I år er det 10 år siden, at det første spilseminar blev lanceret - det fejrer vi med Play X, hvor vi gør status, kigger tilbage og ser frem. Vi har inviteret en række vidende talere til at kigge tilbage på de sidste ti år og samtidig give et interessant bud på årene frem mod 2024.
Blandt talerne er Nick Fortugno, der netop kommer fra et game jam i Det Hvide Hus, som vil bidrage med sin analyse af seriøsiteten i computerspillet. "The New Official Face of Serious Games" er overskriften på Fortugnos tale til Play X. Derudover har vi Inga Von Staden, der under overskriften "Coming of Age" åbner Play X og Jonas Heide Smith med en kulturel analyse af computerspils position i samfundet. Matt Costello har erfaringen indefra, og giver et blik ind i skabelsen af spillet - før og nu - under titlen "Creating Gameworlds now and then: Inside the Art of Gameplay, Interaction and Story" og Jesper Juul kigger tilbage på en spilbranche, der gennem de sidste ti år har kæmpet for kulturel legitimitet. Endeligt tager Jesper Krogh Kristiansen os med på en guided tour "From Mt. Etna to the Rainforest - The Danish Games Industry 2000-2014" med relevante stop undervejs i en spændende dansk spilhistorie.
Til slut har vi inviteret seks microtalks, som hver har fem minutter til at tage en rejse til 2024 og kigge tilbage på 2014 - hvor langt er spilbranchen nået i 2024? Til at afklare dette har vi Hannes Seifert, Claus Ladegaard, Vinca Wiedemann, Henrike Lode, Søren Staal Balslev og Anders Høeg Nissen.
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Se alle talerne samt introduktion til deres tale på Play X 2014 - og find dem og os på Twitter #PlayX2014
Nicholas Fortugno
Nicholas Fortugno is an American game designer and educator. Fortugno is CCO of Playmatics LLC, a New York City-based game development studio focusing on casual games and cofounded with Margaret Wallace.
Play X talk:
The New Official Face of Serious Games
In the last two years, there has been a complete transformation of the American government¹s attitude and approach to games. What was once outright disdain for time wasted on games has become an embrace of the potential of games to teach, conduct research, and make people healthier. Just this month, the White House itself sponsored a game jam to incubate new games for education. Jam attendee and game designer Nick Fortugno presents on the game jam and how that represents a changed commitment to games and their development in serious fields.
Twitter: @Nickfortugno
Jonas Heide Smith
Jonas Heide Smith has a PhD in video games from the IT University of Copenhagen and co-authored the textbook 'Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction" (Routledge 2008/2013). He is digital editor at the National Gallery of Denmark.
Everybody plays, no-one cares: The strange cultural evolution of video games in Denmark
Two recent forces have shaped the current cultural position of video games in Denmark. The proliferation of platforms and genres has caused general confusion about the status of the medium and made it difficult for non-gamers to tackle. And the rise of social media has removed the critical, cultural spotlight from video games. After all these years, games have returned to a cultural limbo.
Twitter: @jonassmith
Jesper Juul
Jesper Juul is an associate professor the Royal Danish Academy of Art – School of Design. He has been working with the development of video game theory since the late 1990's, at the IT University of Copenhagen, MIT, and the New York University Game Center. His publications include Half-Real on video game theory, and A Casual Revolution on how puzzle games, music games, and the Nintendo Wii brought video games to a new audience. He maintains the blog The Ludologist on "game research and other important things". His latest book, The Art of Failure, was published by MIT Press in 2013.
Play X talk:
In the gutter, looking at the stars
Jesper will look back at the last 10 years of video game history and argue that the field of video games remains obsessed with cultural acceptance and legitimacy. He will show that the main discussions concern which type of acceptance and which type of legitimacy are being sought: Should video games be daily pastimes for everyone, sophisticated products of high art, or subversive underground experiments? The recent history of video games is thus the story of battling and contradictory attempts to redefine the status of video games.
