In line with the recommendation to independent game developers to chase Asian markets with strategies like micro-transactions in portable community-oriented games, there’s a new untapped audience on the rise. Mexico is known as a market caught up with piracy, but a recent report from Research and Markets Ltd. suggests that the game industry there could be worth $1 billion by 2010.
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The Game Developers Conference holds its next event in San Francisco next March, but will miss one of its best.  The event organizers have announced that after 5 years working on the Game Developer Conference and Game Developer Events,  Jamil Moledina is leaving in pursuit of other interests.

The announcement states Meggan Scavio will pick-up the reins as Event Director.  She looks to continue and enhance the GDC’s relationship with the developer community which sounds promising as she is an 8-year veteran.
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The folks organizing 2008’s Austin Game Developers Conference (Austin GDC) have put out a friendly reminder to possible attendees that early registration for the event ends today, July 31st.

This time around they’ll be be hosting keynote speeches from Bruce Sterling and co-creator of Club-Penguin Lane Merrifield.

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One of the biggest checks in reality I had did not come to me in college, it did not come to me when I had to start creating wonderful artwork with strict deadlines and it did not come to me when I had my first few interviews, no, it came to me when I did my first art test. In this Art Tests in Depth series on Notes on Game Dev, I’ll start with an introduction to the basics and then get more in depth with my test experiences.

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The Sessions Online School of Game Art, established in 2007, is an innovative school developed by Sessions Online Schools of Art and Design. Based in New York City and founded in 1997, Sessions is the leading online school in the creative visual arts, serving courses and programs to over 20,000 students from all over the world.

The mission of Sessions School of Game Art is to give students the skills and the portfolio to break into the game industry as a game artist.

Notes on Game Dev ( NoGD ) and Notes on Design ( NoD ) are both publications of Sessions Online Schools of Art and Design. They serve to inform the curriculum, faculty, and students of Sessions as well as a global base of approximately 40,000 subscribers.

Notes on Game Dev is proud to announce the winners of the 2008 2D/3D Environment and Character Art Competition. There were a number of great submissions, but choices had to be made! Category winners were selected in 2D Character, 3D Character, 2D Environment, and 3D Environment with an overall Grand Prize Winner.

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In an attempt to remedy the fact that only 9% of game artists are women and they make on average over $10,000 less per year than their male counterparts (Source: Game Career Guide, 2007), Notes on Game Dev launched the Aspiring Women Game Artists Contest with a fully paid scholarship to the Sessions Online School of Game Art as the grand prize.

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We all know that serious games mean serious business. Companies like IBM, Hilton, Humana and Cisco are discovering what the military learned long ago—that contrary to what our mothers told us, games can boost productivity.

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At the recent Krazytalk Industry Giants presentation I had an amazing opportunity to hear one of my idols speak–Will Wright. Will, the creator of The Sims and numerous other hugely successful titles, is a legend and arguably the most successful and influential designers of our day. In front of an audience of students, industry, fans and admirers; Will discussed gaming in the context of human development and as an up in coming art form.

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Today at the Masters of Digital Media program at Great Northern Way Campus, Will Wright (does he even need an introduction? okay, the guy behind SimCity, The Sims, and Spore) visited the students for lunch and a preliminary discussion before his evening talk as part of the Krazy! Exhibition through the Vancouver Art Gallery. In his ever-friendly manner, he invited the group to ask questions from the get go, and had helpful advice and insights for people interested in game design.

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