As momentum builds for GDC Online (formerly GDC Austin) in Texas this October, organizers have announced key new lectures from the world's leading online game firms, including Zynga, Disney, Playdom, Tencent, and more.

The Austin, Texas-based GDC Online conference and expo -- taking place October 5-8, 2010 -- is focused on online games of all kinds -- including social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles, large-scale MMOs, and more.

With a leading advisory board guiding the evaluation and choice of lectures, and the newly announced GDC Online Awards honoring the leading games in the space, the conference is a must-attend for those working in online games.

Some of the highlights from newly announced sessions -- as the August 4th alumni registration deadline for GDC Austin 2008/2009 attendees and speakers approaches -- include:

- 'AAA To Social Games -- Making the Leap' sees Playdom VP John Donham, most recently at Metaplace and a 20-year veteran of online games, discussing why "developing games for social networks is a dramatic shift from making titles for PCs, consoles, or even the Internet." The session will "provide you with a solid basis for revising your strategy as you approach social game development."

- In 'Scalability for Social Games: YoVille, Mafia Wars and Farmville', Zynga's Robert Zubek expands on his GDC 2010 Summit talk from the leading Facebook game firm to "describe architectures and proven techniques for building scalable server infrastructure, particularly for social web games, operating on the web and social networks."

- In a talk called 'The Chinese Game Market: Planning To Win', Tencent Boston VP and GM Jeff Goodsill discusses an overview of Chinese game opportunities from the U.S. division of one of the biggest Chinese firms in the space. The talk will include "practical strategies to improve your odds of winning", alongside "a summary of some of the top publishers and games in China and a broad overview of some of the regulations and regulatory bodies in China."

- A practical lecture called 'MMO 101: Building Disney's Server System', Disney Online Studios' director of architecture and R&D Roger Hughston presents on the system underlying titles like World Of Cars and Pixie Hollow Online This technical discussion -- "with heavy emphasis on server systems" -- will describe approaches that have been taken in the Disney Online Studios in the development of their MMO environments, including "candid discussion about what is good, bad, and ugly."

In addition to the main conference content, GDC Online will present specialized Summit programs, with in-depth business and technical advice on major up-and-coming facets of the game industry, including the 3D Stereoscopic Games Summit, the iPhone Games Summit, the iPad Gaming Summit, and the Game Narrative Summit (formerly the Game Writers Summit).

A vibrant GDC Online Expo Floor -- something no other online game-specific conference boasts -- also enables attendees to get all the latest information from game tool, engine, middleware, payment, and virtual currency firms exhibiting at the show, as well as recruitment-specific areas and other notable vendors.

GDC Online is scheduled for October 5-8, 2010 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. To learn more about the newly announced lectures across all tracks for GDC Online, for which registration is available now, please visit the official GDC Online website.

With just a day until the July 21st early reg deadline, GDC Europe organizers have announced major talks on Limbo, Guild Wars 2 and Kane & Lynch 2 at next month's Cologne, Germany-based game conference.

Coming shortly after the Guerrilla Games/Killzone 3 keynote, these new talks are confirmed for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe event, which will take place August 16th-18th, and is located in Cologne, Germany alongside GamesCom, the leading European trade and consumer show.

The newly announced GDC Europe lectures arriving just before the early registration deadline include the following notables:

- In 'Limbo: Balancing Fun and Frustration in Puzzle Design', Playdead's Jeppe Carlsen focuses on the acclaimed Xbox Live Arcade title Limbo, discussing "creating an immersive game experience that is challenging to players without being discouraging." Along the way, he'll explore "relevant design principles using concrete examples from the game, focusing on considerations in the areas of accessibility, difficulty, learning by dying, and fun."

- IO Interactive art director Rasmus Poulsen is speaking on 'Art Direction in the YouTube Era', discussing how he and his colleagues approached the distinctive look to the Square Enix-published console title Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. The game takes an alternative, documentary film-inspired look to visuals, and the description notes that "as the gaming industry continues to follow the trend of hi-fidelity graphics to convey realism, an exploration to find what 'real' is sparked a fresh artistic vision" for the title.

- 'Designing Guild Wars 2 Dynamic Events' features the much-awaited ArenaNet MMO's lead designer Eric Flannum and lead content designer Colin Johanson outlining how the core content of games in the MMORPG genre has evolved over time. They "will discuss the inspiration for and the implementation challenges of their Dynamic Events system, with the goal of creating an exciting, living, breathing online world that encourages social interaction between players."

In addition, GDC Europe organizers are presenting 'Focus Russia', presenting up-and-coming regions or countries that are important for the worldwide game industry. During the show, organizers will hold two workshops to analyze the current changes in the Russian market, present important players and trends as well as new business concepts and opportunities for cooperation.

These latest announcements are part of a large GDC Europe line-up that includes a Rare-helmed lecture on Microsoft's Kinect, the BioWare co-founders on the Baldur's Gate franchise, a lecture from Another World creator Eric Chahi on his new title Project Dust, an ESA/G.A.M.E. panel on government intervention in games, and a Heavy Rain production talk.

Also added are lectures and panels from Remedy art director Saku Lehtinen on Alan Wake, Ensemble co-founder Bruce Shelley on creating a design proposal, a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent, significant lectures from Quantic Dream's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, and other lectures and keynotes from Sony, Playdom, and German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO).

The conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, aims to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals. The event will run alongside the major GamesCom event, to which free access is available for non-student GDC Europe passholders.

With just one day to go until the early registration deadline, more information on GDC Europe, for which reduced price registration is in place until July 21st -- visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

GDC Europe has revealed a keynote from Guerrilla Games' head Hermen Hulst, discussing the upcoming Killzone 3 and managing the Sony-owned studio to success, as the July 21st early registration deadline approaches for the pre-eminent European game business/design conference.

This keynote -- to be held on August 17th -- is the latest to be announced for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe event, which will take place August 16th-18th, and is located in Cologne, Germany alongside GamesCom, the leading European trade and consumer show.

Hulst's talk at GDC Europe will examine how the Amsterdam-headquartered studio -- one of the leading European game developers, and employing 140 developers from 20 countries -- has matured, and which obstacles had to be overcome along the way.

He'll also focus on the company's technical focus on best utilizing console hardware, and what some of the ingredients behind the success of the Killzone series are, illuminating some of Guerrilla's emerging work on the PlayStation 3-exclusive title Killzone 3, due out in early 2011.

The announcements come with just five days to go before the July 21st early registration deadline for the show, which is created by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, as is this website, and is now in its second year as the pre-eminent European game development event.

"We are excited to welcome to the GDC Europe stage such a prominent European developer and industry figure such as Hulst," said Frank Sliwka, GDC Europe Event Director. "The Killzone series and work produced from Guerrilla Games is exemplar of the ingenuity of European developers."

These latest announcements are part of a large GDC Europe line-up that includes a Rare-helmed lecture on Microsoft's Kinect, the BioWare co-founders on the Baldur's Gate franchise, a lecture from Another World creator Eric Chahi on his new title Project Dust, an ESA/G.A.M.E. panel on government intervention in games, and a Heavy Rain production talk.

Also added are lectures and panels from Remedy art director Saku Lehtinen on Alan Wake, Ensemble co-founder Bruce Shelley on creating a design proposal, a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent, significant lectures from Quantic Dream's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, and other lectures and keynotes from Sony, Playdom, and German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO).

The conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, aims to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals. The event will run alongside the major GamesCom event, to which free access is available for non-student GDC Europe passholders.

With just five days to go until the early registration deadline, more information on GDC Europe, for which reduced price registration is in place until July 21st -- visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

Game Developers Conference organizers have announced the opening of the call for submissions for the show, to be held in San Francisco on February 28th to March 4th 2011. The call for submissions to present lectures, roundtables and panel sessions for the 2011 Game GDC -- the historic 25th anniversary show -- is now open through Wednesday, August 25th.

The main GDC advisory board is looking for submissions in the following game-related areas/tracks: Audio, Business and Management, Game Design, Production, Programming and Visual Arts, to be showcased on the prestigious Wednesday to Friday main conference of Game Developers Conference 2011. (Submissions for the GDC Summits will open later in the year.)

A talk abstract is required alongside a more detailed description and speaker information, and the GDC Call For Papers page has multiple annotated examples of previous submissions, giving detailed, precise instructions on speaker criteria and the selection process.

Alongside this year's call for submissions, the GDC 2011 advisory board has been expanded, adding several leading industry figures in the social and independent gaming spaces.

In particular, new board members include Media Molecule studio director Siobhan Reddy (LittleBigPlanet 2), EA2D designer/programmer Soren Johnson (Civilization IV, Spore), independent developer Adam Saltsman (Canabalt, Flixel), and Playfish San Francisco GM Dan Fiden. Also added for their art and audio expertise respectively are Undead Labs' Steve Theodore and Microsoft's Scott Selfon.

These new members join industry veterans such as Julien Merceron (Square Enix), Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), Rob Pardo (Blizzard Entertainment), Chris Hecker (Spy Party), Chris Butcher (Bungie), Mike Capps (Epic), Laura Fryer (Warner Bros.), Lou Castle (InstantAction), Clint Hocking, and Dave Perry (Gaikai) on the active advisory board. The Board as a whole consists of leading industry notables who rate and discuss every submitted lecture for the show, and participate in multiple in-person meetings regarding the content.

"We pride ourselves on providing best practices for game developers of all genres and GDC 2011 will continue this tradition as the gaming space grows and adapts to the evolving market," said Meggan Scavio, director, Game Developers Conference.

"We're excited to welcome our newest advisory board members and expect them to bring a healthy balance of their past experiences along with a fresh approach to the conference program. The forward-facing content, inspired sessions, and especially the insightful advisory board are what has kept the event thriving for 25 years, and will sustain it for the next 25."

Organized by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, GDC 2011 marks the quarter-century anniversary of the game industry's most comprehensive professionals-only event -- where game developers converge for a week of learning, networking and inspiration.

As well as its flagship San Francisco event, the GDC series of conferences also now include GDC Europe (August 16th-18th, Cologne), GDC Online (October 5th-8th, Austin), and GDC China (December 5th-7th, Shanghai) in the remainder of 2010.

For more information on the call for papers for GDC 2011 in San Francisco, please visit the official GDC website.

2010 Game Developers Conference Europe organizers have announced a Rare-helmed lecture on Microsoft's Kinect, the BioWare co-founders on the Baldur's Gate franchise, plus an iPhone marketing lecture from Words With Friends' creator, with the early registration deadline looming.

These in-depth talks are the latest to be announced for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe event, which will take place August 16th-18th, and is located in Cologne, Germany alongside GamesCom, the leading regional trade and consumer show.

The announcements come with less than two weeks to go before the July 21st early registration deadline for the show, which is now in its second year as the pre-eminent European game development event. The notable new speakers for this must-attend show for game developers throughout Europe consist of the following:

- In a lecture entitled 'Kinecting With A New Audience', Rare's Nick Burton and Blitz's Andrew Oliver -- respectively first and third-party developers for the Xbox 360's newly announced Kinect motion control system -- will talk about their recent experiences building Kinect launch titles and how this affected development in their respective studios.

Subjects will include "how Kinect fitted into their game engines.... how design was affected... how they built on top of changing technology", as well as many other notable areas that might be of interest to game creators considering how motion-controlled gameplay might work within their own titles.

- A special lecture called 'Baldur's Gate - A 10 Year-Retrospective' see BioWare co-founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk team up with Obsidian CEO and former Black Isle head Feargus Urquhart to present a retrospective lecture on the seminal PC role-playing game Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - one of the highest-rated RPGs of all time. The Dungeons & Dragons-based title launched in 2000, and paved the way for successful BioWare RPGs like Dragon Age and the Mass Effect franchise - and three of the principals will discuss the game's creation in depth.

- In addition, 'Keys to Successful iPhone Game Marketing' sees Newtoy CEO Paul Bettner, creator of popular iPhone/iPad app Words With Friends, team up with Sidhe and PikPok's Jos Ruffell (Bird Strike, Flick Kick Football) to discuss how they created successful, best-selling iPhone titles. As the duo note, "from the effectiveness of advertising, to code giveaways and promotions, if you're creating a game for iPhone, this session will better prepare you for the task of marketing your game."

These latest announcements are part of a large GDC Europe line-up that includes a rare lecture from Another World creator Eric Chahi on his new title Project Dust, as well as a ESA/G.A.M.E. panel on government intervention in games and a Heavy Rain production talk. Also added are lectures and panels from Remedy art director Saku Lehtinen on Alan Wake, Ensemble co-founder Bruce Shelley on creating a design proposal, plus a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent.

Other talks in the packed line-up include significant lectures from Quantic Dream's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, APB and Split/Second, plus other lectures and keynotes from Sony, Playdom, and German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO).

The conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, aims to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals. The event will run alongside the major GamesCom event, to which free access is available for non-student GDC Europe passholders.

For more information on GDC Europe, which is created by the UBM Techweb Game Network, as is this website, and for which reduced price registration is in place until July 21st -- visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

Continuing the Game Developers Conference 2010 free video lecture series, organizers have debuted the 'Indie Gamemaker Rant' from the 2010 Independent Games Summit, also adding multiple new site navigation features.

The new lecture, highly rated by GDC attendees, is part of a free update published at the GDC Vault website, and features video technology that allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

The well-received 'Indie Gamemaker Rant' is now available for free video streaming, and was described by its creators at the time as: "A series of exquisite [five-minute] rants by notable indie game creators. Experience different points of view on indieness, art, beauty, and the future presented by an all star cast of international friends."

As a detailed Destructoid write-up on the hour-long set of microlectures described, presenters on a host of fascinating topics included Adam Saltsman (Canabalt, pictured), Jonatan Soderstrom (aka Cactus), Anna Anthropy (aka Auntie Pixelante), Jarrad Woods (Captain Forever), Offworld editor [and now IGF Chairman] Brandon Boyer, Randy Smith (Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor), Nathan Vella (Critter Crunch), Craig D. Adams (Superbrothers), Tommy Refenes (Super Meat Boy), Robin Hunicke (thatgamecompany), Ryan O'Donnell (Co-Op/Area 5 Media) and Babsi Lippe (Papermint).

Of additional significance to those interested in independent and alternative views on games is the already available free video of the 'Artgame Sessions' GDC 2010 lecture -- including several smaller talks on Far Cry 2, Braid, Mark Essen's games (Flywrench), and Terry Cavanagh and Stephen Lavelle's Judith.

In addition to these lectures, GDC Vault's free videos section includes GDC 2010 lectures from Zynga, Ernest Adams, and NCsoft, plus highly rated lectures featuring 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Bungie's Brian Sharp, as well as a number of other top talks.

The free recordings available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault, which has added several new features with this latest content upgrade. It's now easier to navigate through the Free section of the site, with video, audio and slides more obviously split up while browsing and searching. In addition, site searches will bring up both free content and Vault Subscriber-only content in the same results page.

Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year.

In addition, development studios and schools who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

GDC Europe organizers have announced a rare lecture from Another World creator Eric Chahi on his new title Project Dust, also debuting an ESA/G.A.M.E. panel and a Heavy Rain production talk.

These lectures are the latest to be announced for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe event, which will take place August 16th-18th, and is located in Cologne, Germany alongside GamesCom, the leading regional trade and consumer show.

The notable new speakers for this must-attend show for European game developers are led by Ubisoft's Eric Chahi, the creator of seminal adventure game Another World (also known as Out Of This World) in the early '90s.

Chahi has recently returned to the game industry, and is presenting a lecture with Ronan Bel of Ubisoft called 'Creating a High-Performance Simulation: A Dynamic Natural World to Play With'. In it, the duo will introduce Galileo, "a real-time simulator of flowing water, lava, erosion, sedimentation and vegetation", and its use as foundation for a fully dynamic world-based game, the just-announced Project Dust.

In addition, a panel called 'Building Grassroots Video Game Activist Networks' sees Richard Taylor of the Entertainment Software Association and Stephan Reichart of G.A.M.E. (the German Games Developers Association) team with Crytek's Avni Yerli and additional, yet to be announced panelists to discuss how the industry can guard against censorship by using its biggest advocates - its fans.

Finally, one of Europe's key, critically acclaimed games of 2009 is examined in detail by Quantic Dream's Charles Coutier in his lecture, 'A Challenging Production: Heavy Rain'. The talk will focus on the French developer's iterative processes and adaptive management approach in making the atypical title, with plenty of specifics on asset management and outsourcing practices discussed.

These latest announcements are part of a large GDC Europe line-up that includes lectures and panels from Remedy art director Saku Lehtinen on Alan Wake, Ensemble co-founder Bruce Shelley on creating a design proposal, plus a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent.

Other talks in the packed line-up include significant lectures from Quantic Dream's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, APB and Split/Second, plus other lectures and keynotes from Sony, Playdom, and German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO).

The conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, aims to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals. The event will run alongside the major GamesCom event, to which free access is available for non-student GDC Europe passholders.

For more information on GDC Europe, for which reduced price registration is in place until July 21st -- visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

Bill Roper, the former Blizzard executive who now serves as chief creative officer for MMO developer Cryptic Studios, will deliver a keynote address at the 2010 Game Developers Conference China in Shanghai this December, event organizers announced today.

In his keynote presentation, Roper will "speak to the future of game development" in a wide-ranging speech on his career and views on the industry, according to an official statement.

Best known for the decade he spent at Blizzard, Roper was heavily involved in all of the studio's franchises starting with its first PC game, WarCraft: Orcs & Humans, on which he served as producer. Over his time with Blizzard, he contributed in a variety of roles to StarCraft and Diablo as well, and became most associated with Diablo after becoming a VP at that series' creator, Blizzard North.

After leaving Blizzard in 2003, Roper co-founded Flagship Studios, which produced the online action-RPG Hellgate: London before the company folded. Since late 2008 he has been the CCO at Cryptic Studios, the original developer of City of Heroes and now the company behind Champions Online and Star Trek Online.

"We are delighted to host such a luminary as Bill Roper for the keynote address," said event director Meggan Scavio in a statement. "Bill's expertise helps cement GDC China's place as the essential event for learning, networking, and inspiration for the Chinese game development community."

This year marks the third GDC China event, to be held from December 5 to 7 in Shanghai -- more information on the event is available on the official event website.

Organizers of GDC Online (formerly GDC Austin) have announced the first set of lectures for this October's pre-eminent conference related to online games, including a 'Live' track featuring Sony Online, Wizard101 and IMVU speakers.

The Austin, Texas-based GDC Online conference and expo is keenly focused on development of connected games including social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles, large-scale MMOs, and more, with a leading advisory board guiding the evaluation and choice of lectures.

While there are already over 25 confirmed lectures across the entire event, organizers are focusing on the 'Live' track, which discusses the vital topic of successful strategies for online games post-launch.

The rise of swiftly iterated social games and microtransactions have led to a wide array of new techniques and technologies that can help increase fun, profitability and retention, and the 'Live' track will deal with many of these.

Some of the highlights of the GDC Online 'Live' track, as announced thus far, include:

- In 'From Shadowbane to Wizard101: Strategies for Expanding Player Communities and Sustaining Enthusiasm After Launch', J. Todd Coleman & Josef Hall of KingsIsle Entertainment will reference their 10 million registered-user online game and previous experience, identifying "sustaining community that transcend genre and generation, the importance of always having new content in queue, and strategies for communicating milestones and methods for remaining engaged in public conversation."

- 'Surviving Social Media: Advice From The SOE Playbook' sees Sony Online Entertainment's Linda Carlson discussing how the Free Realms and upcoming DC Universe Online creators "identify the best outlets for ROI, implement efficiencies in time and money, involve all departments for the common good, craft audience-specific messaging, proven strategies to engage and motivate fans, manage multiple games in social media, maintain brand strength" -- with "plenty of war stories and scars to prove points!"

- IMVU's Brett Durrett will present 'Building A Successful Business After Launch through Rapid Iteration', showing how, by "creating systems that utilize A/B testing, instant customer metrics and a sophisticated deployment process IMVU is able to shorten the iteration loop and deploy new software to production up to 50 times per day" - leading to an avatar-heavy online environment with over 100 million registered users.

In addition to the main conference content, GDC Online will present specialized Summit programs, with in-depth business and technical advice on major up-and-coming facets of the game industry, including 3D stereoscopic games and iPad development.

The event is also hosting the first ever Game Developers Choice Online Awards -- honoring the accomplishments of the sometimes overlooked creators and operators of persistent online video games -- from large-scale MMOs through free-to-play titles to social network games.

GDC Online will take place October 5-8, 2010 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. To learn more about the newly announced lectures across all tracks for GDC Online, for which registration is now open, please visit the official GDC Online website.

The UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizer of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference events, is pleased to announce that submissions are now open for the 2011 Independent Games Festival -- to be held at GDC 2011 in San Francisco next March.

The longest-running and highest-profile independent video game festival, summit and showcase is now accepting entries to the 13th annual Festival, with deadlines in the Main and Student Showcase categories by October 18th and November 1st respectively, and finalists to be announced on January 2011.

All games selected as finalists will be available in playable form at the IGF Pavilion on the GDC show floor, and will compete for nearly $50,000 in prizes, including the Nuovo Award, Excellence in Design, Art, Best Student Game, the Audience Award and the $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize. Winners will be announced on stage at the high-profile Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 2, 2011, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.

The Independent Games Festival Awards are held immediately before the wider Game Developers Choice Awards, and both multi-thousand person attendee award shows are part of the 2011 Game Developers Conference, taking place February 28th-March 4th, 2011. GDC 2011 also includes the 2011 Independent Games Summit, which is entering its fifth year and offers two days of inspiration and practical lectures and rants from the top minds in the independent games world.

Continuing to honor the best and brightest of the indie gaming community, the Independent Games Festival is expanding in its thirteenth year to recognize the new opportunities open to mobile and handheld game developers. Responding to developer feedback, games made for Apple's iPhone, Android, Nintendo DS/DSi, PlayStation Portable, and all handheld devices will compete in the same traditional IGF categories. They will also be eligible for a new Best Mobile Game award, honoring innovation, achievement and artistry in handheld gaming.

Other changes to the 2011 festival include an expanded focus on alternative elements in independent gaming, with the number of finalists for the IGF Nuovo Award -- honoring abstract, shortform, and otherwise esoteric 'art games' -- increasing from five to eight games in total.

The festival's judging process has also been modified to see winners decided via jury debate from focused industry peers. Expanding on a successful 2010 experiment using the Nuovo Award, entrants will be recommended for consideration in individual categories by the larger IGF judging body of over 170 notable industry participants. Following this process, smaller juries with specific knowledge of the award in question will discuss and choose the finalists and winner in each individual category.

The modifications continue to expand the Independent Game Festival's global importance as the largest and most all-encompassing showcase of independent game talent across the wide spectrum of artistically- and commercially-aimed development. Notable former IGF winners include World of Goo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter, Darwinia and Audiosurf, with IGF 2010 prizewinner Limbo a key game in Xbox Live Arcade's 'Summer Of Arcade' line-up and 2010 nominee Joe Danger a recent, acclaimed release on PlayStation Network.

Brandon Boyer, Chairman of the IGF, said of this year's event: "Expanding the IGF to include mobile and more artistic experiences is our way of recognizing the constantly evolving landscape of indie game development, and the advancement of the expression possible in the medium itself. I'm more excited than ever to see what the indie community creates for this year's festival, and wish all the entrants the best of luck!"

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2011 are as follows:

June 28th, 2010 - Submissions are Open
October 18th, 2010 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
November 1st, 2010 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
January 3rd, 2011 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
January 10, 2011 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
February 28 - March 4, 2011 - Game Developers Conference 2011
February 28 - March 1, 2011 - Indie Games Summit @ GDC 2011
March 2 - March 4, 2011 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2011
March 2, 2011 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)

For a complete list of information on the 2011 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics, frequently asked questions, and more discussion on this year's changes from the IGF Chairman, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website.

For a complete list of information on the 2011 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics, frequently asked questions, and more discussion on this year's changes from new IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website.

Organizers of the Game Developers Choice Online Awards at GDC Online in Austin this October are reminding that nominations for the awards -- honoring the best MMOs and social games -- are only open until June 30th.

The first-ever awards ceremony, being held at GDC Online (formerly GDC Austin), will honor the accomplishments of the sometimes overlooked creators and operators of persistent online video games -- from large-scale MMOs through free-to-play titles to social network games. The awards span excellence in live services, technology, game updates, online game design, and more.

In addition, two special awards will honor outstanding individuals and games in the space, with the Online Game Legend Award being given to a person who's changed the world of online games forever, and one particular all-time classic online game being inducted into the GDC Online Awards' Hall Of Fame.

After award finalists are announced, the worldwide community of online game players will also have the opportunity to designate their favorite online game in the Audience Award category.

Nominations are now open, and game professionals with free Gamasutra.com user accounts can put forward their favorite online games for the awards. The GDC Online Awards are a sister event to the Game Developers Choice Awards which take place at GDC San Francisco every year.

The award categories and this year's Special Award winners will be determined by the GDC Online Advisory Board. This group includes notables like BioWare Austin's Gordon Walton, Metaplace's Raph Koster, Playfish's Sebastien De Halleux, and Nexon's Min Kim.

Winners for the Game Developers Choice Online Awards will be selected by a specially selected subset of the International Choice Awards Network (ICAN). This is the same group of over 500 handpicked leading industry creators that pick the Game Developers Choice Awards winners at GDC in San Francisco every year.

