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"As the third annual video gaming PAX East expo wrapped up its final day at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center yesterday, the president of its producer, Penny Arcade, said the event "has taken over the city like never before."

"If you saw some odd costumes wandering the streets of Boston this past weekend, chances are they were en route to a games-related event (I'm talking about you, Anime aficionados). The one I attended, MIT's Business in Gaming conference, contained more suit-clad attendees than outlandish hairdos and capes (thank goodness)."

"Three years ago, PAX East came to Beantown. It landed at the Hynes Convention Center and was seen by many as the acknowledgement that Boston was a worthy adversary against the perceived dominance of the West Coast gaming giants. They had EA and Microsoft, we had Harmonix and Rockstar New England."

Excitement is building on the campus of LIU Post, as the university prepares to host PlayExpo, a juried show of games and other interactive digital entertainment, on Sunday, April 15, 2012.

"We have created a suite of physical computing activity games for Humana's Innovation Center office space - using web-connected sensors embedded in clothing, mobile devices, toys, exercise equipment, home and office accessories and appliances, and even buildings themselves. These challenges encourage people to be more physically active through social web-based games. Each experience is connected to the Humana employees' RFID badges, which allows them to participate in scheduled events, accrue points, and win top scores. A major component of every one of these games is the social platform behind them, which has been proven to be a major motivator in building and maintaining enthusiasm for healthy living. The ideas are developed through collaborative brainstorms, facilitated by Tellart and including Humana Innovation Center personnel. Tellart then refines the ideas, proposing and implementing several of them per round as medium-fidelity prototypes for the office."

Abstract "Background music is often used to generate a specific atmosphere or to draw our attention to specific events. For example in movies or computer games it is often the accompanying music that conveys the emotional state of a scene and plays an important role for immersing the viewer or player into the virtual environment."

"UBM TechWeb Game Network, organizers of the industry-leading Game Developers Conference™ Europe (GDC Europe), have added fourteen of Europe's leading game developers to the advisory boards of the event's main conference and summits to help program the lectures, panels and roundtable sessions taking place at GDC Europe 2012 this August."

CAMBRIDGE, MA, Mar 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- "The gaming industry is a harsh environment in which to start and to grow a business. It's risky, hits-driven, and traditionally receives minimal support from governments, banks, incubators, and most modern institutions devoted to nurturing new companies. How then does one survive and, ultimately, thrive? Thursday, April 5, 2012, the 4th Annual MIT Sloan Business and Gaming (BiG) Conference will gather industry insiders, independent developers, gaming enthusiasts, venture capitalists, attorneys, academics, and students from across MIT and other top-tier colleges for a day-long exploration into the business side of the gaming industry." MIT BiG is being held on the MIT Sloan campus in Cambridge, MA the day before PAX East -- one of the country's largest events celebrating gaming culture -- which takes place in Boston, making it convenient for participants to attend both conferences.

Abstract "In this white paper we introduce Situational Games (sitgames). Situational games are played for a reason, on the spot, and in interac- tion with the actual situation at that spot. We argue that the elementary properties of sitgames make them suitable for rst class serious digital games with quantiable results. Situation provides a point of reference for the assessment of events and discourse, while interaction (gaming) provides the necessary active attitude to actually achieve a change in behaviour. Both are occasions of \the book is better than the movie".

"Tension is high at the 2012 Toronto Independent Game Jam (TOjam). The countdown begins on the first floor of a downtown George Brown College classroom. The count then snakes up the building's six stories with volunteers standing at a doorway on each floor."

Includes overview of Mass DiGi's activities (outreach. marketing, business development,) education and research, events, advocacy and fundraising, and next fiscal year preview

Three interactive video games designed by University of Houston students chosen for competition

From the abstract: "This paper presents a framework for evaluating and designing game design patterns commonly called as "achievements". The results are based on empirical studies of a variety of popular achievement systems. The results, along with the framework for analyzing and designing achievements, present two definitions of game achievements. From the perspective of the achievement system, an achievement appears as a challenge consisting of a signifying element, rewards and completion logics whose fulfilment conditions are defined through events in other systems (usually games). From the perspective of a single game, an achievement appears as an optional challenge provided by a meta-game that is independent of a single game session and yields possible reward(s)." Presented at DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play.

"Organized by the UBM TechWeb Game Network, GDC 2013 is the game industry's most comprehensive and longest running professionals-only event where game developers converge for a week of learning, networking and inspiration. GDC 2013 will take place March 25 - 29 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California. Session proposals can be submitted via the official GDC website at www.gdconf.com. PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1ifpS) "

Consideration of how Massachusetts will attract video game companies in light of the PAX East announcement and 38 Studios high profile departure to Rhode Island in 2010

VIDEO game developers at Nottingham Trent University scooped top awards at a design event. The teams of designers were challenged to create new games in just 48 hours. One Trent team took first prize at the IndieCity Global Game Jam category for their multiplayer game Flerbs, in which players have to guide jellies from one flag to another.

"April 17 in San Francisco, CA at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. AOL's Digital Prophet David Shing will be the Marketing Keynote speaker and Electronic Arts Digital EVP Kristian Segerstrale will be the Innovation Keynote speaker. Additionally, Activision Publishing, Inc. Vice President John Coyne and LifeCourse Associates Founding Partner and President Neil Howe will be among a number of highlight speakers at the Game Marketing Summit, a full day event that brings together the leading companies and industry brand and marketing executives for discussion, deliberation and debate around the issues and opportunities in the video game entertainment industry."

The Guildhall hosts graduate studies in game developement and design as well as professional certificates and indie game developing events. Open House happening in October