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Epic Games and Wellcome Trust Reveal $20,000 Big Data VR Challenge Winner

Paul Philleo
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Epic Games and Wellcome Trust Reveal $20,000 Big Data VR Challenge Winner

During Develop: Brighton 2015, one of the major announcements to highlight the conference was that of the winner of a $20,000 virtual-reality-related prize from Epic Games and Wellcome Trust. The Big Data VR Challenge brought together five international teams to work on big data projects over four months and culminated in the announcement of the winner at Develop: Brighton.

The projects included various combinations of science, big data and 3D design, using tools and assets traditionally associated with game industry developers. Other major names in visualization with a deep game industry footprint, such as NVIDIA, have taken the expertise they built in the game industry and expanded into new spaces. So, it is no surprise to see Epic Games making high-profile moves to show off the versatility of its set of integrated tools outside of interactive entertainment.

Big Data VR Challenge winner and project

The winner of the Big Data VR Challenge was LumaPie, an international composite of creative studio Masters of Pie and 3D software development consultancy Lumacode, formed to visualize study results of environmental and genetic factors that have affected and altered the lives of more than 14,000 residents of Bristol (ALSPAC Children of the ’90s data).

During the development time, the team created a functional and scalable visualization of the study. For the purposes of the contest, the team leveraged the strengths of Unreal Engine 4 and VR to create an immersive environment from the data itself. Whether as a sole user or a team of users, anyone interacting with this data has full control of the VR space, enabling easier and immersive interaction.

Other Big Data VR Challenge participants

From the official press release, here’s a look at the other participants and projects:

“HammerheadVR on genome browsers — Hammerhead’s project compared fruit fly and human DNA, overlaying genomes in VR to show how the same genes across the two species can be mapped to discover which genetic markers potentially cause cancer.

Skip the Intro on the Casebooks Project — Skip the Intro created a calming and colorful solution for the Casebooks Project, guiding the user through interactive tunnels of light that illuminate connections and patterns.

Pi and Power on genome browsers — Pi and Power presented an intuitive way to interrogate genomics data through the use of head tracking, using motion to produce colorful patterns that correspond to variations of genetic parameters.

Opaque Multimedia on ALSPAC Children of the ’90s — Opaque Multimedia built a shared, collaborative environment utilizing virtual librarians (or “data buddies”) to analyze data from the Children of the ’90s genetics study.”

Casual Connect USA 2015 Updates

Paul Philleo
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Casual Connect USA 2015 Updates

Casual ConnectJust a few weeks away from getting underway, the news from the Casual Connect USA camp is coming fast and furious.

From the content side, the full agenda, talks included, at Casual Connect has been announced. Headlining the agenda is a fireside chat-style keynote on content and digital media given by Michael Eisner and John Riccitiello, the former being interviewed by the latter. If you grew up familiar with the House of Mouse, you may recognize Eisner as the one-time face of Disney corporate. In fact, Eisner was the company’s CEO from 1984 to 2005.

The Tornante Company, which includes another America staple — trading card company Topps — in its portfolio, is Michael Eisner’s current enterprise. On the other side of the fireside chat will be John Riccitiello, another longtime C-suite resident at a AAA media brand. Riccitiello was the COO and president of Electronic Arts from 1997 to 2004, then CEO at the Redwood City, California-based company from 2004 to 2013. Currently he leads Unity Technologies as its CEO.

Casual Connect Content

Summing up the three day-long train of content, covering the companies represented in these diverse tracks, straight from the Casual Connect mailing:

“We believe good strategy needs good intel. Discover more of the ever-changing games industry landscape, and see through the eyes of visionaries. Industry Insights track: Wedbush Securities, Amazon, Twitch, Fnatic, ESL, Super Evil Megacorp, Theorist, Newzoo, Topps, Unity, WME, RED Games, Skybound, Pocket Gems, Universal Pictures, Facebook, Kongregate, SGN, FlowPlay, Disruptor Beam and GamesIndustry.biz.

We believe games are about exploring new worlds and learning more about our own world in the process. See how you can carve a foothold in the up and coming Kids and Family segment in the games market. Featuring market leaders from: Google Play, PlayScience, StoryToys, Fox & Sheep, PlayKids, TabTale, Tinybop, Thup, Fingerprint, Star Stable and TechwithKids.com/USA Today.

