IASIG @ GDC in 2012

IASIG Audio Mixer @ Thirsty Bear Brewery

This year's annual party for Game Audio Professionals was sponsored by Firelight Technologies (fmod Studio), Dolby, and AudioKinetic! Once again, demand outstripped the available space, so we apologize to  everyone who couldn't get in to the event, and thank all of those who made it, including more than 60 new people. Besides the free drinks and food, every attendee got a chance to win one of dozens of free prizes from iZotope, IK Multimedia, and Bias, and a chance at the grand prize from Universal Audio. It was a great opportunity to talk about issues of  importance to audio developers, in a relaxed and fun atmosphere.

17th Annual IASIG Audio Town Hall Meeting

The IASIG was born at the first "Audio Town Hall Meeting" session at GDC in 1996, and we've carried on the Town Hall tradition every year since, bringing together sound designers, composers, programmers, and educators to talk about how we can all cooperate to improve the tools and resources for web, mobile, and game audio. 

Steering Committee Chairman Kurt Heiden introduced the meeting, reviewed the agenda, and provided an overview of IASIG's mission, accomplishments, and operations. 

Steve Horowitz then explained the history and current status of IASIG's education initiatives, including last year's hugely successful release of the Game Audio Education Curriculum Guidelines. Steve also introduced the current Education Working Group Chair (Stephen Harwood) who described the "episode two" goals and work plan, including major updates to IASIG educational resources such as the Interactive Audio Wiki. Michael Sweet then reported on involving Berklee College of Music students in developing IASIG resources, and Damian Kastbauer then explained the IASIG Game Audio Relevance blog, after which Alex Handy told the attendees about San Francisco's Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment.   

Kurt then opened the floor for public discussion of any issues people feel should be addressed by the interactive audio community. Topics raised included finishing iXMF (as always) and improving Audio and MIDI support in HTML5.