The full list of categories for the first annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards (part of the UBM Techweb Game Network, as is this website) include:

Regular Awards

The Best Online Game Design Award honors the overall excellence of design in an online game that launched in public beta or full version in the year to May 2010. This category recognizes the best social-specific gameplay mechanics, quest design, and other major game design elements.

The Audience Award honors the favorite game of the worldwide online game community. After initial developer-specific nominations, members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite currently operating online game, with options from the Game Developers Choice Online finalists and beyond.

The Best Online Visual Arts Award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in online games that launched in the 12 months to May 2010 - including, but not limited to, character and animation design, interface design, and 2D or 3D art creation and direction of all kinds.

The Best Community Relations Award honors the currently operating online game that provides the highest quality community feedback and experience, including customer support, forum moderation and leadership, weblog and information updates, real-life events, and other community outreach.

The Best Online Technical Award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in an online game that launched in the 12 months to May 2010. This includes excellence in complexity of network infrastructure, persistent world coding, graphics technology, artificial intelligence, or any other elements.

The Best Social Network Game Award recognizes the best game that launched on a social network such as Facebook or MySpace in open beta or full version in the year to May 2010, honoring the most outstanding title in terms of overall depth, execution and quality in the space.

The Best Audio for an Online Game Award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in an online game that launched in the 12 months to May 2010 - including sound effects, musical composition, and overall sound design for an online title.

The Best New Online Game Award recognizes excellence in any online-specific game, including MMOs, free to play titles and social network games that launched to the public in open beta or full versions in the twelve months ending May 2010.

The Best Live Game Award recognizes the best currently-operating online game - distinguishing itself by that exceptional new content through expansion packs, patches, or other updates in the last 12 months, as well as a vibrant player community, high-quality community management and network operation during that period.

Special Awards

The Online Game Legend Award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has made an indelible impact on the craft of online game development.

The GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame recognizes a specific online game that has resulted in the long-term advancement of the medium, pioneering major shifts in online game development and games as a whole.

More information about the Game Developers Choice Online Awards, which will take place on October 7th in Austin, is available at the official website for the event. The awards are co-located with the market-leading GDC Online event, which takes place from October 5th-8th at the Austin Convention Center, and for which registration is now open.

Organizers have debuted the latest round of GDC Europe talks, with Remedy on Alan Wake's art direction, design wisdom from Age Of Empires co-creator Bruce Shelley, and a motion control-centric postmortem of Red Steel 2.

The lectures are newly announced for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe event, which takes place from August 16th-18th, and is -- for the second year -- located in Cologne, Germany. It takes place alongside the leading European consumer/trade GamesCom event, making the duo a must-attend for European and international game creators.

Some of the notable new speakers for the conference include the following:

- A lecture called 'Alan Wake: Light and Dark' has Remedy art director Saku Lehtinen discussing the multiple graphical techniques and work behind the Xbox 360 game's acclaimed atmosphere. As he notes: "How did the game's basic dualities of light vs. dark, sanity vs. insanity and real vs. supernatural echo in the design and visuals in order to support the story and create a memorable experience?"

- In 'Chilling Tales from Red Steel 2: How Motion Control Will/Won't Change The Future', Ubisoft creative director Jason VandenBerghe explains: "Red Steel 2 broke the mold, and proved that motion controls aren't just for the casual crowd... But sales were sluggish, and the team was confronted with extensive challenges in making real gameplay work with an entirely new input method." This honest lecture will explain what went right -- and wrong -- during the game's creation.

- Ensemble Studios (Age Of Empires) co-founder and design veteran Bruce Shelley is making a special appearance at GDC Europe to present 'Five Rules for Draft One of Your Game Design', and he'll share "five guidelines for the challenge of producing a complete first draft game design proposal, a road map to help designers focus their thoughts and get momentum on the process of 'getting it down.'"

These latest announcements are part of a major GDC Europe line-up that includes lectures and panels from 2K Czech talking Mafia 2, PopCap on Bejeweled Blitz, and an all-star Brink/Alan Wake/Mirror's Edge level design talk, plus a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent.

Previous announcements have included significant talks from Heavy Rain's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, APB and Split/Second, plus other lectures and keynotes from Sony, Playdom, and German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO).

Overall, the conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, is running alongside the major GamesCom event -- which non-student GDC Europe passholders will also gain free access to -- to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals.

For more information on specifics for GDC Europe -- for which reduced price registration is in place until July 21st -- interested parties can visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

Organizers of Game Developers Conference China 2010 have announced main Online Game Business and Outsourcing tracks, plus Social and Mobile Summits and the Indie Game Summit/Fest, simultaneously calling for submissions for the December Shanghai event.

The call for submissions to present lectures, panels, and tutorials at the event is open now through Wednesday, July 21, 2010, and UBM TechWeb's third Chinese conference aims to provide a forum for local and international developers to explore business opportunities, expand their reach to a unique market, and discover the ongoing trends emerging within the region.

The two GDC China main conference tracks will focus both on global game development and outsourcing, as well as on the business and development of online games.

In addition, the conference will feature three dedicated summits, each providing a laser focus on some of the industry's top trends: the Mobile Games Summit, the Independent Games Summit, and the new Social Games Summit.

This year, GDC China will introduce a new summit to its lineup, the Social Games Summit. Sitting at the intersection of social networking services and the online games market, the summit will bring together leading thinkers and business people to provide attendees a snapshot of the social network game industry and where it is going

GDC China -- part of the UBM Techweb Game Network, as is this website -- will also feature the return of the Independent Games Festival China, the regional competition that recognizes the best independent game developers and student creators from the Asia-Pacific area. More information on entry timing for IGF China will debut in the near future.

"The importance of the Chinese development community to the global games industry continues to grow, and we feel it's the responsibility of the Game Developers Conference to grow alongside it and provide a destination for learning, networking and inspiration," said Meggan Scavio, event director.

"The return of our core products, the Independent Games Festival and Mobile Games Summit, together with the new Social Games Summit are our response to the broadening of the industry worldwide and our wish to create opportunity for Chinese game makers."

GDC China returns to the Shanghai International Convention Center in Shanghai, China for three days, December 5-7, 2010. To submit your lectures, please visit the official GDC China Call For Papers site, and check out the full GDC China site for more information on the event as a whole.

GDC Europe organizers have announced major new speakers for the August event in Cologne alongside Gamescom, with 2K Czech talking Mafia 2, PopCap on Bejeweled Blitz, an all-star level design talk, and a keynote from Chinese online game powerhouse Tencent.

Following major recent talks announced from Heavy Rain's David Cage, InstantAction's Lou Castle, and the creators of Crysis 2, APB and Split/Second, the new talks further expand the leading European video game conference, which takes place on August 16th-18th in Cologne, Germany.

Some of the notable new speakers for the conference include the following:

- Level designers from major games Brink, Mirror's Edge and Alan Wake combine for the collaborative talk 'The Tao of Level Design: A Study of 3 AAA Games', with Splash Damage's Neil Alphonso, EA DICE's Elisabetta Silli and Remedy's Mikael Kasurinen posing the following question: "Are level design approaches for radically different games inherently similar, or do accepted methods need to be drastically altered to fit the unique nature of the project?"

- Talking in a notable technical lecture called 'The Living City In Mafia 2', 2K Czech lead programmer Jan Kratochvil will explain "creating a visually attractive city", with particular reference to 2K's much-awaited console and PC title. Facets discussed will include the algorithms for spawning and despawning pedestrians and cars, the AI for NPCs, and "examples and the most interesting issues we had to solve over the years of development of Mafia 2."

- In 'Postmortem: Bejeweled Blitz, Cross-Platform Social Gaming in Practice', PopCap Games co-founder Jason Kapalka discusses the acclaimed social puzzle game, which "gained over 10 million active players on [Facebook] before going on to be adapted for the iPhone and as a PC-downloadable product." The session will go over the important design and technical challenges that PopCap's teams faced, explain successes and failures, and discuss what lessons have been learned from the process.

- In a Design Track highlight, Digital Chocolate's noted social game designer Aki Jarvinen will present 'Viral Mechanics Uncovered', a design lecture "combining psychological concepts such as persuasion with game design principles" to look at case studies of popular Facebook/social games' viral features -- pinpointing how viral loops have been successfully created via specific mechanics.

In addition to these major announcements, GDC Europe organizers have announced a keynote for the event from Bo Wang, Vice President of Tencent Games. In his keynote, 'Bridging the East and West: The Tencent Games Story', Wang will address -- in Tencent's first ever lecture to Western game creators -- the success story of one of the largest online gaming companies and virtual currency providers in China, and its development plans for the future.

Tencent was founded in 1998, and is particularly well known for its instant messaging system QQ, which has 568 million registered users in China as of March 2010, as well as the major QQ Game portal, which runs and operates a host of casual games and MMOs to one of the biggest worldwide audiences.

These talks add to an already packed GDC Europe line-up that includes additional talks from Sony, Playdom, Crytek, and a keynote from German gaming powerhouse Bigpoint (Battlestar Galactica MMO), with multiple keynotes and more major conference content still to be announced.

Overall, the conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, will once again run alongside the major GamesCom event -- which non-student GDC Europe passholders will also gain free access to -- to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals.

For more information on specifics for GDC Europe -- for which registration is now open -- interested parties can visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

As this October's GDC Online -- formerly called GDC Austin -- prepares for first content announcements, the Texas-based show has added Playfish and Electric Bat execs to BioWare, Nexon, SOE, and Zenimax notables on its Advisory Board.

The GDC Online Advisory Board, which is also helping oversee the newly revealed Game Developers Choice Online Awards, is intimately involved in selecting content for the October 5th-8th show at the Austin Convention Center.

Board members individually rate each GDC Online lecture submission. They also meet in person multiple times yearly to decide final lectures and keynotes from submissions and invitations -- making sure GDC Online remains the leading worldwide game industry event to concentrate specifically on social games, free-to-play titles, MMOs, and more.

At last week's GDC Online board meeting in Austin, existing board members were joined by new recruits in the form of Sebastien de Halleux, VP of EA Interactive and Playfish co-founder, and Cindy Armstrong, Webzen and SOE veteran and Electric Bat Interactive CEO.

Following Electronic Arts' $300 million acquisition of social game company Playfish in November 2009, De Halleux -- who helped head up the Pet Society creator -- now works on "monetization, business development, and relationships" with key partners across the division's three business units, Playfish, Pogo and EA Mobile.

Armstrong, who has been a high-profile executive in the online games space for many years -- previously as CEO of Webzen America and Vice President of Business Development at Sony Online Entertainment -- is currently president and CEO of Electric Bat Interactive, who are working on online 'layered reality gaming' including WebLords and Weblings.

The duo joins leading figures from the online game industry on the active Advisory Board which includes Gordon Walton and Rich Vogel of BioWare Austin (Star Wars: The Old Republic), online design notable Raph Koster (Metaplace), Nexon America VP Min Kim (MapleStory, Combat Arms), and Schell Games' Sheri Graner Ray (the newly announced The Mummy Online).

Also represented on the board are Sony Online Entertainment's John Blakely (DC Universe Online, PoxNora), ex-Disney and current Hangout Industries exec Mike Goslin, EA Mythic GM Eugene Evans (Warhammer Online), ICO Partners' Thomas Bidaux, and Zenimax Online's Matt Firor.

Following last week's Advisory Board meeting, first lectures for GDC Online should be announced in the near future, with invitations in the process of being extended to many more of the online game industry's leading players.

More information on the major online game event, which will include an Expo Floor with the major companies in the space, the GDC Online Awards, and co-located Summits on notable topics like iPad/iPhone games and 3D stereoscopic games, is available at the official GDC Online website.

The 2010 GDC China Chengdu Forum's first event, held in late April, was a success, organizers say. The event, co-organized by Game Developers Conference organizers UBM together with the Chengdu Municipal Government, took place in Chengdu City's New Int'l Convention & Exposition Centre.

With the themes of game outsourcing and talent cultivation, the Forum accelerated the current momentum in the area of government entities, studios and local institutions working together to promote industry advancement in Chengdu and other Western cities in China.

The Forum adhered to GDC's "content-first" tradition, and partnered with leading game developers to program the most relevant content to the local development community.

There were a number of standout sessions, such as "The Relationship between Chinese Art Requirements and the Outsourcing Industry" delivered by Daisong Guan, Director of Art R&D Center from Shanda Games; "Game Outsourcing for The Global Market" by Aaron Pulkka, Director of Production from Activision; and "How to Transform Game Lovers into Game Developers" by Monte Singman, CEO of Radiance Software (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Partners.

