Codeworks Game Horizon

Award-winning film producer says games must avoid mistakes made by other media

At this month’s GameHorizon Conference, the producer of Cannes award-winning film Control, about the life and music of Joy Division front-man Ian Curtis, will tell an audience of senior videogame executives how important it is for the games industry to maintain its own ‘vibrancy’ as the lines between media continue to blur.

Todd Eckert, a film producer and media financier, will speak at the conference – on 18-19 June at the BALTIC Flour Mill – during a session on day two, which will look at whether games companies need to learn from the TV, music and film industries, or whether the games industry is actually leading the way.

Todd says: “As the media community contemplates the possible benefits of convergence – the categorical blurring of lines between film, games and other media – it’s important to take a step back and contemplate what the concept really means from a video game perspective.

“Through a consistent ascendance of technological capabilities, games exist today as the most vibrant of all media.

“While there is certainly much to learn by careful study of where film has repeatedly, and at times disastrously, gotten it wrong, the game industry must make certain it ingests these lessons from outside other media, rather than through a process of assimilation.”

Todd also believes that videogames have the potential to become the key medium for telling stories in the future. He adds: “Technology has advanced so much that we can now, believably, portray human situations in games and people can now interact meaningfully with these characters and their stories – that’s something you just can’t do in film.

“Because of this, videogames have the potential to be the world’s dominant medium. They are not quite there yet, but I believe a continuing focus on creating games that not only sell, but more importantly mean something, will bring them to that level.”

Carri Cunliffe, director of the GameHorizon Conference 08, says: “We are excited to have a creative visionary like Todd talking at the conference. Todd will bring a cross-medium perspective and can highlight where the games industry is going right and where it can lead the way creatively”

GameHorizon 04/06/08 01:28

The director of the UK’s leading videogames research consultancy will describe how the games industry landscape will develop over the next few years, and how games companies can take advantage of these changes, at a conference in Gateshead this month.

Rick Gibson, co-founder of Games Investor Consulting, will speak at the GameHorizon Conference – on 18-19 June at the BALTIC Flour Mill – in a session looking at the ‘Future Business of Games’.

In his talk, Rick will investigate whether there is any truth in recent claims that the traditional games market has reached saturation point – and, if so, where games companies’ future growth will come from.

He says: “The future is mass-market and it’s online. In a market where the very definition of a game is challenged every few months, companies need to keep a weather eye on some big trends that are driving major changes in the market. The people playing games are changing rapidly, the platforms are fragmenting and globalisation is changing how games are made as well played. Innovation in games genres and commercial models is also driving change, particularly in the online games market.

“So what do these changes mean for your business models, your partners, and your company? What do you have to know to survive?

“In my talk at the GameHorizon Conference I hope to challenge some assumptions about what a successful games company will look like in the near future, take a peek at some emerging markets in gaming, and showcase some games companies that are driving this change.”

Games Investor Consulting (GIC) was founded in 2003 as a specialist games research, strategy and corporate finance consultancy. The firm has established itself as a unique provider of business intelligence and advisory services relating to all facets of the rapidly growing global games industry, and has worked with more than 45 companies to date.

‘The Future Business of Games’ session will take place on the morning of Wednesday 18 June. A range of one and two day passes are available for the conference, with prices starting at £175. Anyone wishing to attend can book their place at www.gamehorizonconference.com

GameHorizon 01/05/08 01:48

Chris Satchell, Microsoft’s General Manager and Chief XNA Architect, will be talking about how XNA Game Studio is democratising game development, at the GameHorizon Conference on June 18-19.

Satchell will talk about how, later this year, we will see community games distributed on Xbox LIVE and how the community itself will create, manage, submit and review these games for all Xbox LIVE members to play.

Satchell will reveal where this technology can take the democratisation of games during the next five years and how Microsoft will be leading the way in this area offering more user-generated content and immersive game play for all.

XNA Game Studio can be used to create games across multiple platforms including Xbox 360, Windows-based PCs and soon for Zune as well. More than 10 million people will have access to community-created games on Xbox LIVE later this year.

Satchell says, “We expect to see a whole host of news ideas when community games launches on Xbox LIVE. The democratisation of game development will foster the next wave of creativity. New stars will rise in the industry as more people create games using XNA Game Studio and distribute them on Xbox LIVE to millions of consumers.”

About Chris Satchell

As the General Manager and Chief XNA Architect of the XNA Group at Microsoft Corp., Chris Satchell is responsible for driving innovation in technology, services and partnerships used by game developers around the world to bring the best games possible to Windows and Xbox 360.

Chris Satchell joined Microsoft in 2002 as a development manager in Microsoft Game Studios (MGS), working on critically acclaimed franchises such as “Project Gotham Racing,” “RalliSport Challenge,” “Fable” and “Forza Motorsport.”

