Weekly video games events agenda: Armageddon, Triangle Games Conference, Inside Social Apps

(All rights reserved - Triangle Game Conference / Triangle Game Initiative)

Among the video game events, expos and conferences of March, April, and May 2010: The Armageddon pulp culture expos arrives in Wellington, New Zealand, the Triangle Business Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, hosts a conference for professionals and students alike, and the first Inside Social Apps conference for Facebook-focussed games studios and businesses hits San Francisco.

Armageddon Expo
April 2-4
Wellington, New Zealand

The expansive Armageddon Expo covers the realms of comics, TV, film, anime cartoons and gaming with these two family days out. This year, there will be screenings of the Ponyo and Twilight films, guest appearances with actors from Dr Who, Star Trek, and Heroes, anime and video game voice-over artists, novelist Robert Rankin, comic author Christian Gossett whose The Red Star graphic novel is coming out in video game form on PSP and iPhone, and a video games area run by NZGamer.com. In addition, there will also be an organized pillow fight, ice-cream- and sweet & sour candy-eating contests, a competition to replicate DragonBall Z's most famous special move, the Kamehameha.
Tickets: $8 NZD (€4/$5.5) for a one-day child and senior's pass, $45 NZD (€23/$32) for a family pass. VIP options available.
http://www.armageddonexpo.com/nz

Triangle Games Conference
April 7-8
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

The Triangle Games Conference takes place in an area known as the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, eastern USA, and this two-day Triangle Games Conference is intended for both professionals and students. The Park home to notable video gaming companies such as Insomniac Games (the Ratchet & Clank and Resistance series), Ubisoft Red Storm ( Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six series), Epic Games (the Unreal game development engine, Gears of War), and Emergent Game Technologies (the Gamebryo engine), all of whom have staff present on this years list of speakers. Also giving talks on aspects including development, business, and business use of gaming are staff from Fallen Earth LLC, Curious Sense, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Electronic Arts, TriplePointPR, The Republic of Fun, and Themis Media.
http://www.trianglegameconference.com

Game Design Expo
April 10-11
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Hosted by the Vancouver Film School, the Games Design Expo is intended to act as both conference and mixer for students and professionals alike with talks from industry insiders. Speakers for Saturday's presentation and panel schedule include staff from BioWare ( Dragon Age, Mass Effect), Obsidian ( Fallout: New Vegas), United Front ( ModNation Racers), and Blue Castle ( Dead Rising 2). Sunday's event is an open house for the Film School's game development course.
http://www.gamedesignexpo.com

Inside Social Apps
April 20
San Francisco, California, USA

The first conference run by the Inside Network, a group of websites dedicated to highlighting and analyzing trends in the social media industry, features talks from many of the business's leaders, including those at Zynga ( FarmVille), Playfish ( Pet Society), Playdom ( Tiki Farm), CrowdStar ( Happy Aquarium), and RockYou! ( Zoo World). There is also significant presence from digital commerce companies (eBay, Offerpal) and venture capitalists.
http://www.insidesocialapps.com

MCV Awards 2010
April 22
London

MCV, a UK-based video games trade magazine and website, host these annual industry accolades with awards available in 19 categories including online, high street, and supermarket retailers; sales, publishing, PR and marketing team excellence, best gaming accessories, and advertisments. Dom Joly, British comedian and columnist for The Independent, will be master of ceremonies. Surprise Wii success Just Dance has to be the odds-on favorite to win the 'Sales Triumph' award at least.
http://www.mcvuk.com/events/264/MCV-Awards-2010

Nordic Game Conference
April 27-30
Malmö, Sweden

Part of the Nordic Game Program, a co-operative project set up by the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish governments, the NGC includes an awards ceremony for Nordic games and developers, talks from staff at BioWare, DICE, Funcom, Playfish, and a night for Nordic independent game developers. With DICE riding high from the success of Bad Company 2, Avalanche having released Just Cause 2 mid-March, and Remedy preparing to launch the long-awaited Alan Wake, there should be some interesting presentations to say the least.
http://www.nordicgame.com

Game Developers Conference Canada
May 6-7
Vancouver, British Columbia

No sooner than one GDC ends than the countdown to the next one begins. Eager ears will be listening out for talks on the rise of 'social' or mainstream gaming and any tidbits regarding the new motion controllers for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 as Sony and Microsoft play catchup to Nintendo's Wii. Talks from bigwigs at Insomniac, Obsidian, IUGO and Zynga are already pencilled in. The Main Conference Pass costs $550 CDN (€400) before March 31 and $695 (€505) CDN on the door. The All Access and Game Career Seminar passes are more and less expensive respectively.
http://www.gdc-canada.com

LOGIN Conference
May 10-13
Seattle, Washington, USA

Aimed at company chiefs, vice-presidents, and directors, LOGIN's schedule is a mixture of development sessions, seminars, conferences and workshops and intends to provide an environment for those looking to make the most of networking opportunities. There are also 75 speakers confirmed.
http://www.loginconference.com