With GDC's major resources and reputation within the industry, experts from home and abroad were invited as honored speakers, providing the Chengdu attendees a rare opportunity to meet and network with their international peers. For the Western area-based game companies in attendance, the Chengdu event allowed a first-hand introduction to an area experiencing rapid growth within the game industry.

Considered a highlight of the 8th Annual China International Software Fair, this GDC China-organized high-level forum in Chengdu successfully attracted more than 300 professionals from major companies in the space from Activision, Ubisoft, EA, Virtuos, Eidos, Pearl Digital, Chengdu Sheer, Shanda Games, Kingsoft, Tencent, and more.

This event was a precursor to the main GDC China 2010 conference, which is scheduled for December 5-7 at the Shanghai International Convention Center, and will expand and build upon the major topics and issues raised at the Chengdu Forum.

This December's event will follow on from the successful GDC China event in October 2009, which saw almost 3,000 attendees and keynotes from Prince Of Persia's Jordan Mechner and Nexon's Min Kim, GDC China 2010 will again present major Chinese and international speakers.

The 2010 event will discuss online and social games in China, major business trends in the Asian market, the state of video game outsourcing, the evolution of mobile game markets in the region, and many other cutting-edge topics.

Continuing their Game Developers Conference 2010 free video lecture series, organizers have debuted well-received lectures from Amy Jo Kim (on meta-game design) and Bob Bates (on 'living a creative life' in games.)

The two new lectures, both highly rated by GDC attendees, are part of a free update published at the GDC Vault website, and feature video technology that allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

The first talk to be made freely available in this set is 'Meta-Game Design: Reward Systems that Drive Engagement', originally presented at the Social & Online Games Summit by Shufflebrain co-founder and veteran social game/community designer Amy Jo Kim.

Kim, whose clients have included Electronic Arts, Sony, Disney, eBay, MTV, Square Enix and Harmonix, presents an in-depth look at 'metagame design', that is, "the practice of applying game-like reward and feedback systems to non-game applications for the purpose of driving loyalty and engagement".

In the 30 minute talk, the designer and consultant examines games like FarmVille and websites like Stack Overflow to see how clever incentivizing can make -- or break -- your product, whether it sits in the game space, web space, or somewhere in between.

The second lecture available for free is 'The Belly of the Whale: Living a Creative Life in the Game Industry' from 25-year industry veteran Bob Bates (Infocom, Legend Entertainment). The designer, who has worked on dozens of games since he started at seminal adventure game creator Infocom in 1986, explains his talk as follows: "Every year, thousands of people enter the games industry, believing they have found their 'dream job.' Five years later, half of them are gone."

As Bates goes on to explain of the inspirational bit practical hour-long lecture: "This talk addresses the problems of leading a creative life in our business, identifying traps and pitfalls, but also offering specific solutions to the challenges we all face."

In addition to these lectures, GDC Vault's free videos section includes talks from Zynga, Ernest Adams, and NCsoft, plus highly rated lectures featuring 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Bungie's Brian Sharp, Brenda Brathwaite and geoDefense creator Doug Whatley, plus social game experts Neil Young (Ngmoco) and Michael Acton Smith (Moshi Monsters).

The free recordings available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault. Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year.

In addition, development studios and schools who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

Organizers of this October's GDC Online conference (formerly known as GDC Austin) have announced that they will host the first annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards, to recognize the rich history, technical excellence, and continued innovation in the arena of online games.

The new awards ceremony will honor the accomplishments of the sometimes overlooked creators and operators of persistent online video games - from large-scale MMOs through free-to-play titles to social network games. The awards span excellence in live services, technology, game updates, online game design, and more.

In addition, two special awards will honor outstanding individuals and games in the space, with the Online Game Legend Award being given to a person who's changed the world of online games forever, and one particular all-time classic online game being inducted into the GDC Online Awards' Hall Of Fame.

After award finalists are announced, the worldwide community of online game players will also have the opportunity to designate their favorite online game in the Audience Award category.

Nominations are now open, and game professionals with free Gamasutra.com user accounts can put forward their favorite online games for the awards. The GDC Online Awards are a sister event to the Game Developers Choice Awards which take place at GDC San Francisco every year.

The award categories and this year's Special Award winners will be determined by the GDC Online Advisory Board. This group includes notables like BioWare Austin's Gordon Walton, Metaplace's Raph Koster, Playfish's Sebastien De Halleux, and Nexon's Min Kim.

Winners for the Game Developers Choice Online Awards will be selected by a specially selected subset of the International Choice Awards Network (ICAN). This is the same group of over 500 handpicked leading industry creators that pick the Game Developers Choice Awards winners at GDC in San Francisco every year.

The full list of categories for the first annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards include:

Regular Awards

The Best Online Game Design Award honors the overall excellence of design in an online game that launched in public beta or full version in the year to May 2010. This category recognizes the best social-specific gameplay mechanics, quest design, and other major game design elements.

The Audience Award honors the favorite game of the worldwide online game community. After initial developer-specific nominations, members of the public will be able to vote on their favorite currently operating online game, with options from the Game Developers Choice Online finalists and beyond.

The Best Online Visual Arts Award recognizes the overall excellence of visual art in online games that launched in the 12 months to May 2010 - including, but not limited to, character and animation design, interface design, and 2D or 3D art creation and direction of all kinds.

The Best Community Relations Award honors the currently operating online game that provides the highest quality community feedback and experience, including customer support, forum moderation and leadership, weblog and information updates, real-life events, and other community outreach.

The Best Online Technical Award recognizes the overall excellence of technology in an online game that launched in the 12 months to May 2010. This includes excellence in complexity of network infrastructure, persistent world coding, graphics technology, artificial intelligence, or any other elements.

The Best Social Network Game Award recognizes the best game that launched on a social network such as Facebook or MySpace in open beta or full version in the year to May 2010, honoring the most outstanding title in terms of overall depth, execution and quality in the space.

The Best Audio for an Online Game Award recognizes the overall excellence of audio in an online game that launched in the 12 months to May 2010 - including sound effects, musical composition, and overall sound design for an online title.

The Best New Online Game Award recognizes excellence in any online-specific game, including MMOs, free to play titles and social network games that launched to the public in open beta or full versions in the twelve months ending May 2010.

The Best Live Game Award recognizes the best currently-operating online game - distinguishing itself by that exceptional new content through expansion packs, patches, or other updates in the last 12 months, as well as a vibrant player community, high-quality community management and network operation during that period.

Special Awards

The Online Game Legend Award recognizes the career and achievements of one particular creator who has made an indelible impact on the craft of online game development.

The GDC Online Awards Hall of Fame recognizes a specific online game that has resulted in the long-term advancement of the medium, pioneering major shifts in online game development and games as a whole.

More information about the Game Developers Choice Online Awards, which will take place on October 7th in Austin, is available at the official website for the event. The awards are co-located with the market-leading GDC Online event, which takes place from October 5th-8th at the Austin Convention Center, and for which registration is now open.

GDC Europe organizers have revealed major new speakers for its August 2010 event in Cologne, including a Heavy Rain postmortem from David Cage, plus detailed talks from the creators of Crysis 2, APB and Split/Second.

The latest announcements follow details of a keynote from Bigpoint and initial lectures from notables from Playdom, Sony, and Playfish. These begin to flesh out the schedule for the major three-day European game development event, taking place for the second year on August 16th-18th in Cologne, Germany.

The notable new speakers for the conference, which is created by the UBM Techweb Game Network, include the following major new talks from leading video game creators:

- In 'Heavy Rain: How Far Are You Prepared to Go to Develop an Original Project?', David Cage "will be driving the audience through a detailed postmortem on the hurdles Quantic Dream had to overcome to produce a game such as Heavy Rain", looking at making the "babylonian production while trying to keep creative control."

- InstantAction's Lou Castle is debuting a notable Business Track lecture called 'Baggies, DVDs and Bitstreams: How to Reinvent Yourself in a Dynamic Market', and the Westwood co-founder (Command & Conquer) will showcase thought-provoking opinions, "offering several specific methods of retaining and refocusing your personal outlook and, therefore, your professional career in games."

- 'The Art and Visual Styling of Crysis 2' is the title of a lecture by Crytek senior art director Frank Kitson, discussing the process of defining and shaping the visual styling the much-awaited action title. It will "offer practical techniques of defining color space and getting to the core of building a compelling visual image, as well as how to define key visual requirements and build a unique visual language that is consistent across an entire game."

- Black Rock's Matthew Rubin presents a lecture called 'Rigged to Blow: Powerplay Pipeline for Split/Second', looking at authoring set pieces and destructible environments for the acclaimed Disney racing game. Each stage of the data-driven pipeline will be discussed, including early prototyping, fracture modeling, rigging and animation, collision attachment, timeline and game event authoring, layering of audio and visual effects, real-time previewing and in-game play testing.

- Realtime Worlds' Joshua Howard will present 'APB's Beta Postmortem (And How We Changed Realtime Worlds Along the Way)', honestly discussing -- with regard to the PC MMO beta from the co-creator of Grand Thef Auto -- "what... worked and didn't work, what we learned along the way, and how the drive to go live served as a forcing function for a variety of changes that needed to be made."

The second GDC Europe event takes place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, alongside the major GamesCom public/trade event. All non-student GDC Europe passholders will receive a four-day pass to attend GamesCom, which includes hardware and game exhibits from all of the industry's biggest names, from Sony and Nintendo through EA, Ubisoft and beyond.

For more information on specifics for GDC Europe -- for which registration is now open -- interested parties can visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

Organizers of the 2010 Game Developers Conference Canada, co-produced by UBM TechWeb Game Network and Reboot Communications, have announced that more than 775 game industry professionals gathered last week for two days of learning, networking and inspiration at the Vancouver Convention Center.

With attendance numbers comparable to last year's, GDC Canada 2010 provided opportunities for sharing knowledge, making new connections and celebrating the passion and dedication of fellow Canadian game-makers.

With more than 35 lectures, panels, and sessions covering best-practices that studios should implement to develop successful franchises for consoles, iPhone games and digitally distributed titles, the conference was successful in inspiring Canadian developers to share experiences for fostering ingenuity and quality games.

GDC Canada featured the Game Career Seminar, an expo area, business to business lounge and networking receptions where attendees met with representatives from Epic Games, Radical, Relic, Blue Castle, Hansoft and Sony Computer Entertainment, among others.

"It was our honor to host some of the most dedicated and talented developers at GDC Canada this year," said Izora de Lillard, event director of GDC Canada. ?The event was a great opportunity for the developer community to network with like minded professionals and learn best practices for developing big global titles and understanding emerging digital distribution models."

Bill Mooney, a Vice President at Zynga Studios and General Manager of FarmVille, kicked off GDC Canada with a keynote that provided a deeper dive into the evolving social gaming space and its future. The talk elaborated on development and business trends in social games, using prominent Zynga titles as case studies, including FarmVille and Mafia Wars, whose soaring popularity has helped the Facebook-based games garner tens of millions of active users. Full details on multiple GDC Canada talks are available via Gamasutra.com's event coverage.

Going forward, in May 2011, Reboot Communications will continue to serve the Canadian development community in Vancouver with a major video game conference as part of Vancouver Interactive Digital Week 2011.

UBM TechWeb is pleased to continue to participate in the 2011 event in Vancouver, in the form of a specialized 'Best of GDC' Track. This partnership with Reboot will bring top GDC lectures from worldwide to the Canadian audience for the first time, and more information on plans will be available later in 2010.

Continuing their Game Developers Conference 2010 free video lecture series, show organizers have debuted well-received lectures on social/free to play games by Ngmoco's Neil Young and Moshi Monsters' Michael Acton Smith.

The two new lectures, both highly rated by GDC attendees, are part of a free bi-weekly update published at the GDC Vault website, and feature video technology that allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

Firstly, organizers are presenting Neil Young's Business & Management Track keynote from GDC 2010, 'Things to Unlearn Moving From Traditional Development to the New Digital World'. Young, who is CEO & founder of iPhone/iPad centric publisher/developer ngmoco (TouchPets, We Rule, Rolando) "talks candidly about the challenges that traditional game developers face" in this new market.

Young, who was previously a long-time EA executive (Majestic) discusses "transitioning from long development cycles, packaged goods and the one time sale to the essential new models of games as a service, virtual goods, data driven design & minimum viable products" in this highly-rated GDC lecture.

The second lecture available for free is from the popular Social & Online Games Summit, and features Mind Candy's Michael Acton Smith discussing 'Lessons Learned Building Moshi Monsters to 15 Million Users'. The highly successful webbased game in question, Moshi Monsters, is a social online game for kids (7-11 year olds).

As Acton Smith explains in his lecture description, the title is "an unusual mix between Tamagotchi, Brain Training and Facebook." The game launched in April 2008, and "hit its tipping point in 2009, when 9 million more players joined." The session then goes into detail about what the team learned during this intense period of growth -- also discussion how traffic was acquired, and which acquisition channels have been most effective.

