Festival of Games 2011

UTRECHT – February 24 ^th, 2011 - Many Dutch TV formats and games go, after a successful pilot in the Netherlands, around the world and achieve great success here. During the Festival of Games on April 28 & 29, two of these success stories will be reviewed: Jeroen Elfferich (Ex Machina) will discuss real time involvement of viewers in programs on TV, online video and during events. Jan Willem Huisman (IJsfontein) and Loes Wormmeester (NTR) will be discuss how two different experiences from games and TV match, based on the successful "13 in the war".

Watching TV is becoming increasingly (inter)active. During the successful program The Voice of Holland the interplay of the offline and online world was clearly visible. In the semi finals and finals there was a unique opportunity added: Internet Live Rating. Tens of thousands of assessments were delivered live via the internet, smartphone or tablet, and shared through social media.

This kind of interaction offers lots of perspective according to Elfferich: "When carrying out similar concepts, a conversion of 2% is easy to achieve, but 10% is certainly not inconceivable." The integration of different platforms and channels is the perfect way to maximize reach and get higher conversion rates. This would impact many business cases enormously.

Encouraging interaction through the integration of TV and game elements will mean that viewers get a stronger bond with the concept. A second example of Dutch origin which converges channels and platforms is "13 in the War" developed by NTR and IJsfontein.

13 in the War is the first online educational game for children about the Second World War. It takes you 13 episodes and game levels back to World War II and tells what happened and what it is like to grow up during the war. The combination of television, drama, information, education and in an interactive manner - with an exciting game – actually lets people experience what it was like to live in wartime, it is the cross-media in the '13 war.

Huisman adds: "Television is about 'feeling a hero. As a viewer you identify yourself with the main character, and feel his or her emotions. That's the power of the medium. Games offer a different kind of experience, very powerfully connected to 'feeling a hero. In a game you be a hero: 'being a hero. "

During their session, Jan Willem Huisman and Loes Wormmeester explain how these two types of experience link with each other. They will focus on substantive and quantitative effects and results for each medium, and how they are reinforcing one another. Huisman already unveils one of the facts, "In three months time, the site almost attracted 150,000 visits, and the game is played over 90,000 times. This is just the beginning of the possibilities of cross-media concepts."

THE FESTIVAL OF GAMES

The Festival of Games takes place on April 28-29, 2011, at the Jaarbeurs Utrecht in the Netherlands. The 2010 event attracted over 2000 visitors, with 180 companies from 25 countries.

The Festival of Games is the most effective games industry event, that combines a conference, the international matchmaking eventcalled Pitch & Match, a business Expo for trade visitors, and the largest games industry Career Fair of Europe. The Conference in 2011 is powered by GamesIndustry.biz and Gamer.nl

With the 2011 edition entitled "Games Anywhere", the Festival of Games will be all about how the eruption of games in every sector of the consumer market has interacted with the videogames business. The two-day Conference on April 28-29 will have a strong focus on convergence and transmedia, with the speakers Dan Winters, VP Developer Relations of Activision, Nicholas Francis, co-founder of Unity, Jurian van der Meer, Managing Director of Endemol Games and Scott Steinberg CEO of Techsavvy Global recently announced.

The Festival of Games is organized by the NLGD Foundation and is made possible by the Dutch ministry of Economic Affairs, the province of Utrecht and the city of Utrecht.