We believe games can bring next-gen devices into people’s lives and change the way we live. Collaborate with history makers to shape the future of gaming. Next-Gen track includes Augmented and Virtual Reality, New Tech and Haptics leaders: Dolby, Oculus, Samsung, Rovio, Google, Unity, Epic, Highland Capital, Redpoint Venture, Intel Capital, Rothenberg Ventures, Evolution Media Capital and Digi-Capital.

We believe the best ideas deserve best practices. Shore up your business know-how and learn about the legal and economic pitfalls that keep even ingenious games from reaching their potential. Business track includes Platforms Track, Funding/VC Track, Emerging and Global Markets Track. Speakers from: Pebble, TinyCo, Pollen VC, Bullpen Capital, NCSOFT WEST, Spark Capital, Lionsgate, Houlihan Lokey, London Venture Partners, NetEase Capital, IPC Ventures, Yodo1, iDreamsky, MyGamez, PikPok, Playlab, Gamiana, Playphone/GungHo, Gumi and Smilegate.

We believe it takes a pioneering spirit to traverse a tricky market. Find out what’s possible when industry leaders are your co-pilots. Experts from: FunPlus, Chillingo, App Annie, Spil Games, Lvl6, Pixelberry, Limbic, Big Huge Games 2.0, Spellgun/TalkWeb, ZQGames, Appsaholic, Perfect World, Reality Squared, DDM, Glu Mobile, DeNA, InMobi, Growmobile, Appodeal, Google, Supersonic, AdColony, AppsFlyer, Wooga, Storm8, Fyber, TUNE, Tapjoy, Wooga, StartApp, Playtika and VentureBeat.

We believe creativity begets creativity. Meet people whose ideas have changed the market, and get ready to make some changes of your own. Featuring: N3TWORK, Kabam, Machine Zone, TinyCo, Scopely, Rovio, Spry Fox, Carbon Games, Plarium, Fifth Column and Unravel.

We believe that everyone in the industry and the audience wins with good social casino experience. Find out how masters of the genrehave made chart-topping games that players can’t set down. Hear from: Facebook, FunBinge Social Labs, Fox Cub, GSN and Westgate Resort Las Vegas.

We believe good design is the intersection of inspiration and knowledge. Make your own breakthroughs as you meet the other developers that are driving the industry. An amazing lineup from: Design Roundtables with Juan Gril, Dave Rohrl and Steve Meretzky and lectures from Dots, Double Fine, Massive Damage, East Side Games, Mavenhut, Spinpunch, Goodgame, Funtactix, Americana, and Zeptolab.

Calculated Connections at Casual Connect

Rather than leaving networking epiphanies purely to chance or preset meetings with a set groups of folks, Casual Connect USA 2015 now joins several other conferences who have taken to offering one-on-one matchmaking with an entire pool of opted-in attendees. This new feature should certainly be a boon for folks trying to manage their hours more efficiently at a show that looks to be pretty packed with content and after-hours networking opportunities.

Events for Gamers Weekly Roundup: July 12-18, 2015

Paul Philleo
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Events for Gamers Weekly Roundup: July 12-18, 2015

Sound the horns, bang the drums, fly the flags! The Events for Gamers weekly roundup has begun. We’ve got news about our news. This week, we begin a new weekly post, which will bundle various news bits and blurbs about events. Some news may have found its way into our social feeds, but many posts can get lost easily in the avalanche of information we see every day. Here you’ll find a buffet of very useful information, such as calls for speakers, early bird registration opening, reminders for upcoming events and discounts to attend conferences and conventions. Sounds like good stuff, doesn’t it? Let’s see what we’ve got this week.

Digital Kids Summit

Digital Kids Summit 2015

The Digital Kids Summit, which focuses on interactive educational entertainment and game development for children, is up to bat in September in San Francisco. For those wanting to take of advantage of early bird (until July 31) registration and a 10 percent discount (code: JULYVIP), check out the conference and sign up. What might help sway your decision to attend, one way or another, is the Digital Kids Summit schedule, which is online this week.
CES 2016

CES 2016

CES 2016 registration is now open. It’s 100 dollars for new registrants and free for CES alumni.