In addition to these lectures, GDC Vault's free videos section includes talks from Zynga, Ernest Adams, and NCsoft, plus highly rated lectures featuring 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Bungie's Brian Sharp and Brenda Brathwaite plus geoDefense's creator Doug Whatley.

The free recordings available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault. Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year.

In addition, development studios and schools who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

GDC Europe organizers have announced the first keynote for the August event in Cologne, with Heiko Hubertz, CEO of dominant German online game firm BigPoint discussing elements likely to include the company's NBC backing, the Battlestar Galactica MMO, and pointers for business success.

BigPoint, which was founded in 2002, now employs 340 employees in Hamburg, Germany. Its runaway financial success in the browser game marketplace led to NBC taking a 35% stake in the firm in 2008.

As a result, the company recently opened a U.S. office, announcing a major partnership with engine firm Unity and an MMO based on NBC Universal's Battlestar Galactica property along the way.

Company founder Hubertz is likely to discuss the firm's history, trends in the industry, and tips to succeed in the competitive online game business as a major keynote for GDC Europe, which is ramping up announcements for its second event.

The conference, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, will once again run alongside the major GamesCom event to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals.

By once again pairing GDC Europe with GamesCom, Europe's leading consumer and industry show, the conference can offer content to address the development community at a central location in the heart of Europe and command the critical mass of the European games sector. In 2009, its first year, GDC Europe saw more than 1,500 participants, including 130 international speakers, 40 exhibitors and 240 media representatives.

For more information on GDC Europe, including location and how to purchase passes -- for which registration is now open -- interested parties can visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

As GDC Canada nears, organizers have added key lectures for the May 6th-7th Vancouver event, including a BioWare duo on Dragon Age and former EA exec and current VC Glenn Entis on funding for game developers.

These confirmations come on the heels of already-announced emerging market lectures from Zynga and Diner Dash creator Nick Fortugno, and other recently debuted talks from Obsidian, Blizzard, Telltale, and Blue Castle Games execs and creators.

The new set of lectures round out a major program of events at the Vancouver, Canada-based show which include lectures on console and emerging markets. Some of the top new talks include:

- 'Bringing Dragon Age to Life - Digital Actors in an Epic RPG' features BioWare's lead animator Clove Roy and lead character artist Shane Hawco who will "provide an in-depth look in how to tell a huge complex story through an interactive narrative, complete with hundreds of emotionally engaging digital actors" for the Canadian-developed hit title Dragon Age: Origins.

- In 'Funding for Game Developers - Do's and Don'ts', Vanedge Capital co-founder Glenn Entis, formerly CTO of Electronic Arts and now running a game-focused VC fund, will give "an overview of what it takes to fund a young company or game development studio."

- Other notable GDC Canada lectures that have just debuted details include updates of high-rated GDC 2010 talks, including Bungie's Brian Sharp on 'Concrete Practices to be a Better Leader', and Critical Thought's David Whatley on 'Striking it Rich with iPhone Games: The geoDefense Example' -- plus Disney's Howard Donaldson debuting a talk on tax credits and game development.

GDC Canada tracks will also focus on hot game industry topics including digital distribution, social games, and iPhone games, with a full schedule of announced lectures now available.

The show, presented by Reboot Communications and the UBM Techweb Game Network, will also host newly confirmed evening parties and networking events, as well as an expo hall. In addition, the debut of the Canadian Videogame Awards will occur the night before the show starts.

More information on the 2010 GDC Canada event, including pricing specifics, a full list of lectures and registration deadlines are available on the official GDC Canada website.

2010 GDC Online organizers have announced that the call for submissions is open for the leading online game-focused conference, which takes place this October 5-8 in Austin, Texas.

GDC Online, formerly known as GDC Austin, is now accepting submissions through midnight EDT on Wednesday, May 19th to present lectures, roundtables, tutorials and panel sessions at the largest worldwide industry event to concentrate specifically on social games, free-to-play titles, MMOs, and more.

To address the unprecedented growth in the online and social game space over the last year, development and business-oriented submissions for GDC Online are being sought after, in content tracks including Business and Marketing, Design, Production, and Programming.

Notably new to this year?s event is the ?Live? track, which will discuss successful post-launch strategies to help increase profitability and retention. This topic covers metric-driven live development, design patterns for viral mechanics, and the balance between customer service and community relations.

GDC Online is keenly focused on development of connected games including social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles, large-scale MMOs, and more, with a leading advisory board guiding the evaluation and choice of lectures.

In addition to the main conference content, GDC Online will present specialized Summit programs, with in-depth business and technical advice on major up-and-coming facets of the game industry, including 3D stereoscopic games and iPad development.

Submissions are now also being accepted for these Summits, including the iPhone Games Summit, the Game Narrative Summit, the 3D Stereoscopic Games Summit and the iPad Gaming Summit, following the recent announcement of these events on the first two days of the conference.

"While the name of the conference has changed, GDC Online will continue its heritage of presenting the most knowledgeable speakers on the vital online game space, alongside other emerging markets", said Izora de Lillard, event director of GDC Online. "This October, Austin, Texas will be the epicenter for established developers and industry trailblazers to come together, learn, and continue to grow the connected gaming space."

GDC Online will take place October 5-8, 2010 at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. To learn more about the submissions guidelines and conference topics for GDC Online, for which registration will open in the near future, visit the official GDC Online website.

2010 Game Developers Conference Europe organizers are reminding potential speakers that submissions are still open for the August event, with a final deadline at the end of Friday, April 23rd.

The event, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, will once again run alongside the major GamesCom event to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals.

The event is asking for session proposals beginning now, through via the official GDC Europe website. Lectures and panel proposals are being solicited from the international game developer community for all five of this year's conference tracks, which include Business & Management, Game Design, Production, Technology, and Visual Arts.

The event marks a return for the successful conference, which in 2009, its first year, saw more than 1,500 participants, including 130 international speakers, 40 exhibitors and 240 media representatives.

With the expansion of European developers focused on online and browser-based games, GDC Europe will focus one day of the event, August 17th, to cover social networks and online games, as well as key emerging markets in the region.

By once again pairing GDC Europe with GamesCom, Europe's leading consumer and industry show, the conference can offer content to address the development community at a central location in the heart of Europe and command the critical mass of the European games sector.

For more information on GDC Europe, for which registration is now open, interested parties can visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

The organizers of next month's GDC Canada event in Vancouver are offering free Main Conference passes to Canadian game developers laid off in the last twelve months to help them return to the game industry.

Continuing a similar program conducted during GDC Canada 2009, and recognizing the toll the recession has taken on elements of the mainstream video game industry, a special page on the GDC Canada website details the offer's specifics.

To qualify, prospective attendees must have been laid off from a Canadian video game or creative/digital arts company within the past 12 months, not be currently full-time employed, and provide their Canadian Record of Employment document at GDC Canada onsite registration to validate your status.

They will also need to pre-register now for the May 6th-7th event at the Vancouver Convention Center by following the instructions on the GDC Canada page devoted to the subject. Only a limited amount of these passes are available.

The GDC Canada event itself has now confirmed much of its content, with a full schedule of announced lectures now available, and the Canadian Videogame Awards now confirmed for the night before the event.

Highlighted lectures for GDC Canada, which is presented by Reboot Communications and this website's parent the UBM Techweb Game Network, include a FarmVille-related keynote plus talks from the Dead Rising 2 and Fallout: New Vegas creators.

The event will also host a Game Career Seminar on the Friday of the show, plus evening networking events, as well as an expo hall including a number of career booths from local Canadian companies hiring staff.

More information on the 2010 GDC Canada event, including pricing specifics, lectures announced to date and registration deadlines are available on the official GDC Canada website.

GDC organizers have debuted two new free lecture videos recorded at Game Developers Conference 2010, including acclaimed talks from Train boardgame creator Brenda Brathwaite and iPhone geoDefense maker David Whatley.

The two new lectures, both highly rated by GDC attendees, are part of a free bi-weekly update published at the GDC Vault website, and feature video technology that allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

Firstly, Brenda Brathwaite's Design Track talk 'Train (or How I Dumped Electricity and Learned to Love Design)' sees the Slide creative director and veteran developer (Wizardry) discuss why she "shut off her computer and consoles and began to consume dozens of non-digital games from all over the world", after "playing a run of games that both looked and played the same."

In this lecture, Brathwaite talks about the design process of her series the Mechanic is the Message and specifically the award-winning board game Train, and "shares what she learned from our brothers and sisters in that other medium when she cut the cord, became incredibly inspired, and learned to love design."

The second lecture available for free is one of the highest rated by attendees of this year's iPhone Games Summit, 'From Zero to Time Magazine: App Success' from Critical Thought's David Whatley -- also the President and CEO of HeroEngine creator Simutronics.

Whatley explains in his lecture overview: "Making an iPhone App is easy. Making a successful business from it takes more than technical know-how. This talk takes you through the journey of the geoDefense line of iPhone games, how they were designed, developed and promoted to take them from obscurity to [an inclusion in] the Time Magazine 'Best of Everything 2009' Award."

Elsewhere in the in-depth iPhone Games Summit talk, you'll "gain insight into the pivotal fundamentals you have to get right in order to have a shot at the top of the rankings and financial success. The terrain is changing fast, and here is where you'll learn what things to focus on and what things to ignore."

In addition to these lectures, GDC Vault's free videos section includes multiple, previously-announced selection from Game Developers Conference 2010, including talks from Zynga, Ernest Adams, and NCsoft, plus a newer set of highly rated lectures featuring 2D Boy's Ron Carmel and Bungie's Brian Sharp.

The free recordings available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault. Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year.

In addition, development studios and schools who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

Organizers of this October's GDC Online game conference in Austin have confirmed Summits to run parallel with the major event, including one and two-day events dedicated to game development on Apple?s iPad, 3D stereoscopic games, iPhone games and video game narrative.

The summits, to be held on the first two days (October 5th and 6th) of the four-day event, will present key in-depth business and technical advice in these major up-and-coming facets of the game industry, ahead of the online game-centric Main Conference content.

The newly revealed topics to be presented at the Game Developers Conference Online (formerly known as GDC Austin) this October include the following:

iPad Gaming Summit

Debuting at GDC Online, the one-day iPad Gaming Summit, paired with the iPhone Games Summit, will provide an abundance of key facts and advice for all those working on the iPhone and iPad platforms.

Sharing key business learnings to top technical takeaways from developers already surging to major success on this already extremely competitive format platform, the iPad Summit provides a springboard into the world of iPhone/iPad game development.

3D Stereoscopic Gaming Summit

In another Summit debut, the one-day 3D Stereoscopic Gaming Summit will be the first GDC event to explore the world of 3D stereoscopic gaming in depth.

With 3D-capable movies such as Avatar and Alice In Wonderland topping the worldwide box office for multiple weeks, and graphics engine companies and console manufacturers alike touting the rise of 3D in gaming, the 3D Stereoscopic Gaming Summit will gather industry experts to explain and demonstrate the latest advances in the area.

Sessions will cover how to build 3D support into future games, potential technical barriers and solutions, and an analysis of key trends surrounding hardware adoption and penetration.

iPhone Games Summit

Returning to Austin after its successful debut in 2009, the third iPhone Games Summit will once again bring together top game developers from around the world to share ideas, best practices and discuss the future of this revolutionary platform.

This one-day summit, paired with the iPad Summit on the following day, will focus on driving business and marketing strategies and how to truly succeed through micro-transactions through the iPhone 4.0 operating system and beyond.

With advice from successful iPhone game companies, leading speakers and advisors in the space this event will be a must-attend for those in the space, or just looking to learn more about this space.

Game Narrative Summit

The 2010 Game Narrative Summit, evolving in name and intent from the long-running Game Writers Summit, is dedicated to exploring the state and future of storytelling in video games - all the way from emerging independent and social game experiences to the biggest AAA game titles.

The two-day event will span all facets of the game story-making process and will bring together experts from the writing, design and creative game communities to showcase what interactive entertainment can do with storytelling - and why it's so vital to the future of video games.

Sessions will address the art of writing scripts that seamlessly integrate into major console and online game titles with the new breed of story experiences, centered in anything from ARGs to Facebook games.

Summit Call For Submissions To Open Soon

"With this new batch of specialized summits, GDC Online proves once again that this event is at the forefront of the emerging technologies and platforms of the future," says Izora De Lillard, Event Manager of GDC Online. "Alongside the key online game event this October, we're proud to present these summits on the new technologies that make a difference in today's game business."

In addition to these Summits, the three days of GDC Online main conference sessions will offer a host of business, marketing, design and technical content vital to those making social network titles, free-to-play web games, kid-friendly online titles, larger-scale MMOs, or experimenting with other online gaming genres.

