Algoma U and UOIT announce dates for Future Play 2007
March 14, 2007
International conference on game design and technology set to focus on Research. Play. Share.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario and OSHAWA, Ontario - Future Play, the international conference on the future of game design and technology announced today that it will return to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 2007 with Algoma University College (Algoma U) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) serving as conference co-hosts.
The event will take place at the Novotel Toronto Centre in downtown Toronto from Thursday, November 15 to Saturday, November 17, 2007 and will see the world's leading computer game researchers and developers interact through a series of keynote addresses, workshops, and panel and peer-reviewed paper sessions.
Conference keynote presenters confirmed for Future Play 2007 include:
Future Play 2007 will focus on the themes of future game development including academic research and trends in game technology and design; the impact and applications of future games such as emerging industry trends for designing games that will serve both learning and serious purposes and will impact society; and future game talent which will provide industry and academic perspectives on what it takes to excel as a game developer.
The conference will culminate in the Game Exhibition and Competition, which annually attracts some of the top student game designing talent in North America. The top award winner at Future Play 2006 was a game called Flux, designed by a team of students from Algoma U, which also won awards at the Dare to be Digital game design competition in Scotland.
Now entering its seventh year, Future Play last visited Toronto in 2004 when it was called the Computer Game Technology Conference. The event has since been restructured, and now provides one of the few forums worldwide for presenting peer-reviewed research in the field of computer gaming. For more information about Future Play 2007, please visit the conference website at www.futureplay.org.
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ontario and OSHAWA, Ontario - Future Play, the international conference on the future of game design and technology announced today that it will return to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in 2007 with Algoma University College (Algoma U) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) serving as conference co-hosts.
The event will take place at the Novotel Toronto Centre in downtown Toronto from Thursday, November 15 to Saturday, November 17, 2007 and will see the world's leading computer game researchers and developers interact through a series of keynote addresses, workshops, and panel and peer-reviewed paper sessions.
Conference keynote presenters confirmed for Future Play 2007 include:
- Espen Aarseth - one of the founding fathers of Ludology, a game development practice that emphasizes the dynamics of play and interaction, as opposed to storyline;
- Frans Mäyrä - the head of the Games Research Lab group and Deputy Director of the Hypermedia Lab at the University of Tampere in Finland;
- Cory Ondrejka - the developer of Linden Lab's Second Life, a user-created digital world;
- John Nordlinger - a current program manager at Microsoft Research;
- Constance Steinkuehler - an assistant professor with the Educational Communication & Technology program in the Curriculum & Instruction department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison who believes computer games just might offer a space to reinvigorate the concept of citizenship;
- John Hopson - a games researcher for Microsoft Game Studios; and
- Mia Consalvo - a games researcher whose interests include the critical study of popular culture and new media. Her work analyzes sexuality in The Sims and investigates the role of cheating in game play.
Future Play 2007 will focus on the themes of future game development including academic research and trends in game technology and design; the impact and applications of future games such as emerging industry trends for designing games that will serve both learning and serious purposes and will impact society; and future game talent which will provide industry and academic perspectives on what it takes to excel as a game developer.
The conference will culminate in the Game Exhibition and Competition, which annually attracts some of the top student game designing talent in North America. The top award winner at Future Play 2006 was a game called Flux, designed by a team of students from Algoma U, which also won awards at the Dare to be Digital game design competition in Scotland.
Now entering its seventh year, Future Play last visited Toronto in 2004 when it was called the Computer Game Technology Conference. The event has since been restructured, and now provides one of the few forums worldwide for presenting peer-reviewed research in the field of computer gaming. For more information about Future Play 2007, please visit the conference website at www.futureplay.org.
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Media contacts:
Donna Woldanski Algoma U Divisional Director of External Relations 705.949.2301 ext. 4120 donna.woldanski@algomau.ca |
Allison Rosnak UOIT Manager, Media and Editorial 905.721.3111 ext. 2513 allison.rosnak@uoit.ca |
Future Play 2007 is funded in part by a grant from FedNor.
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