Future Play 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(SAULT STE. MARIE, ON – April 21st, 2008): The video game world’s brightest minds will be gathering this November 3rd, 4th and 5th at the Delta Chelsea Hotel in Toronto, ON, for the Future Play 2008 conference. Registrations are now being accepted online at www.futureplay.org .

Future Play is Canada's premier multi-dimensional computer games and digital media research knowledge transfer forum. At this unique gaming conference, industry and digital media experts engage with leading academic researchers from around the globe. Ideas showcased at Future Play are at the cutting edge of understanding what video games mean today, and the possible futures of all types of digital interactive media. The conference is centred on three key themes: Future game development, future game impacts and applications, and future game talent. Through panel discussions, keynote speeches, workshops and other activities, participants are able to glimpse the emergent technologies, practices and theories that will be shaping the gaming industry for years to come.

“Future Play is a one-of-a-kind event, a place where researchers and scholars can present their peer-reviewed research to professionals from industry and government,” says Deborah Loosemore, Director of Advancement and External Relations at Algoma U and the chief organizer of the conference. “Attendees are going to have their minds opened to what attendees have called ‘fantastic, insightful and relevant’ ideas.”

Keynote speakers for Future Play 2008 include:

• Katie Salen a writer, editor, and designer, who is working on two projects funded through the MacArthur Foundation focused on digital media, games, and learning, and is producing two new media works for the ZeroOne Festival. Katie is the Acting Director of the Design and Technology at Parsons The New School For Design in New York City.

• Ken Perlin, computer science professor at New York University and former director of the NYU Centre for Advanced Technology. Ken received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his noise and turbulence procedural texturing techniques, which are widely used in feature films and television, as well as the TrapCode award for achievement in computer graphics research, the NYC Mayor's award for excellence in Science and Technology and the Sokol award for outstanding Science faculty at NYU, and a Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation.

• Don Daglow, president and CEO of Stormfront Studios since founding the company in 1988. At the 2008 Emmy Awards for Technology and Engineering, Don accepted the award for creating Neverwinter Nights, the first graphical Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), and in 2003 received the CGE Award for “groundbreaking achievements that shaped the Video Game Industry.” He is one of only two game designers (with id Software's John Carmack) to be selected both for a Technical Emmy and to accept an Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Achievement Award.

The three-day conference also features a game production management course, and the Arcademy Games Awards competition.

Registration for the conference is available through PayPal on the Future Play website. Space is limited, so potential attendees are encouraged to sign-up early to avoid disappointment.

For more information on Future Play 2008 or to register, please visit www.futureplay.org <http://www.futureplay.org/> .

The internationally acclaimed conference is sponsored jointly by Algoma University College, located in Sault Ste. Marie, and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, located in Oshawa.

About Algoma U

Algoma U is the North American home of the renowned Masters in Computer Games Technology (MSc CGT) degree. This one year program is taught by faculty at the University of Abertay Dundee in Scotland via state of the art videoconferencing technology. Graduates of the program have gone on to work for leading gaming companies such as Electronic Arts, Rockstar and Realtime Worlds. www.mastersingaming.com www.algomau.ca

About UOIT

UOIT is an innovative and market-oriented institution, pursuing inquiry, discovery and application through excellence in teaching and learning, value-added research and vibrant student life. www.uoit.ca <http://www.uoit.ca>

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Media Contact

Joanne Nanne

Algoma U

Communications Officer

705.949.2301 ext. 4122

joanne.nanne@algomau.ca