austin. Smedley’s keynote, “From Dragons and Daggers to Kart Racing, Cooking and Concerts…It’s a Whole New MMO World,” describes in detail how SOE’s freely available tween and teen title Free Realms has worked to expand the base of players coming together in online worlds. Smedley’s keynote will inform attendees about the challenges and lessons learned when creating a full-blown MMO for younger audiences including the challenges and opportunity of creating connected games.

GDC Austin features three days of main conference content focused on connected games, online games, virtual worlds, and social networking game play - along with four two-day summits including the Game Writers, Game Audio, iPhone Games and Independent Games Summits. The event takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas September 15-18, 2009. Early registration discounts for the event will end on August 13. Find out more at www.GDCAustin.com

2010 Independent Games Festival submissions welcomed

Submissions are now open officially open for the 2010 Independent Games Festival. Nominees for both the main categories and the student showcase need to be submitted by of this year, with the main competition finalists to be announced on January 4, 2010. As always, those games selected as finalists will available in playable form on the Game Developers Conference IGF pavilion and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes divided among a number of categories including Excellence in Design, Art, the Audience Award. All will be competing for the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

Winners will be announced on stage at the Independent Games Festival Awards show on Wednesday, March 11, 2010, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco - right before the Game Developers Choice Awards. A list of important deadlines can be found below:

July 1st, 2009 - Submissions are Open

November 1st, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition

November 15th, 2009 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition

January 4th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition

January 11th, 2010 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition

March 9th-13th, 2010 - Game Developer’s Conference 2010

March 9th-10th, 2010 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC

March 11-13th, 2010 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC

March 11th, 2010 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)

For more information, check out the IGF web site. thanks, indiegames.com

800 attend GDC Canada

Think Services Game Group and Reboot Communications announced that the Game Developers Conference Canada (GDC Canada) saw more than 800 game industry professionals attend the event last week at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Center. Building on  the 2008 Vancouver International Game Summit (VIGS), GDC Canada (a replacement for that event) doubled attendance numbers from the previous year’s event. GDC Canada returns to the VCEC May 6-7, 2010.

For complete information on future Game Developers Conferences including, GDC Europe, GDC Austin, GDC China, and GDC 2010 visit www.gdconf.com.

Microsoft’s New Development Unit

If you’d had the pleasure of reading our interview with GDC Event Director Megan Scavio (part one here, part two here), then you probably know what the new face of the conference thinks of company’s using the venue to showboat and make announcements. After all, this conference is about making games, not announcing them,. One company that pulled such a stunt during last year’s keynote (Microsoft) seems to have learned its lesson.

This week at GDC Microsoft is showing off a new development unit that any Xbox 360 fan would probably kill to own, along with a series of initiatives and products geared towards developers and developing games.

First the new 360 development unit: it is a metallic blue, XNA-branded unit with matching controller that looks pretty damn sharp and is being called the “Xbox 360 Development and Test Kit.” But more important than the new look, the unit gives developers 1 GB of RAM.

Beyond that, Microsoft has revealed the third Dream-Build-Play design competition, which officially kicks off on April 6. The prize for this competition is a to-be-announced cash prize, and an Xbox Live Arcade publishing contract. Winners will be announced in the fall. One of last year’s winners, The Dishwasher, will be released very soon.

Finally, a new XNA Game Studio is on its way later this year. Version 3.1 will offer Avatar support, video playback, and support for Xbox Live parties. Professional developers using Games Studio Express 3.1 get new tools for downloadable content support - in addition to all the other features. The new XNA will roll out to those that want it in spring or summer.

GDC or Bust

The Crispy Gamer staff is heading out to San Francisco as you read this, ready to report on whatever comes out of this annual event for developers by developers (Scott Jones will be hosting a panel there). We’ll also be at GamesBeat on Tuesday, March 24 (Evan Narcisse will be moderating a panel as well) to cover any excitement that comes out of that event.

I’m looking forward to covering GDC from the inside, though I honestly don’t believe that we’ll hear too many announcements (this isn’t E3 after all) but there should be tons of information about the process and what the industry sees as future trends and technologies.

The next time I post I’ll be in San Francisco, but right now I have to catch a plane. Wish me luck and a safe journey!