IASIG @ GDC in 2010
IASIG Audio Mixer 15th Annual IASIG Town Hall Meeting The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is the world's largest gathering of game developers, and the biggest event of the year for the IASIG. This year's conference brought more people to IASIG events than at any time since 2003. The biggest news to come from IASIG at this year's show was the draft publication of the IASIG Game Audio Curriculum Guidelines that was made available at the IASIG Town Hall Meeting. Education Working Group members Steve Horowitz, Karen Collins and Stephen Harwood presented an update on the project on behalf of the Chair, Richard Stevens. The IASIG Game Audio Curriculum Guidelines are a starting point for worldwide institutes of higher learning to establish programs to prepare students for work in the audio side of the gaming industry. The draft publication is expected to encourage educators and game audio professionals to lend their expertise to completing the document later this year. Feedback regarding the Curriculum Guidelines was very positive, with people interested in joining the IASIG at the town hall meeting to dig right in and start working on the document. (Visit www.iasig.org/eduwg for more information.) New IASIG Steering Committee member Chris Grigg reported on a meeting of the IASIG "Interactive XMF" Working Group that occurred earlier in the week, thanking Linda Law for many years of service as Chair, and putting out a request for candidates to fill the Chair seat as well as for volunteers to participate in completing the project. (Visit www.iasig.org/ixwg for more information.) And finally, what would IASIG@GDC be without free food, drinks, prizes, and networking? The IASIG's "Audio Mixer" is the premier GDC social event for game audio professionals. This year more than 120 people arrived within the first 30 minutes and completely overloaded the facility... there were people standing in line trying to get in all night. Even after we stopped handing out tickets for free drinks (courtesy of event sponsors FMOD and Dolby) people still wanted in. Maybe it was the thousands of dollars of prizes we were giving away (courtesy of sponsors Wave Arts, iZotope, UA, and bias). Or maybe it was the opportunity to hangout with the top talent in audio for games and interactive entertainment. Anyway, next year we'll need a bigger facility... again! (We've put together some photos from the event, below.) To conclude, this year's GDC was nothing short of an amazing success for the IASIG. Attendance was up, awareness was up and people showed genuine excitement about our projects, and where we are headed in the coming year. Special thanks again to all of our sponsors for making this year's events possible. - KH |
Interactive Audio Conference Sessions & Events |
| Click here to see the recommended list prepared by IASIG for GDC attendees. |