Intel Buzz Workshop: Seattle

Intel Buzz Workshop: SeattleIn San Francisco about a month ago, Intel and BeMyApp put together a pretty good one-day Buzz Workshop event, bundling together mobile, indies, virtual reality and computer vision into one package. Next week, the technology giant hopes to repeat the Buzz experience in Seattle. On July 23, for 20 dollars, attendees get a chance to hear from game industry luminaries like Ed Fries, Kate Edwards, Jason Della Rocca and others.

By the way, if you are in Stockholm, Sweden, we hope you had this local Intel Buzz event on your radar on Friday.

Postback 2015

Seattle also is playing host to analytics company, TUNE, next week with Postback 2015.
Postback 2015Among the enterprise, IT and other such heavy topics, game companies also get their spotlight. The list of gaming giants include Supercell, Zynga, EA and more. This is not a cheap conference to attend, but besides the big names and big companies, it comes with all the bells and whistles, such as a big block party and a private cruise. Swanky, huh?

QuakeCon 2015

QuakeCon 2015Hey, the Midwest (or South, depending on your point of view) gets the annual Bethesda showcase, BYOC tournaments and more, except this year it’s the 20 year! Expect some new insights, maybe even new footage, for “Doom,” “Fallout 4,” “The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited | Imperial City and Beyond.” QuakeCon is July 23-26.

California Extreme 2015, PDXLAN 26 and Evo 2015

California Extreme (arcades), PDXLAN 26 (LAN gaming) and Evo 2015 (fighting game competition) are all scheduled for this weekend. Perhaps we’ll see a little post Comic-Con fatigue, but I have a feeling each of these events have their own hardcore following and will produce their own set of great stories.

Post a comment if you have any news or events we might have missed or if there’s more you’d like to see in our Events for Gamers weekly roundup.

Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 Highlights

Paul Philleo
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Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 Highlights
Pocket Gamer Connects 2015
Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 took place July 7-8.

Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 was two days of exhibits, talks and networking in the heart of San Francisco. Here are a few of the highlights from the event.

Very Big Indie Pitch

One of the established features from any Pocket Gamer Connects show is the Very Big Indie Pitch, where indie game developers do a speed dating-style interview and demo with several judges from media and publishing. The judges review and rate the games, narrowing it to three finalists. But, only one can earn the baseball bat and thousands in Steel Media ads.

Pocket Gamer lists all the finalists.

C4M’s “Battle Plans,” a mobile-friendly isometric strategy game featuring smooth, striking animation and Asinine Games’ “Puzzle Drome,” a twist on the classic match-three style of gameplay, where matches must involve mirror image matching, tied for second.

The winner of the competition was Shovelware Games’ “Zombie Match Defense,” an interesting hybrid game that, at first blush, will remind you of “Plants vs. Zombies” but actually plays more like a faster-paced match-three style game.

Virtual reality versus augmented reality

Tim Merel, the founder and managing director of Digi-Capital, in his talk on virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and wearables, shared a fascinating slice of data on the market potential between AR and VR. Between both emerging technology segments, Merel boldly predicts an ambitious 150 billion dollar total market value by 2020. While AR, at 120 billion dollars, may be worth four times the value of the VR market, AR is not predicted to chase after the gamer dollar the way VR will. In fact, almost half the VR pie might be in and around the game development community. Moral of the story: Almost half of a much smaller pie is worth more to a bottom-line-oriented game developer than a tiny slice from a gigantic pie.

Cash tournaments for games and events

Ryan Baird, the director of business development at Cashplay, spoke on the topic of cash tournaments and how they could intersect with mobile games, games of skill (versus games of chance) and with the fast-growing eSports.

Ryan Baird, with Cashplay, speaks
Ryan Baird, with Cashplay, begins his presentation on cash tournaments in gaming July 7, 2015, at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco.

For the potential consumers, monetization, retention, engagement and user acquisition are the benefits Baird touted for developers to plug in their free SDK across Android, iOS and Windows platforms. Longer play sessions, more in-app purchases and tournament entry fees via Cashplay were the direct values he listed.

Baird added context later on, via email, how he hopes Cashplay might have a hand in connecting cash tournaments with mobile games and events, like eSports and even meetups.

“Having a competition at a live event turns games from an individual game to a social game where people can see where they are on the leader board,” Baird said in an email. “I imagine a world where having a loud DJ is less present and having game tournaments becomes the new form of entertainment. It’s social, fun and competitive.”