GDC Online 2010 takes place at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas from October 5th to the 8th. The call for submissions for both GDC Online summits and main conference sessions will open in the near future, and more information will be available at the GDC Online website in the near future.

GDC Canada organizers have revealed initial Game Career Seminar lectures for the May 6th-7th Vancouver event, also adding a Main Conference lecture by Disney and ex-Radical execs on the harsh 'new realities' of making major console games.

As well as already-announced emerging market lectures from Zynga and the Diner Dash creator and other recently debuted talks from Obsidian, Blizzard, Telltale, and Blue Castle Games execs and creators, the event is starting to debut details on this year's Game Career Seminar.

Held on Friday, May 7th, and a one-day program designed for students and individuals interested in learning how to build a career in the video game industry, the first two GDC Canada Game Career Seminar lectures have debuted via the event's Schedule Builder, as follows:

- In a GCS keynote entitled 'From Air Guitar to Video Games Live (and PBS!): A Conversation with Tommy Tallarico', veteran video game composer and Video Games Live co-creator Tommy Tallarico will talk to Victor Lucas about his career in the industry, from Earthworm Jim through the present day, and his work to popularize video game music -- giving helpful hints and tips for those looking for a longlasting career making video games.

- In a practical Game Career Seminar lecture, 'Preparation (Don't Give Us a Reason to Reject You!)', Obsidian Entertainment's Jim Rivers, the hiring manager for the Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol creators, explains of his lecture description: "Every convention, college or job fair people ask me one question. How do I get my foot in the door? I always answer 'Preparation!'... So I invite you to learn what to do to become prepared, and not give us a reason to reject you."

In addition, several new Main Conference lectures have been announced, including a key new panel featuring Disney's Howard Donaldson and ex-Radical head Kelly Zmak, called 'Console Games ? New Realities Require New Strategies to Win'. As the introduction notes: "With average development budgets skyrocketing to $20+ million and established blockbuster titles costing $40+ million, profit margins are down." Therefore: "The ante for a hit title has gone up. If your title is not in the top 20 today, you probably are not making any money. As a result, it's tougher to get new funding green lit if you don't already have an established franchise." The talk will discuss the key ingredients for success in this tough market.

New GDC Canada tracks will also focus on hot game industry topics including digital distribution, social games, and iPhone games, with a full schedule of announced lectures now available. GDC Canada, presented by Reboot Communications and the UBM Techweb Game Network, will also host evening networking events, as well as an expo hall.

More information on the 2010 GDC Canada event, including pricing specifics, lectures announced to date and registration deadlines are available on the official GDC Canada website.

GDC organizers have released two new free lecture videos recorded at Game Developers Conference 2010, including 2D Boy's Ron Carmel on funding independent games and Bungie's Brian Sharp on compassionate leadership in game development.

The two new lectures, published at the GDC Vault website, feature video technology that allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

First, the Independent Games Summit at GDC this year was kicked off by Ron Carmel's lecture, 'Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked', for which the full video presentation is now available.

Carmel, co-founder of World Of Goo creator 2D Boy, is one of the key movers behind the recently-announced Indie Fund, an "angel"-style funding source for indie game makers, and his lecture and Q&A discusses his thoughts on the future of funding for independents.

The lecture begins with IGS co-organizers Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink introducing the Summit and making remarks about the state of independent games - click on the 'Indies and Publishers' link in the navigation window if you'd like to move straight to Ron's talk.

In addition, Bungie's Brian Sharp gave one of the highest-rated lectures of Game Developers Conference 2010 in the form of 'Concrete Practices to be a Better Leader', now also available for free at GDC Vault.

Game development veteran Sharp uses a clever custom slide deck and heartfelt techniques to discuss how to "distill leadership to its essential qualities with practical techniques for developing them", with inspiration "drawn from a wide range of sources, from serene Buddhist meditators in monasteries to freewheeling pickup artists in Hollywood penthouses."

Both lectures were originally presented at March's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and show organizers will be posting new videos bi-weekly throughout the year on GDC Vault, which is designed to eventually showcase a decade or more of historical show recordings.

GDC Vault's free videos section includes a previously-announced selection from GDC 2010 featuring talks from Zynga, Ernest Adams, several 'art game' panelists, and NCsoft, as well as several lectures from previous GDC events.

The section also includes sponsored GDC 2010 sessions filmed in association with companies such as Intel, Palm, and Nvidia, including CCP (on EVE Online) and Firaxis (on Civilization V). 2010's sponsored videos are free to watch after entering a valid email address for sponsor information purposes, and 2009's sponsored videos are now free to watch without any restrictions.

The free recordings available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault. Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year.

In addition, companies who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

Remedy Entertainment's Matias Myllyrinne has joined the advisory board of the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe, where he'll add his thoughts to the region's major event for industry professionals.

GDC Europe 2010, held by UBM TechWeb (also parent of this website) will be held August 16-18 in Cologne, Germany, alongside the Gamescom event to present a complete offering for developers, consumers, publishers and other trade professionals. The event's call for session proposals is still open until April 23.

Myllyrinne is executive director of Finnish Max Payne creator and Alan Wake developer Remedy. He's been with the studio since 1999 and is one of the key figures credited with the studio's rise to prominence.

"We are glad to have added Matias Myllyrinne, another key figure in the international games industry, to our advisory board," said Frank Sliwka, VP European Business Development of the UBM TechWeb Game Network and Event Director of GDC Europe. "He epitomizes the successful symbiosis between creative game development and successful marketing."

The advisory board's other members include Bob Bates (formerly of Infocom & Legend Entertainment); Don Daglow (Emmy-winning founder of Stormfront Studios); Alexander Fernandez (CEO, Streamline Studios); Sean Kauppinen (CEO, International Digital Entertainment Agency); Harald Riegler (CEO, Sproing), Frank Sliwka (VP European Business Development; UBM TechWeb Game Network and Event Director, GDC Europe), Robert Wallace (Principal, Strategic Alternatives) and Avni Yerli (Managing Director, Crytek).

Says Myllyrinne: "It's an honor to be a part of a conference that highlights the incredible talents of Europe's best developers. We look forward to seeing what the industry's leaders will present at the conference when the event begins on August 16th, 2010."

Interested parties can find further information on GDC Europe at the event's official website.

GDC Canada organizers are remind prospective attendees that tomorrow, March 31, is the deadline for early registration for the May 6th-7th Vancouver event.

At the same time, Zynga vice president and FarmVille general manager Bill Mooney has been confirmed as the event's opening keynote, kicking off the event with a lecture on May 6.

Mooney's prior experience includes major game publishers like Activision and LucasArts, in addition to five years as a trial lawyer and stints as a television writer. At GDC Canada, he'll speak from his experience developing Zynga's social game hits Mafia Wars and FarmVille in a keynote entitled "Building Social Games: Games at the Speed of Light."

In addition to previously-announced talks from Obsidian, Telltale, Blizzard, Diner Dash creator Nick Fortugno and many more, a new set of featured speakers has been highlighted for the upcoming conference, slated to discuss key focal points for the event like new distribution models, developing new global titles, and managing established franchises - as follows:

- In a talk called Rendering With Conviction, Ubisoft 3D Technical Lead Stephen Hill will discuss "challenges, advancements and lessons learned in the development of Splinter Cell: Conviction from a rendering perspective", highlighting the tech behind the much-awaited Xbox 360 stealth action game.

- In 85 Million Farmers Can't All Be Wrong, Virtual Currencies GM Jason Bailey will discuss "what makes a game 'Social vs. Viral'. (Viral is how you grow, social is what you do to interact with others, most 'social' games are actually 'viral' games)," plus which game companies (besides Zynga) make millions -- and how they use metrics to succeed.

- Ubisoft Vancouver senior tools programmer Jeremy Walker will present Reflection For Tools Development, a talk that "explores common patterns that programmers encounter while developing tools for content authoring." He'll share techniques used at Ubisoft Vancouver to solve workflow tool development problems with the help of C++ reflection.

In its second year at the Vancouver Convention Centre, the new GDC Canada, presented by Reboot Communications and this website's parent the UBM Techweb Game Network, will also host evening networking events, as well as an expo hall.

More information on the 2010 GDC Canada event, including pricing specifics, lectures announced to date and registration deadlines -- including early registration, which ends tomorrow, March 31st -- are available on the official GDC Canada website, GDC-Canada.com.

With next Wednesday's early registration deadline approaching, GDC Canada organizers have revealed talks from Obsidian, Blizzard, Telltale, and Blue Castle Games execs and creators for the May 6th-7th Vancouver event.

As well as already-announced emerging market lectures from Zynga and the Diner Dash creator, the event will also host in-depth tracks about core game elements such as game design, business and production, programming, and visual arts.

Some of the newly debuted highlights for these core GDC tracks, spotlighting some of the industry's major creators, include:

- In 'Ask The Decision Makers - Find Out What Publishers Want And How To Get What You Want', speakers including Capcom's Adam Boyes, Electronic Arts' Sinjin Bain and Activision Blizzard's Bob Loya will sit in on a panel where attendees can 'hear directly from publisher and financial representatives regarding what they want to see to release funds to a developer', as well as further advice from business development professionals.

- Telltale CEO and co-founder Dan Connors is talking on 'Evolving Episodic for a Growing Digital Audience', with the developers of the Sam & Max, Monkey Island and Wallace & Gromit episodic game series discussing "how to bring story, humor, and casual game mechanics to a broad audience of connected gamers... [and] best practices for determining price points for these experiences."

- The in-depth talk 'Using Telemetry to Improve Zombie Killing' sees Tom Niwinski and Dee Jay Randall from Dead Rising 2 developers Blue Castle Games discuss "how the Dead Rising 2 team is using in game telemetry to tune the game, tracking item usage, and ensure all the nooks and crannies have been visited."

- Obsidian Entertainment (Alpha Protocol, Fallout: New Vegas) CEO Feargus Urquhart, who launched the Fallout, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights brands while at Black Isle/Interplay, will discuss contract negotiations, "sharing strategies and advice, gleaned from over almost 15 years of experience, that is aimed at smoothing out the negotiation process - for both developers and publishers."

This year, new GDC Canada tracks will also focus on hot game industry topics including digital distribution, social games, and iPhone games. GDC Canada, presented by Reboot Communications and this website's parent the UBM Techweb Game Network, will also host evening networking events, as well as an expo hall.

More information on the 2010 GDC Canada event, including pricing specifics, lectures announced to date and registration deadlines -- the first of which is next Wednesday, March 31st -- are available on the official GDC Canada website.

Game Developers Conference 2010 organizers have revealed plans for the GDC Vault, including free videos featuring Zynga, Ernest Adams and more, and regular free updates planned throughout the year.

The newly launched GDC Vault website is designed to hold free speaker slides from all GDC events, as well as specially synchronized video recordings of Game Developers Conference lectures and historical audio recordings.

The GDC Vault video technology allows users to simultaneously view a presenter's slides alongside video and audio of their presentation.

As an initial offering, the GDC Vault free videos section has made the 5 Expo Pass-included GDC 2010 sessions available for completely free viewing.

Free GDC 2010 Lecture Recordings

Free videos debuted thus far include the following notable hour-long GDC 2010 lectures, all available permanently online:

- 'Engineering Scalable Social Games' by Dr. Robert Zubek of Zynga, a programming talk in which the veteran developer "introduces best practices for building highly scalable infrastructure for social and web games" from the viewpoint of the Farmville creators.

- In 'Artgame Sessions', a diverse set of speakers present "an introduction to the artgame movement and a glimpse into how far you can go without abiding conventional rules and player expectations" - including talks on Far Cry 2, Braid, Mark Essen's games (Flywrench), and Terry Cavanagh and Stephen Lavelle's Judith.

- The featured Art Track talk is 'Guild Wars: The Artists' Vision, in which NCSoft's Daniel Dociu uses award-winning Guild Wars art to explore "the practical aspects of integrating concept art into game development, such as building an art team, working with game developers, and how art goes from concept to technical implementation."

- Industry veteran Ernest Adams presents a talk called 'Single-Player, Multiplayer, MMOG: Design Psychologies for Different Social Contexts', a Design Track highlight in which he presents "a theory of player-centric game design, and then show how it diverges in four variants: for MMOGs, for multiplayer games, for single-player games and for free-to-play games."

- Finally, in 'Wake up! Your Team is on Fire!', subtitled 'Why Your Real Problems Are Cultural and How to Change Them', former Pandemic exec Michael Saladino presents a Business & Management Track talk asking a key game market-related question: "What's the difference between a manager and a leader? One key separator is the ability to drive a cultural shift on a team, in a studio or across a global organization."

Sponsored Session, Upcoming Highlights, Audio

In addition, GDC Vault's free videos section includes sponsored GDC 2010 sessions filmed in association with companies such as Intel, Palm, and Nvidia. These include speakers from those companies, as well as from CCP (on EVE Online) and Firaxis (on Civilization V). Sponsored videos are free to watch after entering a valid email address for sponsor information purposes.