Before Microsoft, Chris has a long history in games development, serving as an executive director at The 3DO Co., technical director for Silicon Dreams Ltd., and an artificial intelligence specialist and project leader for Eidos Interactive Ltd.

GameHorizon 25/04/08 01:11

Seamus Blackley, head of the Games Department at Creative Artists Agency will deliver a keynote talk at the GameHorizon Conference on 18-19 June in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Seamus will talk about where the games industry is leading the way with interesting content, technology and design. He will look at how games are becoming more truly ‘mainstream’, and how game design skills and technology are becoming ubiquitous and critical.

He’ll also touch on how the film, television, and music industries need to start addressing the ‘gaming audience’.

About Seamus

Seamus Blackley is head of the Games Department at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a talent and literary agency based in Los Angeles, California with offices in Nashville, New York City, London, and Beijing.

Prior to joining CAA in 2004, the top-selling game designer piloted the creation of the Xbox game platform at Microsoft. The former physicist and DreamWorks Interactive executive producer wrote the initial proposal for Xbox, assembled and led the team behind the technical design and philosophy for the platform, and established and nurtured support for Xbox within the game development community worldwide.

GameHorizon 24/04/08 02:07

Book your place at June’s GameHorizon Conference to hear Eidos’s chief technology officer, Julien Merceron, speaking on how development teams may need to change as online gaming becomes more sophisticated.

At the GameHorizon Conference, on 18-19 June, Merceron will speak about how, in the future, development teams will be structured differently and perhaps work differently from the way they do now, as online community features grow ever more advanced and important.

He says: “As community features grow beyond what we know today – monitoring and stat tracking intensifies, organising events and competitions becomes a core component, and tuning and delivering new options and content becomes key to new business models – we can expect project life cycles to be very different and changes to happen to the structure of the game development team.”

About Julien

Merceron started out his career programming titles on the Atari Jaguar. During the course of ten years at Ubisoft, Julien became Worldwide Technical Director. In 2006, he joined Eidos to oversee technology matters, and sees changes on the horizon for companies seeking to make cutting edge online products.”

GameHorizon 17/04/08 11:09

The GameHorizon conference has announced that Mark Rein, Seamus Blackley and Rod Cousens are the latest names to join this year’s event.

Rein is vice president of Epic Games, developers of hit Gears of War, while Blackley is head of games at CCA and was a driving force behind Microsoft’s original Xbox. Cousens is CEO of Codemasters, developers of the Colin McRae branded racing games.

Only 250 seats are available for the conference held in Newcastle’s Baltic Flour Mill where sessions will be given by execs from Microsoft, Eidos and Realtime Worlds amongst others.

Taking place in Newcastle on June 18-19, the conference aims to be the choice networking event for the games industry.

A full list of speaker’s is available on the official site and anyone wishing to attend has until April 25 to purchase tickets at the early bird rate.

GameHorizon 10/04/08 07:45

Mario Rizzo, Business Development Manager for Realtime Worlds, will share some of the new compelling content and customisation features of their new MMO title APB at the GameHorizon Conference.

Mario will look at how customisation will allow for strong personal expression within the game and give players the ability to create their own look, listen to their own music, and even affect the environment within APB. He will explain how their game affords the player a personal experience through introducing cutting edge content creation and customisation tools.

Mario says; ‘APB is the first title to bring next generation action and graphics into the MMO space. One of the key goals in developing the title was to bring the fidelity and feature set that is seen in next generation console games and deliver that experience to hopefully millions of players in a persistent online world.’

Mario has been working in the online gaming industry for the past five years exclusively on the development of massively multiplayer online games.

He joined Realtime Worlds in November 2006 as the development producer for APB, with a focus on core development and acquisition of personnel in order to help the company ship its first massively multiplayer title.

GameHorizon 07/03/08 09:59

With a growing list of speakers, the programme for the GameHorizon Conference is really heating up.

Some of the industry’s most renowned and creative minds will head to North East England from around the world to discuss the ideas, technologies and future opportunities that will influence the way games are made and played.

Confirmed speakers include:

Martin de Ronde, OneBigGame
Founder and chairman of the world’s first non-profit games publisher.
Chris Lee, FreeStyleGames
Commercial Director at FreeStyleGames, the team behind BAFTA nominated breakdancing game, B-Boy.
Julien Merceron, Eidos
Worldwide CTO, mainly responsible for Technology Strategy as well as Online and Outsourcing considerations at Eidos.
Todd Eckert, Film Producer
Producer of BAFTA award winning film Control.
Rick Gibson, Games Investor Consulting
Director of Games Investor Consulting, specialist games industry consultancy.
Iain Simons, Author on videogames
Entertaining author and experienced journalist.

GameHorizon launches 2008 conference

GameHorizon 07/02/08 02:02

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