However, there is a twist. Cashplay’s skill-based type of gaming is legal in most of the United States, in 42 of 50 states and more than 200 territories worldwide. Mobile developers and event organizers, take note.

In addition to the talk, attendees at Pocket Gamer Connects 2015 San Francisco had the chance to participate in one of Cashplay’s skill-based game tournaments to see the way it works in action and for the opportunity to win cash.

Eye-catching games

Many of the Very Big Indie Pitch games were scattered on the second floor, next to the giant pitch area and the dominant presence of both Samsung Developer Connection and Amazon Developer Services. There were several fascinating games among the lot, but a couple that caught my eye were these:

Necrosoft’s “Gunsport” was in the Amazon pavilion, and if you’re a fan of the golden age of arcade games (late 1980s and early ’90s, in my book), the look and feel of this cyberpunk rough-and-tumble sports game did not disappoint. I tried the game on an Amazon Fire TV-powered big-screen display with three people, but it’s best played with four. The game controls managed the character jumps and deflecting fire from each of the unique projectile weapons for the game ball. Like volleyball, if the ball strikes the ground, the point goes to the other team. “Gunsport” looks like one of a small class of fun party Android games playabkle on a large screen display.

Very Big Indie Pitch demo
Attendees set up for a Very Big Indie Pitch demo for C4M’s “Battle Plans” at Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015.

“Impulse GP”, for the Android via the Amazon App Store and coming soon to iOS, is a fast, fast racer reminiscent of “F-Zero” and even, for some reason, of the old arcade almost-classic snowmobile racer “Arctic Thunder.” The control is based on accurate tilting of the tablet and on-screen controls, with speedy, smooth scrolling, with old-school fogginess in the backdrop. The most important mechanic to remember is to time the start and finishes of the boosts on accelerator strips on the race course. Get it wrong, and lose speed rather than gain anything. Like most mobile games, it’s a quick pick up and play, but at least in my experience, it will take time to master the timing.

Hardware and what’s next

Outside of the scattered VR headset demos, there were not a lot of demos sharing equal time with hardware, but one table in the corner, in fact, did. The Tao Wellness Shell, advertised as a “Tiny Gym in Your Pocket,” is actually pretty compact and robustly built. A user is said to be able to perform 50 exercises, alone or competitively, anytime and anywhere. For the purpose of my brief demo, I saw one exercise played out via a tablet demo of sumo wrestlers grappling with each other, while two real-world competitors repeatedly clasped the Shell device between their hands. The more aggressive of the two nudged the other digital sumo wrestler outside the ring. Simple, quick, easy … and effective, as it was apparently exhausting, or so the winner said.

For more of our coverage of Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 — in social media form — check out our Events for Gamers Facebook photo album and Events for Gamers Twitter feed from Pocket Gamer Connects.

With San Francisco now in its rear-view mirror, next up for Pocket Gamer’s conference roadshow will be Helsinki, September 7-8.

Indie Prize Facebook Contest Prize Is Trip to Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2015

Mathew Anderson
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Indie Prize Facebook Contest Prize Is Trip to Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2015

Indie Prize Facebook contest

The Indie Prize Facebook contest hopes to draw more Eastern European developers.

The Indie Prize team is holding a Facebook contest for Eastern European developers with the prize of a trip to Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2015.

The prize includes round-trip airfare for one, a hostel room and a guaranteed spot at Indie Prize Tel Aviv with tickets to Casual Connect Tel Aviv.

Here’s how to enter:

  1. Upload your game’s banner to the CONTEST: Indie Prize | Tel Aviv 2015 album on Facebook, and add a caption if needed.
  2. Like the Casual Connect Facebook page.
  3. Go to the Indie Prize Facebook page and share the pinned post with contest information on your timeline with #‎IndiePrize‬.

The game’s banner with the most likes by August 1, 2015, will be the winner of the Indie Prize Facebook contest.

Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2015 will take place October 19-21 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Virtual Reality Founder, Investor Day Set for July 13 in Mountain View, California

Paul Philleo
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Virtual Reality Founder, Investor Day Set for July 13 in Mountain View, California

Upload VR, who recently partnered with Augmented World Expo 2015 and has hosted a number of showcases, will be honing its focus on investors and founders in the very near future. This international community of virtual reality (VR) pioneers is wrangling together a July 13 VR-focused demo day in the heart of Silicon Valley.