GDC 2010 organizers will also be posting new free-to-watch lectures bi-weekly for the rest of the year, including many of the highlights from this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco - plus notable lectures from other GDC events, spanning GDC Europe, GDC Online, and GDC China.

(Finally, for those looking for individual session access, GDC 2010 audio recordings will be made available for individual lecture purchase in the GDC Vault store over the next few weeks.)

GDC Vault Full Access

The free recordings being made available are a fraction of the content currently being flowed into the GDC Vault, with multiple years of historical audio and slide data scheduled to flow into the system this year, as well as near-complete video recordings from every worldwide GDC.

Full GDC Vault access, including synchronized video recordings for over 200 of GDC 2010's sessions and hundreds of historical video and audio recordings, is available to GDC 2010 All-Access Pass holders, as well as All-Access Pass holders for other GDC events during the year. (Please contact help@gdcvault.com if you need any aid accessing the full Vault suite.)

In addition, companies who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company. More information on this option is available by contacting Suzanne Cunningham or viewing an online demonstration. Individual Vault subscriptions not tied to All-Access passes are being considered for a 2011 launch.

The UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference, have announced that submissions are now open for the 2010 Game Developers Conference Europe.

The event, taking place Monday through Wednesday August 16-18, 2010 at the Cologne Congress Center East in Cologne, Germany, will once again run alongside the major GamesCom event to present the leading game industry event for developers, consumers, publishers and trade professionals.

The event is soliciting session proposals from now through Friday, April 23rd via the official GDC Europe website. Lectures and panel proposals are now being solicited from the international game developer community for all five of this year's conference tracks, which include Business & Management, Game Design, Production, Technology, and Visual Arts.

By once again pairing GDC Europe with GamesCom, Europe's leading consumer and industry show, the conference can offer content to address the development community at a central location in the heart of Europe and command the critical mass of the European games sector.

The event marks a return for the successful conference, which in 2009, its first year, saw more than 1,500 participants, including 130 international speakers, 40 exhibitors and 240 media representatives.

With the expansion of European developers focused on online and browser-based games, GDC Europe will focus one day of the event, August 17th, to cover social networks and online games, as well as key emerging markets in the region.

"Last year's show proved to be a raging success, with content and sessions presented by some of Europe's most important industry figures," said Frank Sliwka, Vice President of European Business Development and Event Director of GDC Europe. ?Once again we look to the expertise and talent of the international game developer community to provide the amazing content that makes GDC Europe the leading industry event in Europe.?

For more information on GDC Europe, including location and full details on the call for papers, interested parties can visit the official Game Developers Conference Europe website.

Organizers of this May's GDC Canada event in Vancouver, BC have confirmed the first social game and iPhone lectures for the event, with speakers from Zynga (Farmville), iPhone experts IUGO, and Diner Dash creator Nick Fortugno discussing major emerging markets.

Registration is now open for the event at the Vancouver Convention Centre, which talkes place on May 6th and 7th -- with early, reduced-price passes only available until the end of March.

This year, new tracks will focus on more hot games industry topics including digital distribution, social games, and iPhone games.

Some of the initially announced highlights for these vital tracks, many of which are bringing major creators to the Canadian market for the first time, are as follows:

- In 'Building Social Games: Games at the Speed of Light', Zynga VP and Farmville GM Bill Mooney discusses how "The social gaming market is exploding - viral propagation across the world, low barriers to entry which create agile competitors, and a rapidly changing and imperfectly understood marketplace." In this key lecture, Mooney "walks through key learnings from his time making [major] Zynga franchises Mafia Wars and FarmVille."

- A lectures called 'A Tale of 14 Apps: IUGO's App Store Journey' sees Sarah Thomson, business development director of the Toy Bot Diaries and Zombie Attack! iPhone game creator discuss "what is working on the App Store and what isn?t, what factors, internal and external, contribute to an app?s success or failure."

- Presenting a lecture called 'The Art of Conversion: How to Manage Players through Your Game Service', Playmatics co-founder Nick Fortugno (lead designer of casual smash Diner Dash) and Media Shifters' Andrew Mayer will discuss new digital models of monetizing game players, including "converting platform users into game players, converting players into viral advocates, and, most importantly, converting your user base into paying customers."

The event will also once again host tracks about game design, business and production, programming, and visual arts. GDC Canada, presented by Reboot Communications and this website's parent the UBM Techweb Game Network, will also host evening networking events, as well as an expo hall.

More information on the 2010 GDC Canada event, including pricing specifics, lectures announced to date and registration deadlines, are available on the official GDC Canada website.

With this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco complete, organizers have been collecting the event's substantial volume of visual documentation.

This volume chronicles the Game Developers Conference's expansive expo floor as well as the star-studded Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, featuring big winner Naughty Dog (Uncharted 2), host Warren Spector, special award recipients Gabe Newell, John Carmack, and Penny Arcade, and more.

Earlier roundups from GDC collected images from the show's many notable speaker sessions, and the Independent Games Festival Summit, Pavilion, and Awards.

Game Developers Choice Awards 2010

These photographs highlight moments and personalities from this year's Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony, drawn from the considerable official GDC photo archive.

Game Developers Conference 2010 Show Floor

These pictures capture moments from the show floor as well as the surrounding conference areas.

[More pictures of the Game Developers Conference as a whole, taken by Vincent Diamante, are available on the Official GDC Flickr stream. Flippant post-GDC captions by Chris Remo.]

With this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco complete, organizers have been collecting the event's substantial volume of visual documentation.

This volume chronicles many of the speakers who highlighted the main conference tracks during GDC, part of the UBM Techweb Game Network (also this website's parent company), from inspiring creative manifestos to in-depth discipline-specific talks.

These include notables such as Blizzard's Rob Pardo and keynote speaker Sid Meier of Civilization fame, as well as last-minute secret speaker addition Will Wright (The Sims), and many more from the over 450 GDC speakers this year. An earlier roundup collected images from the Independent Games Festival Summit, Pavilion, and Awards.

Game Developers Conference 2010 Sessions

These pictures capture moments from a wide variety of talks, drawn from the considerable official GDC photo archive.

[More pictures of the Game Developers Conference as a whole, taken by Vincent Diamante, are available on the Official GDC Flickr stream.]

Organizers of the 2010 Game Developers Conference, the world's largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment, has announced an all-time record of 18,250 game industry professionals attending San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center for the March 9th-13th event.

Surpassing last year's total of 17,000 attendees, the event brought together experienced game developers, publishers, deal makers, industry aspirants and working press for more than 400 lectures, panels, summits, tutorials and roundtable discussions.

Offering a full five days of content, the event also hosted an extensive Exposition floor, featuring the biggest firms in the games space alongside the Career Pavilion and associated Game Career Seminar.

Also presented were the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival, the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, Game Connection America, and more opportunities for networking, discussing business, sharing knowledge, and meeting with equally-devoted fellow developers.

Following the success of the show, organizers of the Game Developers Conference have announced that GDC 2011 will return to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from Monday, February 28 to Friday, March 4, 2011, with a call for lecture submissions to open this Summer.

More information on that upcoming show and the other GDC events on the calendar - including GDC Canada, GDC Online, GDC Europe and GDC Austin - will be available at the GDC news page in the near future.

Some of the highlights of this year's GDC in San Francisco include a keynote from the renowned creator of the genre-defining Civilization series, Sid Meier, entitled "The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)." Using examples from his illustrious career, the legendary developer discussed how player motivation is tied to gamer psychology and expectations, and described how developers can strike a delicate balance between fun and difficult gameplay.

GDC 2010 also played host to the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival and the 10th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Pocketwatch Games' stylish co-op caper, Monaco, proved to be the big winner at the 2010 IGF, bringing in the coveted $20,000 Seumas McNally Grand Prize for Best Independent Game, as well as the award for Excellence in Design.

At the Game Developers Choice Awards, which immediately followed the IGF, Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2 attained the record for most awards won at the prestigious event, taking home the prizes for Game of the Year, Best Writing, Best Visual Art, Best Technology and Best Audio.

During the awards ceremony, an announcement via video was delivered by White House CTO Aneesh Chopra, who directly addressed GDC attendees. The video message announced the Apps for Healthy Kids contest, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, encouraging developers to create tools and games meant to engender healthier eating and exercise habits among kids, and educate parents on their children's diets. The challenge offers $40,000 in cash prizes.

The show also offered intensive tutorials and a full lineup of summits focusing on emerging trends in the game industry. They included the AI Summit, the GDC Mobile/Handheld Summit, GamesBeat@GDC, the IGDA Education Summit, the Independent Games Summit, the Game Localization Summit, the Serious Games Summit, and a pair of extremely successful inaugural summits, the iPhone Games Summit and the Social & Online Games Summit, all of which took place on the Tuesday and Wednesday of the week, March 9-10.

"Even through hailstorms and turbulent business times, the passion, experience and sheer dedication of the gaming community really showed through this week, to make for an incredible conference," said event director Meggan Scavio. "I'm proud to see the games industry reinvigorated by the new platforms, inspiring ideas and fresh business models showcased at GDC 2010, and I hope attendees take the lessons that they learned from the event to create tomorrow?s amazing titles."

For viewing of GDC-related material after the event, the UBM Techweb Game Network's GDC Vault will offer free access to material starting in approximately two weeks time, including speaker slides, as well as synchronized video and presentations for select sponsor lectures.

In addition, some of the top lectures from GDC 2010 will be gradually posted online for free, including synchronized video, audio and slides. Finally, GDC 2010 All Access Conference pass holders will shortly be able to access hundreds of videos, audio recordings and slides from this GDC and past Game Developer Conferences.

With Game Developers Conference 2010 now at an end, the event's sister editorial website Gamasutra.com has rounded up the top announcements - from Sony Move through OnLive's release specifics - and write-ups of the biggest talks into one handy news story.

The official GDC 2010 page on Gamasutra has more than 100 news stories on one of the biggest events of the gaming year, and Gamasutra is now highlighting the biggest product-related announcements of the show.

This will be followed by the site's pick of the top ten most intriguing write-ups from the more than 450 sessions on display at this year's GDC in San Francisco. Here's some of the top announcements and write-ups from last week's show, according to Gamasutra:

The Announcements

GDC: Sony's Motion Controller Is 'PlayStation Move'
"At GDC on Wednesday, Sony revealed more details about its PS3 motion controller, which isn't called Arc or Gem, but "PlayStation Move," a product Sony says will bring on 'the next generation of motion gaming.'"

GDC: OnLive Gets Launch Date, Reveals Initial Publishers
"Cloud-based game streaming service OnLive has announced an official U.S. launch date of June 17, 2010, including games from Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, 2K Games, THQ and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment."

GDC: Microsoft Announces XNA Game Studio 4.0
"Microsoft has announced version 4.0 of its XNA Game Studio development package, which includes support for its new Windows Phone 7 Series, as well as enhancing features for Xbox 360 and PC game development."

GDC: InstantAction Reveals Platform For Instantly Playing Large-Download Games
"InstantAction unveiled its platform allowing users to play full PC games in their browser as they download titles, made possible with a delivery mechanism that CEO Louis Castle tells Gamasutra is superior to OnLive."

Valve Confirms Mac Versions Of Steam, Valve Games
"Valve will release its Steam digital distribution service for Mac along with Mac-native versions of its own games, the company confirmed today, calling the Mac a 'tier-1 platform.'"

Other notable GDC-timed announcements include: Bigpoint Announces Battlestar MMO, Unity Partnership, San Francisco Office; Unity Announces 3.0 Platform, Support For PS3, iPad, And Android; Palm to Debut webOS Plug-in Development Kit at GDC 2010; MySpace Launches New Games Experience, Tools.

The Top Lectures

GDC: Will Wright Peels Back Layers Of Entertainment, Games
"Will Wright (The Sims, SimCity) explained how "perspectives are more valuable than solutions" in a fascinating talk during the closing hours of the Game Developers Conference 2010 on Saturday."

GDC: Jenova Chen's HeavenVille Wins Game Design Challenge
"HeavenVille, Jenova Chen (Flower), took this year's top prize at the GDC Game Design Challenge, which also featured games by designers Kim Swift, Heather Kelley, and Erin Robinson."

GDC: Sid Meier's Lessons On Gamer Psychology
"Gameplay is a psychological experience," according to legendary Civilization creator Sid Meier, who gave tips on taking advantage of player psychology during his GDC keynote Friday.

GDC: Hecker's Nightmare Scenario - A Future Of Rewarding Players For Dull Tasks
"It's possible that an over-reliance on metrics-driven design and extrinsic rewards for in-game actions could lead to a future of "designing shitty games that you have to pay people to play," warns independent developer Chris Hecker."

