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While not quite as ridiculously packed as this year's music festival calendar (my pick of the bunch, by the way, is Truck, featuring the Lemonheads performing the wholeof It's A Shame About Ray), the line-up of big videogame events isgrowing, both in terms of size and diversity. So here's a quick guide,just in case you find yourself with a free weekend and a desire to play- and learn about - lots of lovely new titles...
NLGD Festival of Games Utrecht, Netherlands
June 14-21 You'll have to be quick to catch this busy event, combiningconference, workshops, expo and career fair. Like E3, it's mostlytargeted at industry professionals, but students can gain access tomost of the programme. Highlights include talks by Shinichiro Kasama,Senior General Manager at Taito, who'll discuss the evolution of theSpace Invaders and Chris Swain, co-founder and director of the EA GameInnovation Lab. Interestingly, they're also running a multiplayer location-based mobile gaming tournament, based around footie title, Navball.
Game developers Conference Paris Paris, France
June 23,24 50 sessions, 70 speakers and possibly the only games event of thesummer with its own art exhibition, the Parisian arm of the renownedGDC series is another industry-aimed combination of expo andkeynote-stuffed conference. Blizzard's VP of Game Design, Rob Pardo,and Media Molecule's Mark Healey and Alex Evans are among the talkers.
E3 Santa Monica, USA
July 11-13 Radically downsized but still essential highlight of the gamescalendar, now marketed as an intimate networking and demo-ing event.You'll need to be an industry insider to gain access as it'sinvite-only, but if you manage it, you'll see lots of big Christmas and2009 titles. There's a consumer version later in the year - or you can keep up to date via the website.
Develop in Brighton Brighton, England
July 29-31 Aimed at the development community and organised by the trademagazine of the same name, Develop is a popular industry shindig, basedaround a packed schedule of business and development sessions as wellas the main expo. There are over 90 guest speakers on the agenda,including David Braben (Frontier Developments), Damian Isla (BungieStudios) and Richard Lemarchand (Naughty Dog). Gamesblog will be there,too, hosting our own event - more on that later...
Edinburgh Interactive festival Edinburgh, Scotland
August 10-12 A landmark event, drawing on the atmosphere of the Edinburgh International Festival,to provide a range of panel sessions, debates and games screenings aswell as a public exhibition area. With the backing of all three consolemanufacturers expect plenty of Triple A gaming action. You'll also getto see the latest projects developed for the University of Abertay'sannual Dare to Be Digital competition. A must for the cultured gamer.
Games Convention Leipzig, Germany
August 20-24 Now that E3 has transmogrified into a diddy business expo, GC is thekey games event in the West, filling four halls and one outdoor area.185,000 visitors turned up last year and the organisers reckon morehave registered for the 2008 event. All the major publishers will beshowing of their big forthcoming titles, while events like the Germanfinals of the World Cyber Games and a case-modding contest add extraflavour.
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