VR has increasingly captured more of the spotlight in mainstream game development, including, most recently, a storm of new hardware and games shown at E3 2015 and a resulting flood of press coverage. From impressions to measured estimates, Digi-Capital projects the value of the VR market to reach 30 billion dollars in value by 2020. While that’s a quarter of the projected 120 billion dollar value of the augmented reality space, almost half of the VR market could be owned by game development.

With tantalizing estimates like that, it would stand to reason why Upload VR would want its footprint in the investment side of the equation.

Among the “Investor & Founder Virtual Reality Demo Day” highlights to expect, according to Upload VR’s press announcement:

  • 15 hand-picked virtual reality startups, chosen from hundreds of submissions, will pitch on the main stage to an audience of VC and Angel investors.

  • Pitch judging committee includes the VR industry’s most active investors — partners from Google Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, Samsung Early Stage VC Fund, Crosscut Ventures and BoostVC.

  • BoostVC will invest up to 25,000 dollars on stage, after hearing VR startups pitches.

  • The judge’s favorite company will win a table at Techcrunch Disrupt SF and the UploadVR Top Startup award.

  • Founders circle will feature successful icons including, Eric Romo, Anush Elangoven and Philip Rosedale.

Upload VR is not undertaking this event alone, as they have the support of Perkins Coie, BoostVC and Rothenberg Ventures River.

Early bird tickets for the event are already sold out, but 595 dollar tickets remain for the invite-only July 13 demo day showcase.

Evo 2015 ‘Tekken 7’ Players to Get Free T-Shirt

sirpaul54
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Evo 2015 ‘Tekken 7’ Players to Get Free T-Shirt

Players who entered the Evolution Championship Series (Evo) 2015 “Tekken 7” tournament will get a free T-shirt, according to an announcement on the Evo Twitter page:

The T-shirt has artwork featuring Lili and Eliza. Lili was first found in “Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection,” while Eliza came to “Tekken Revolution” via a fan vote.

Evo also announced that Bandai Namco is increasing the prize pool for the “Tekken 7” tournament by 30,000 dollars. Evo 2015 will be in Las Vegas from July 17-19.

Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 Preview

Paul Philleo
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Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 Preview

Pocket Gamer Connects San Francisco 2015 takes place this week. Here’s a crash course on what to expect from the San Francisco iteration of this globe-trotting mobile games-focused conference. With 108 speakers, 84 sessions and more than 600 attendees signed on, according to Pocket Gamer, on July 3, this won’t be a small blip on the event radar.

Pocket Gamer Connects tracks

Four tracks are lined up covering the priorities that drive a lot of conversation in mobile: East Meets West (working in different markets); Indie Survival Guide (indie game development); Acquire, Engage, Monetise (making money in mobile games); and Future of Mobile Gaming (well, the future of mobile games, no doubt including augmented reality and virtual reality).

Big brands and big names in gaming are big business, with Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Britney Spears and other big names hoping to jump on the mobile brand-driven game gravy train. Among the speakers at Pocket Gamer Connects SF tackling brands and mobile gaming are Simon Chow, a business development manager at Animoca, covering Brands with Benefits, from the international perspective. Not to be overlooked (and inspecting opportunities closer to home) is Chris Akhavan, who leads Glu Mobile’s publishing efforts and brings to the conference collective his insights into Hollywood branding and licensing.

One of the keynotes for the Pocket Gaming Connects 2015 inspects mobile gaming from an even smaller bubble, where a huge confluence of influence lies — the San Francisco area. Since a considerable cross-section of developers, publishers and money backing these enterprises reside here — especially since this event is hosted in San Francisco — it makes sense that Josh Yguado, the president and COO of Social Gaming Network, will deliver the Pocket Gaming Connects keynote address, discussing the influence and impact of the Bay area’s social gaming scene.

As far as virtual reality, Samsung gets a front and center stage spotlight with its virtual reality platform, Gear VR. One of the keynotes, in the form of a fireside chat, will be with Mihai Pohontu, Samsung’s vice president of emerging platforms. Following thereafter? The hands-on Samsung Gear VR workshop for Android and Unity developers. Later in the day, keep an eye out for the all-star panel on virtual reality, including Nicole Lazarro, who’s virtual reality demo we recently saw at Intel’s Buzz Workshop.