GDC: Blizzard's Core Game Design Concepts
"Blizzard EVP of game design Rob Pardo shares Blizzard's core design concepts, offering examples of places where the World of Warcraft developer succeeded and failed in creating compelling multiplayer experiences."

GDC: Nintendo's Sakamoto's Four Creative Tenets
"Nintendo?s Yoshio Sakamoto explains the methodology that allows him to create two franchises as polar-opposite as Metroid and Wario Ware -- and drops hints on Other M."

GDC: Peter Molyneux On Simplifying And Enhancing Fable III
"Lionhead's Peter Molyneux talked about the "angst" Lionhead went through on whether to de-RPG Fable III -- and why and how the team went through that process, from a design perspective."

GDC: ThatGameCompany's Santiago, Hunicke Talk Exploratory Development
"An exploratory development process can be a solution to the anxieties of game development, but only if it's managed with confidence and honesty, say ThatGameCompany's Kellee Santiago and Robin Hunicke."

GDC: Indie Keynote - Championing Immediacy And Depth
"Tiger Style co-founder Randy Smith (Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor) delivered the keynote of the Indie Games Summit, encouraging indie developers to embrace a philosophy of immediacy and depth to hasten their popular ascendancy."

GDC: 2D Boy's Carmel On A New Alternative For Indies
"At the 2010 Independent Gaming Summit at GDC, 2D Boy's Ron Carmel talked about why traditional publishing just doesn't work for indies -- and why the newly-unveiled Indie Fund hopes to offer alternatives."

Other notable GDC 2010 lecture write-ups include: Facebook Keynote Discusses True Multi-Platform Gaming; Taking Inspiration from EVE Online's Espionage Metagame; Creating Deus Ex Human Revolution's Cybernetic Renaissance; Refining The Real-Time Combat In Mass Effect 2; EA's Cousins Talks Social Gaming's Wal-Mart Parallel.

Game Developers Choice and IGF Awards organizers have confirmed that next week's awards shows will be streamed live on GameSpot.com, with TV network G4 also present to capture highlights for a GDC special.

The major CBS-owned GameSpot.com website has set up a special Game Developers Conference 2010 landing page for its coverage, and will be exclusively live-streaming the awards, which take place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 6:30 pm PT.

The ceremonies kick off with the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival Awards, this year presented by indie developers Kyle Gabler (World Of Goo) and Erin Robinson (Puzzle Bots), and honoring an outstanding set of finalists from the world of independent games.

With over $40,000 in awards given out, including the prestigious Seumas McNally Grand Prize, the Audience Award, and the 'art game'-centric Nuovo Award, as well as exclusive videos on indie games filmed by comedy troupe Mega64, the event should be a highlight of the awards calendar.

Following the conclusion of the IGF Awards, the live stream will showcase the Game Developers Choice Awards, now in its tenth year, and the leading mainstream game awards voted on by video game creators.

With improved methodology, Special Award winners for this year's Choice Awards are selected by the 20 person-strong Game Developers Choice Awards Advisory Committee, and winners from this year's finalists are now being selected by the Game Developers Choice Awards-specific International Choice Awards Network (ICAN) -- new invitation-only group comprised of 500 leading game creators from all parts of the video game industry.

As well as the awards themselves, which span from Best Downloadable Game through craft-specific awards for Art, Audio, and Design to the much-coveted Game Of The Year award, notable figures present to receive special awards will include Valve's Gabe Newell, for the Pioneer Award, Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins, Mike Krahulik and Robert Khoo, for the Ambassador Award, and Id's John Carmack, for the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The awards will be presented by Junction Point Studios and Disney's Warren Spector (Epic Mickey), with additional exclusive Mega64 videos, and will also be recorded by U.S. TV network G4, with highlights being included in the Game Developers Conference-specific episodes of their X-Play TV show.

Both ceremonies, which take place in North Hall, Hall D, Moscone Convention Center, are open to all Game Developers Conference 2010 pass-holders to attend in person, and more detail on the show is available at the official GDC 2010 website.

Game Developers Conference 2010 organizers have confirmed the final set of independent game-specific content, including Ron Carmel on the just-debuted Indie Fund, the Gamma IV party/showcase, and the EGW-replacing Nuovo Sessions game showcase.

The newly confirmed details round off a multitude of independent game-specific content at the March 9th-13th event, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, including the 12th Annual Independent Games Festival -- featuring over 30 top indie games playable on the GDC Expo floor from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th, as well as the major IGF Awards on Thursday 11th at 6.30pm.

In addition, the 4th Independent Games Summit on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th has added and clarified a number of sessions, with 2D Boy's Ron Carmel kicking off the event with 'Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked', now confirmed to discuss the new Indie Fund organization.

Another major new panel, 'Tripping The Art Fantastic', features Spelunky creator Derek Yu, Braid artist David Hellman and Super Meat Boy co-creator Edmund McMillen discussing "how each one of these figures influences the state of game art, from hand painted epics to short form experimental Flash games."

Other previously unhighlighted Independent Games Summit lectures and panels include a trio on 'Savvy Indie Solutions to Difficult Development Problems', with Monaco's Andy Schatz, Canabalt's Adam Saltsman and Aquaria's Alec Holowka weighing in on "three unique approaches to game design" focusing on smaller as better -- alongside a number of other major lectures.

Also newly announced on Wednesday is a special GDC Mobile/Handheld session named 'IGF Mobile Showcase', with some of the category winners from the Independent Games Festival Mobile competition discussing the work behind their award-winning iPhone and Nintendo DSi titles - including Lilt Line, Glow Artisan and Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor.

There's also a notable off-site party in the indie space, and open to all GDC attendees. In the evening of March 10th, a host of notable independent studios are banding together to present the Gamma IV One Button Event, a party featuring six 'one button games' picked from over 150 entries to Kokoromi's game challenge, plus music from Baiyon, Starpause, and more. The chosen Gamma IV games will then appear in playable form at a special Pavilion on the GDC Expo Floor from March 11th-13th.

Finally, with the Experimental Gameplay Workshop at the GDC Main Conference being cancelled at short notice, IGF co-organizers Matthew Wegner and Steve Swink have stepped in to the same time slot to present 'The Nuovo Sessions'. This is "a look at some of the new, alternative games and game concepts nominated for the Independent Games Festival's Nuovo Awards, along with prototypes and productions from like-minded individuals."

Confirmed speakers for the session include Daniel Benmergui (Today I Die), Alex Bruce (Hazard: The Journey Of Life), Ian Bogost (A Slow Year), Farbs (Captain Forever, pictured), Cactus (Tuning), Steve Swink (Shadow Physics), Ian Dallas (The Unfinished Swan), Tyler Glaiel & Jon Schubbe (Closure), Terry Cavanagh (VVVVVV), and Justin Smith (Enviro-Bear 2000), who will be showing existing titles, new prototypes, and discussing multiple ways to create video games that think different.

More information about GDC 2010 is available on the official Game Developers Conference weblog, and the GDC Schedule Builder has a complete list of lectures for the event. Regular discounted online registration for GDC 2010 is only available until Thursday, March 4 at 1pm PT.

As Game Developers Conference 2010's online pre-registration nears its end, GDC organizers are highlighting talks on Borderlands, Mass Effect 2, and Unreal Engine 3's iPhone port, among others.

The conference, taking place from March 9th-13th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, is closing its discounted pre-show registration at 1pm PT on Thursday, March 4th.

With nine notable Summits - spanning iPhone, social/online gaming, indie, GamesBeat@GDC and beyond -- and multiple tutorials on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th, followed by three days of Main Conference content from Thursday 11th through Saturday 13th, there are now more than 450 sessions in total.

The final set of highlighted sessions, including recently announced lectures and relatively unpublicized talks, include the following notables:

- In 'Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2', BioWare's lead gameplay designer Christina Norman "will discuss how a small vision shift lead to radical design changes in Mass Effect 2?s combat gameplay and RPG systems. Lessons learned will be presented, including the challenge of communicating gameplay changes to the existing player community."

- The audio track now includes a Rock Band Network postmortem, with Harmonix's Matthew Nordhaus and Caleb Epps discussing the creation of the still-in-Beta system which allows any musician to record and then sell their music in the Rock Band franchise, thanks to a complex user-created content pipeline.

- In the amusingly named 'Borderlands and the 11th Hour Art Style Change. Or: Kids, Don?t Try this at Home!', Gearbox's Randy Pitchford and Brian Martel will discuss, regarding the 'first successful shooter-looter', why "the company made the decision to change the art style of the game... not in the concept phase, not in preproduction, not at the midpoint, but three quarters of the way through development" -- and how the change was marshaled through.

- An iPhone Games Summit lecture called 'Bringing UE3 to Apple's iPhone Platform' sees Epic Games' Josh Adams discussing "the methods Epic used to bring a large-scale game engine over to a mobile device in only a few months time. Important points include what we had to change in Unreal Engine 3 to target the iPhone, what we were able to leverage directly, and what features we cut to overcome limitations of the hardware."

- Several signature GDC microlecture and rant sessions round off this year's show, including Uncharted 2's Richard Lemarchand leading the second GDC Microtalks session, with CMU's Jesse Schell and Denki's Gary Penn; The Indie Game Maker Rant at the Indie Games Summit, including Captain Forever's Jarrad Woods and Thatgamecompany's Robin Hunicke; and the Game Design Challenge, this year including Portal's Kim Swift and Flower's Jenova Chen and focusing on 'real-life permadeath'.

Other recently confirmed GDC 2010 talks include Civilization V and Chris Hecker lectures, plus Blizzard design, Shadow Complex and PS3 Motion Controller talks. Other notable talks have been announced on Deus Ex 3's "cyberpunk renaissance" look, Silent Hill producer Akira Yamaoka's ethos, and Batman: Arkham Asylum's art direction. Organizers also detailed a talk by Metroid creator Yoshio Sakamoto, confirmations of Peter Molyneux and Pixar lectures, and a keynote from game design legend Sid Meier (Civilization).

More information about GDC 2010 is available on the official Game Developers Conference weblog, and the GDC Schedule Builder has a complete list of lectures for the event. Regular discounted online registration for GDC 2010 is only available until Thursday, March 4 at 1pm PT.

As the Game Developers Conference 2010 pre-show registration deadline approaches, organizers have confirmed talks from Spore's Chris Hecker and The Beatles: Rock Band's UI director, as well as a premiere of Civilization V's engine tech.

The near-final additions are helping to round out the March 9-13 event at San Francisco's Moscone Center, which includes two days of summits -- spanning iPhone, indie, social games and more -- and three days of main conference content.

In particular, the freshly highlighted lectures for the show (organized by this website's parent company) include the following notable talks:

- Presenting a lecture called "Achievements Considered Harmful?", former EA fellow (Spore) and current Spy Party developer Chris Hecker tackles an intriguing angle on a major trend: "Achievements, awards, and rewards are ubiquitous in games these days... Unfortunately, more than 50 years of psychology research seems to indicate achievements may be doing subtle but irreparable harm to players and their feelings about playing games."

- In the sponsored lecture "Firaxis' Civilization V: A Case Study in Scalable Game Performance", Firaxis, 2K Games, and Intel "present the world premiere game engine and technology sneak peek of Civilization V, launching this fall." Along the way, according to the talk, "you'll learn how Firaxis developers have used the newly released GPA 3.0 PC platform tools and Threading Building Blocks to offer Civ V playability on myriad systems."

- "The Art of Interface Design at Harmonix Music Systems" is a talk by Harmonix's Kevin McGinnis discussing "an evolution over the years of how the company develops their user interfaces." The description explains: "Using games in their catalogue like Rock Band and The Beatles: Rock Band, a detailed visual thread of preproduction style boards, UI animation mockups, and tool development will be shown in describing their process."

- Finally, in "Guild Wars: The Artists' Vision", NCsoft West's chief art director Daniel Dociu will "explore the role of concept art in the game development process." Referencing art from the award-winning online game franchise, the presentation "will focus on the practical aspects of integrating concept art into game development, such as building an art team, working with game developers, and how art goes from concept to technical implementation."

Other recently confirmed GDC 2010 talks include Blizzard design, Shadow Complex and PS3 Motion Controller lectures, plus notable talks on Deus Ex 3's "cyberpunk renaissance" look, Silent Hill producer Akira Yamaoka's ethos, and Batman: Arkham Asylum's art direction.

Organizers also detailed a talk by Metroid creator Yoshio Sakamoto, confirmations of Peter Molyneux and Pixar lectures, and a keynote from game design legend Sid Meier (Civilization).

More information about GDC 2010 is available on the official Game Developers Conference weblog, and the GDC Schedule Builder has a complete list of more than 400 lectures for the event. Regular discounted online registration for GDC 2010 is only available until Thursday, March 4 at 1pm PT.