Twitter: @jesperjuul
Matt Costello
Matt Costello’s award-winning work, across all media, has meshed story, game play and technology. He has written and designed dozens of award-winning and best-selling games including The 7th Guest, Doom 3, G-Force and Pirates of the Caribbean. He scripted and created the game world for Id’s major release on all platforms, Rage, and also wrote the Random House novel based on his game. Matt has written episodes and created TV formats for PBS, Disney, SyFy, and the BBC. He consults on story, games and multiplatform projects around the world, and has also created interactive installations for The British Museum, Disney and, with Neil Richards, for Buckingham Palace. Play X talk:
Matt will stress the importance of a vison to creating storyworlds for games and with his own professional experience through decades give examples of game writing, the creative process and other media.
Inga Von Staden
Inga Von Staden works as a media architect, educator and coach for the creative industries. She directs the four-year-studies programme Interactive Media at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, training students to develop and produce transmedial content.
Play X talk:
Coming of Age
Inga has her special interests in the impact of digital technology on business and society – how to utilise digital technology to enhance the media business and how digital media can empower sustainable action for the environment and our society. Inga will also unfold the maturing of the game industry, which has taken place the last years - the coming of age of the game industry.
Twitter: @IngavonStaden
Jesper Krogh Kristiansen
Jesper Krogh Kristiansen has a Master in Media Studies and Design from the University of Copenhagen. He has written about the Danish game industry for more than 10 years for publications like MetroXpress, Eurogamer, IGN Gameplay and Nordic Game Bits. He is a self-taught game and sound designer with contributions to both large and small Danish game productions.
He also works as a consultant in the field of press and marketing for Danish game developers through the company Electric Bloo, and together with Julie Horup he has developed the podcast 'Game Magazine'.
Play X talk:
From Mt. Etna to the Rainforest - The Danish Games Industry 2000-2014
With the help of volcanic ashes, Indiana Jones, The Rainforest and biorythms, we will take a guided tour thorugh the recent history of the Danish games industry, stopping at all the important sights along the way.
Twitter: @vanulla_ace
Microtalks: PlayXX
A number of prominent speakers have been asked to go 10 years into the future and spend five looking back at 2014. How will things be in 2014-2024?
Hannes Seifert
Hannes Seifert, Studio Head, Io-Interactive. Hannes’s career started in 1987 with his first Commodore 64 game. 1993 he co-founded Rockstar Vienna originally as neo Software, where he served as managing director for production and as executive producer for 14 years. End of 2006 he co-founded Deep Silver Vienna which he left 2010 to join Io-Interactive where he continues his work as studio head and executive producer.
Hannes is currently working on the next Hitman game. His previous games include “Hitman: Absolution”, “Dead Island”, the “Max Payne” and “GTA” series and “Die Völker”.
Claus Ladegaard
Claus Ladegaard is Head of Department, Produdction & Development at the Danish Film Institute, and head of the department that manages public support for feature films, short films and documentaries, film workshop productions and Public Service programs for commercial TV stations
Vinca Wiedemann
Vinca Wiedemann graduated as a film editor from National Film School of Denmark in 1987 but she soon moved into script development. Since then she has had a tremendous impact on Danish film. As film commissioner at the Danish Film Institute from 1999, she was responsible for granting development and production support to many feature films and was instrumental in the rise of Danish cinema. As of March 2014 Vinca Wiedemann is Director of the National Film School of Denmark.
(Photo: Suste Bonnén)
Anders Høeg Nissen
Anders Høeg Nissen is a journalist and hosts the radio show at DR P1 called Harddisken, where he has covered the world of technologies since 2000 – including video games. Anders has studied Literature at the University of Copenhagen.
Twitter: @4ND3RS
Henrike Lode
Henrike Lode is CEO and founder of the Copenhagen-based independent game studio Lohika. With her team she is currently developing the award-winning puzzle adventure Machineers. Henrike received her M.Sc. in Game Design from the IT University in 2012 and is now teaching other Game Design students in User Experience and Prototyping as well as Game Development. She is furthermore executive board member at IGDA Denmark and as such, co-organising the Nordic Game Jam.
Søren Staal Balslev
Søren Staal Balslev is a journalist and critic at Weekendavisen, an old-fashioned, Danish and weekly broadsheet paper for people who like… paper. In addition to covering industry events and the development of the modern gaming landscape, Søren primarily reviews TV-shows and video games.
Twitter: @staalbalslev