One of the better known Pocket Gamer events, taking place during GDCs, for example, and at other events, is the Big Indie Pitch, and indie showcase that accompanies it. This pitch session for accompanying Pocket Gamer Connects covers all the game hardware platforms addressed at their conference, such as mobile, smartwatch, virtual reality and handheld. On the table as prizes for presenting indie developers are thousands of dollars in advertising on Steel Media (owner of Pocket Gamer) sites.

Pocket Gamer Connects developer pass discount

That’s our glimpse into the upcoming Pocket Gamer Connects 2015 in San Francisco, taking place July 7-8. There’s a lot more about the event to see for yourself — check out the event and full agenda. If you’re interested in attending, developer tickets remain; sign up using our exclusive Events for Gamers 60 percent off code.

Follow our Events for Gamers Facebook page and Events for Gamers Twitter for more coverage.

Eventbrite Shares Data on Fandoms, Convention Attendees

Paul Philleo
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Eventbrite Shares Data on Fandoms, Convention Attendees

HavenCon Cosplayers

Cosplayers pose for a photo at HavenCon in Austin, Texas.


Eventbrite, a leading marketplace for live events globally, has let loose the dogs of data regarding the economic power of fandom and the growth of conventions. Since so many events are gaming and gaming culture conventions, this data is worth a closer look with a wink and a nod of analysis.

Women participate in fandoms

Women do participate, and not just in a cursory or numerically insignificant way, either. It’s as important to note that the participation at cons is virtually a fifty-fifty split across the gender divide. Specifically, according to Eventbrite, 48.7 percent of fans are men, while women constitute an ever-so-slight majority at 48.9 percent.

Further, single male fans add up to 50 percent of attendees, while 47 percent are women. One area of difference between the genders is that 29 percent of single men journey to cons alone, while 18 percent of single women travel to cons in a group, with cosplay as a focus of their interest.

This kind of information underscores the necessity to ensure all attendees feel safe and comfortable to participate in a convention, which has cropped up as a recurring issue in fandom-driven conventions. Another consideration is ensuring the content reflects the full spectrum of attendees. A case in point where the content has been seen as falling short of the mark was at the recent Denver Comic-Con.

Where the money is

In the end, it’s a business and a matter of bottom lines for convention owners, so is it good business to address the minority of hardcore fans attending? The data suggests yes. This class of event-goers are the biggest spenders at fan events, going by Eventbrite’s data.

Almost three out of five respondents are willing to shell out 100 dollars to 500 dollars over and above the cost of travel and getting in through the front door, which is not a bad baseline. But, the big spenders are about 10 percent of all respondents — of whom almost two-thirds see themselves as “Super Fans” — are about 55 percent male and go to four or more events per year. That’s a lot of time, money and attention being spent on their fandom.

Not to mention that if engaged the right way, super fans can be big drivers of influence, which can focus the kind of spotlight a convention owner would want.

Have con? Will travel

More than just the super fans will pick up their bags and travel out of town for a convention. In fact, according to Eventbrite, 60 percent will visit at least one con, and almost half will go to three. More than four out of five of these attendees are either Generation X or Millenials (23-55). The frequent con-goers are happy to drop some cash on merchandise, like toys, figures, collectibles T-shirts, art and prints — but not celebrity autographs. Only 20 percent will spring for goods signed with someone’s John Hancock.

Cosplayers play a major role

Here’s a set of data that may surprise some. Eventbrite states that almost one-quarter of all con-goers are cosplayers. Nearly two-thirds attend three cons a year, while over a quarter attend at least five a year. About two-thirds identify as female and skew younger as an audience, with three out of five between 23 and 39. Seventy percent spend at least 100 dollars at a show, and half consider themselves super fans.

Cosplayers have received some flak lately, with stories saying cosplayers bring nothing of value to conventions popping up from time to time. Also, exercising that form of fandom has brought issues of super fans can be big>harassment to the fore at various events. Yet, the cosplayers also may prove to be one of the most engaged participants at a convention, so it makes sense to have a robust and fair policy for anti-harassment to allow participation at the level that allows everyone to take from the convention experience all they can.

Boston Festival of Indie Games 2015 Receives Over 200 Tabletop & Video Game Showcase Submissions!

Mathew Anderson
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Boston Festival of Indie Games 2015 Receives Over 200 Tabletop & Video Game Showcase Submissions!

[This press release is made available courtesy of GamesPress.]

Boston Festival of Indie Games’s all-star curators are thrilled with this year’s applicants.

The Boston Festival of Indie Games has announced that more than 200 digital and tabletop games were submitted for consideration in their respective showcases at the fourth annual festival, which will be Saturday, September 12, 2015, on the MIT campus.

The Boston Festival of Indie Games is open to the public and will take place at the Johnson Athletic Center at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Festival attendees play video games and tabletop games games in a casual, inclusive environment. Tickets are available at www.bostonfig.com for $10 each for a limited time, and kids 13 and under can enter free.

“We couldn’t be more excited for this year’s crop of independently created tabletop and digital games that’ll be on display at Boston FIG. Our team of curators are some of the most well-known and successful game-creators in the industry, and they’re very excited about the submissions to our showcases that they’ve seen so far. We can’t wait for our attendees to check them out!” says Caroline Murphy, the executive producer of Boston FIG.

The curators for this year’s festival include: James Mathe, owner and president of Minion Development Corp.; Tim Leow, the executive director of MassDiGI; Dave Ewalt, an award-winning journalist and expert in the realm of tabletop games; Gil Hova, a board game designer and the founder of Formal Ferret Games; Jonathan Mintz, the principal designer at Harmonix Music Systems; and more than 40 other industry leaders. In the Digital Showcase alone, the team received more than 110 submissions.

While indie game submissions are now closed, Exhibitor tables are still available for any developers who’d like to show off their games. Boston FIG also is welcoming volunteers for anyone who wants to help out on the day of the event. Sign up at www.bostonfig.com.

The Boston Festival of Indie Games is a celebration of independent game development with emphasis on the New England and neighboring regions. The Boston Festival of Indie Games seeks to support and showcase the efforts of independent game developers by providing an inclusive, safe, family-friendly event that encourages attendees to share and interact with games in various media, from video games to tabletop games and beyond. The Boston Festival of Indie Games is focused on creating an intersection between community, academic and development interests in gameplay.

CES 2015 Attendee Numbers Ring Up at More Than 176,000

Paul Philleo
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CES 2015 Attendee Numbers Ring Up at More Than 176,000

CEA will implement stricter credential requirements for CES 2016.

The Consumer Electronics Association has released a statistically impressive figure about the uptick in attendance at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show, the annual goliath catch-all technology show they produce. In a nutshell, Veris Consulting validated a record 176,676 attendees for CES 2015. This number, roughly equal to the California city of Santa Clarita, is a bump of 10 percent from the 2014 CES.

CES has become more international, too, with more than 48,000 attendees from 153 countries in Las Vegas for its 2015 CES sojourn, which is a nearly 20 percent change from 2014.

On the media side, almost 7,000 representatives of different outlets attended the 2015 CES, kicking up a lot of dust on the Web and through social media. There were about 950 million media impressions and 750,000 mentions of #CES2015 over the course of the four days of the expo, serving up more than 7.5 billion Twitter impressions.

Because of the rapid growth of the CES show, organizers noted via email that “CEA is implementing stricter credential requirements aimed to keep CES 2016 attendance at 176,000 or close to a level comparable to the 2015 CES to ensure the highest quality experience for all in attendance.”

It is highly likely that the Consumer Electronics Association won’t be touting its numbers nearly so chest-thumpingly next year, if they are limiting the growth of CES in the near future.

How will organizers restrict attendance? No more free industry passes or fewer of them? Stricter verification of industry associations? Capping attendance until “sold out”? We’ll have to see, as registration for CES 2016 opens July 8, 2015.

‘The Flash’ Cast Attending DC TV Panel at Comic-Con 2015

sirpaul54
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The cast of “The Flash” is joining the lineup for the Warner Bros. Television DC Entertainment panel 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., Saturday, July 11, 2015, at Comic-Con in San Diego.

Comic-Con is the one event of the year where film, television and comic fans come together to see sneak peaks and spoilers of famous franchises.

During the Warner Bros. Television DC Entertainment panel, fans can see a sneak peek at “Supergirl” and then participate in a Q&A for Warner Bros. shows, including “The Flash.”

DC fans also can buy an exclusive Arrow and Flash mug cup holder. The mug cup holder will cost 15 dollars.

Comic-Con International San Diego will be July 9 through July 12.

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